In a bid to curb the terrorism, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Union government to make concerted efforts to evolve political consensus at national level for the eradication of social maladies like poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the country. Addressing the gathering at Shaheed Parivar Fund function organized by the Hind Samachar Newspaper Group here today, the Chief Minister said that these social maladies were the root cause of wide spread terrorism and in order to provide security to the countrymen it was the bounden duty of the Union government to make stupendous efforts for removing them. Advocating the constitution of a national level forum for discussing such key issues Badal said that at present the state governments hardly have any forum to raise the matters relating to public interest before the Union government. He said that as a result of this on one hand heavy concentration of powers was taking place in the hands of Centre government and on the other hand due to communication gap between the Union and state governments the welfare of general public was being adversely effected. The Chief Minister further said that with the constitution of such national level forum all the political parties would be able to contribute towards ensuring peace and communal harmony in the country thus paving way for its all round development. Reiterating that the grants given by the Union government must be disbursed in proportion to the share of taxes collected from the state, Badal said that it would provide the required fillip for the development of the states. He also said that the Centre government must formulate the policies at national level keeping in view the persities in the states so that uniform development could be ensured in them.The Chief Minister also demanded that the Union government must take adequate steps for effectively checking the smuggling of drugs into the states from across the border. Badal also exhorted the people to come forward and join hands to support the state government for curbing the menaces like poverty, corruption and drug trafficking so that a new era of all round development could be heralded in the state.The Chief Minister lamented that the state has adversely affected on the count of long spell terrorism and its consequences were apparent from the fact that Punjab which was once the most prosperous region of the world was today lagging behind in many fields. He moaned that though the people of state had very bravely fought against terrorism but the Union government had never bothered to fulfill the economic loss suffered by the state during that troublesome period, despite the fact that the state fought a nation’s war. However the Chief Minister said that the silver lining had been that the state government with the active co-operation of the wise people of Punjab has been able to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state.Lauding the role played by Hind Samachar Newspaper Group in helping the victims of terrorism and in preserving the unity and integrity of the country, the Chief Minister said that due to such selfless efforts the menace of terrorism could be curbed from the country. Earlier talking the media persons the Chief Minister said that for successful implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) act to benefit the weaker sections of society, the Union government must ensure that the reimbursement to be given to the private schools for waiving off the fee of poor students must be released in advance. He said that the financial burden of this act should not fall on the state governments rather the Union government must release funds for successful implementation of this act. Badal also said that the Union government must draft the policies keeping in view its financial implications. Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included Bhagat Chunni Lal, Ajit Singh Kohar, Sarwan Singh Phillaur and Surjit Kumar Jiyani (All Cabinet Ministers), KD Bhandari and Pawan Teenu (both Chief Parliamentary Secretaries), former Media Advisor to the Chief Minister Harcharan Bains and Special Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Gurkirat Kirpal Singh.