Editorial: Need to learn lessons
Srinagar: There are hardly any instances when one can see a constitutional head of the state offering advice to the government that too-on a public platform. The state’s constitutional head is by all means to follow the advice of the council of ministers and abide by the governments view and support their decisions.
But when governor N N Vohra got an opportunity to remind the present government to perk up its performance, the governor left no stone unturned to tell the government that all is not well in the state.
Though the occasion was organised to mark the second death anniversary of former J&K chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, where the governor had to deliver a speech, he minced no words in telling the Chief Minister to perk up the performance on the governance front and address the developmental issues expeditiously.
Vohra said that he has to call the Chief Minister every now and then to sound her on expeditious implementation of key developmental projects and other issues concerning the state.
The governors diatribe must not have gone well with the ruling dispensation, but the issues he flagged have raised several important questions about the state’s development and the seriousness of the government to take the state to the next level on issues like governance, employment and development.
What the governor meant by criticizing the government openly is that he too has felt that the yearning for advancing public good is missing and a sustained and uncommon eagerness to closely follow up on the implementation of development works by those in power, is lacking.
Vohra’s reminder that all governments need to work dutifully, in a transparent and accountable manner and achieve their goals in an equitable and inclusive manner, signaled that the administrative machinery is not proving effective to ameliorate the disadvantaged sections of the society.
Our state is presently faced with many issues and the way the opposition is trying to remind the government of its promises is also a grim reminder that some seriousness is needed immediately to come over the administrative inertia that has gripped the state.
The government should immediately identify key areas and try its best to focus on those very areas. The prime focus should be the involvement of the youth who have been witnessing frequent disruptions not only in the academic calendar but other activities also.
These grey areas need to be tackled at an earliest so that the career of the youth is not put at stake.
The state has also suffered on varied counts because of domestic and external factors which have been detrimental to its progress and development. The government needs to firmly resolve to negate these factors and work collectively towards achieving set targets.
The government needs to understand that the problems of the state are its own making and the problems are worsening as the state is failing to protect the interests of its citizens. Though a reminder by the Governor may have been a bit bitter, but in the long run it is in the interest of the state.
KV Correspondent
