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Friday, Aug 13, 2004

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Seers hold key to good governance: Uma

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, AUG. 12. The three-day national seminar on "Alternative Strategies for Development" concluded here today with the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, emphasising the important role that can be played by sadhus (seers) and saints belonging to different religions to ensure all round development and more specifically the welfare of the common man.

Ms. Bharti was addressing the valedictory session of the national seminar organised by the State Government at the new Assembly building here. The spiritual guru, Bapu Asaramji Maharaj was the chief guest on this occasion.

The Union Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh, was earlier supposed to be the chief guest at this function and this was even mentioned in the invitation cards that had been circulated on the eve of the President's visit to Bhopal.

The recommendations of this three-day exercise were being forwarded to the Madhya Pradesh Government by the State Academy of Administration and Management.

In her concluding remarks, the Chief Minister said successive Governments in the past had failed to reach their goal as they could not ensure the participation of sadhus and saints. While asserting that no State can progress without the cooperation of seers, Ms. Bharti said her Government would take their help for building social awareness and motivating the people to plant more trees and ensure effective implementation of Government's programmes in priority areas like education, health care and the mid-day meal scheme for school students. She said the State Government would be seeking the cooperation and help of the Kanchi Shankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, as well as the Shankaracharya of Puri.

Similarly, the State Government would be seeking help from the Muslim religious leaders and Christian priests, she added.

Ms. Bharti said that she considers the President, A.P.J Abdul Kalam, who has the vision of building

India into a military as well as an economic super power, as a saint. It is therefore significant, she said, that the three-day national seminar on development was inaugurated by him and was being concluded by Bapu Asaramji.

The Chief Minister said globalisation should be viewed as an opportunity and not as a threat. There can be no threat from globalisation process if we use our own technology and resources but there are pitfalls if we rely extensively on the western model of development, she said adding that the need of the hour is to ensure optimum utilization of the country's own resources.

She said the rapidly increasing population is a matter of concern but at the same time pointed out that by the year 2010, India would have the largest population of youngsters in the world. While a

large part of the population in the developed countries would comprise of old people, majority of

India's population would consist of the Youth around 2010 -2020, she said emphasising "therefore it is important that we should pay maximum attention towards ensuring the health, education and employment needs of the young generation."

Ms. Bharti also said that the people should not be turned into guinea pigs while experimenting with

different developmental strategies. In fact, she said, while experimenting with one strategy, care should be taken to ensure continuity and effectiveness of policies aimed for the welfare of the people. She said a balanced approach should be adopted for development which is possible only through industries, small scale industries and agriculture.

The Chief Minister said her Government's target was to convert Madhya Pradesh into a model State within three years. The Government would strive to ensure all-round decentralised development, she asserted.

In his address, Bapu Asaramji said there is a vast difference between the western culture and the Indian culture. He said in ancient times there was so much prosperity in this country but the people were least materialistic in attitude. This was followed by period of invasions and endless atrocities but even then the Indian culture has retained its ethos and spiritual values. Bapu Asramji said we can think of true development only when the common man has the opportunity to have a healthy mind in a healthy body. People should plant trees and resolve to work for the happiness of others, he added. He also stressed the importance of cow from the medicinal point of view and said that owning a cow can be a good source of employment for the rural people because it is not just milk and dairy products but even cow-dung that can generate revenue.

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Seers hold key to good governance: Uma