Principal Secretary, Dr Kotwal convenes meeting to discuss actionable points in accordance with Second Chief Secretaries Conference held in January

Leh, June 7: Principal Secretary, Planning Development & Monitoring Department, Pawan Kotwal chaired a meeting to review the remarks of the Second Chief Secretaries Conference held in January 2023. The conference focused on collaborative action for sustainable growth, job creation, women’s empowerment, health and nutrition, and skill development. The overarching theme was ‘Vikasit Bharat: Reaching the Last Mile’. The conference discussed six key themes: MSMEs, Infrastructure and Investments, Minimizing Compliances, Women’s Empowerment, Health and Nutrition, and Skill Development. The meeting aimed to assess the Prime Minister’s remarks and session-wise action points for effective implementation by relevant authorities. The conference provided a platform for strategic collaboration towards inclusive progress.

Speaking on the thematic meals session, Principal Secretary, School Education Department, Sanjeev Khirwar said that encouraging the production and marketing of local products to reduce the burden of imports is important and awareness camps should be held to promote the agenda of ‘Vocal for Local’ Also, in view of the International Year of  Millets, Khirwar instructed the officials to design publicity strategy to alter the situation in favour of local millets and engaging important personalities to act as an ambassador for popularising millets and create a conducive environment in making millets a household and acceptable food. Khirwar called for prompt and effective execution of the recommended actions as per the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s remarks.

Sessions on inclusive human development held at the conference focused on women’s empowerment, health, and skill development. Khirwar highlighted the objectives of diversifying women-centric jobs, establishing linkages between Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and companies, prioritizing the dignity of women, assisting women SHGs in building their brands, developing gender-sensitive curricula, and implementing Information, Education, and Communication/Behavior Change Communication (IEC/BCC) programs for students. He directed relevant departments to allocate funds from local bodies/PRIs to create gender-friendly spaces and integrate the One Nation One Helpline (112) within a year. Additionally, he emphasized the need to establish creches, anganwadi-cum-creches in schools, and working women hostels in economic zones.

Besides this, deliberations were also held on five years of GST; Cyber Security; focus of PM on decriminalization & minimising compliance burden; district as fulcrum of development with emphasis on agriculture and allied sectors, organizing Chintan Shivirs, benchmarking and achievements; habits of circular economy, vehicle scrapping policy and allotment; one language policy (Rajbhasha); Global Geopolitics; Skilling as paying and lifelong paying options; dynamic District, State and National Skill Development plans, amongst others.

Principal Secretary Dr. Kotwal emphasized the importance of compliance with the ‘Maternity Benefit Act,’ ‘the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) at Workplace Act, 2013,’ and the Code on Industrial Relations for all formal establishments, including NGOs. He called for immediate action to ensure transparency and adherence to these regulations.

The meeting was also attended by the Commissioner / Secretary, General Administration Department; Commissioner / Secretary, Transport Department; Secretary, Tourism & Culture Department; Secretary, Power Development Department; Secretary, Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Secretary, Law Department; Under Secretary, Higher Education Department and other concerned officials.