Prepare vision for 2047: Shah chairs UTs’ meet

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked all Union Territories (UTs) to prepare their vision for 2047, while emphasising they can become role models for the growth of the country.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked all Union Territories (UTs) to prepare their vision for 2047, while emphasising they can become role models for the growth of the country.

Union home minister Amit Shah. (ANI)

He asked the UTs to exchange best practices while stressing on safety, completion of flagship schemes, minimum government and maximum governance and zero tolerance against corruption. He said that the Union Territories should become models of self-reliance and every UT should be proud of its heritage

The home minister was addressing a conference on UTs in Delhi, organised by the ministry of home affairs (MHA).

The conference was attended by minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, home secretary Ajay Bhalla, chief secretaries or advisers to the administrators of eight UTs and senior home ministry officers among others.

“In his address, HM Amit Shah emphasised on making UTs a role model for the country and said that if the potential of UTs is fully harnessed, India will be able to achieve the goal of becoming the third largest economy in the world. He also directed the UTs to prepare their vision for 2047,” a statement issued by MHA said, quoting Shah.

Shah said that all UTs have been given a road map for 2047, an action plan for the next five years, and the goals set for the next five years to be achieved.

“An annual plan should be drawn up. The implementation and progress of these action plans should also be monitored and reviewed regularly and rigorously to derive maximum benefits,” he said.

The home minister called upon the UTs to exchange best practices.

Asserting that the UTs should take inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motto of “Vocal for local” and “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat”, Shah said the UTs should strive to become a hub of development and welfare.

“UTs should come together and work synergistically on a common platform to achieve the national objectives and vision and take the country forward in the journey of development. They are small in geographical size and have a relatively simple administrative set up, therefore UTs are ideal prototypes to experiment with pilot programmes. These experiments can be tested on a small scale in the UTs and then replicated in larger regions and states,” Shah said, while adding that focus should be on cooperatives, especially in the fisheries sector, for development and public participation.

At the same time, he added, the UTs should focus on increasing their manufacturing sector to reduce their dependence on external resources so as to reduce the loss of revenue in the process.

“Tourist circuits should be developed in the country to attract more tourists and reduce the cost of transportation etc.,” he said.

The conference was an opportunity for cross-learning and knowledge sharing between the UTs and other stakeholders, as well as a platform to voice their aspirations, achievements, local priorities and unique challenges, the MHA said.

As a preparation for the conference, a brainstorming session was held in Puducherry in November this year in which officials from the MHA as well as officials from the eight UTs met for two days. The three working areas -- economic development, tourism and flagship plans and best practices -- were discussed in detail and shaped the agenda of the conference.