Jammu, March 3 Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday that the vision of a developed India by 2047 can only become a reality if development reaches every corner of the country, asserting that progress confined to a few states or regions would remain "a dream and a slogan."
Abdullah was addressing a national conference on transforming governance for a developed India and improving governance.
"The truth is that a developed India or a Viksit Bharat will only be a reality if all of India develops. A developed India or a Viksit Bharat will not be a reality if that development is confined only to a handful of states or regions, unless it includes Jammu and Kashmir in the very north, Assam in the very east, Gujarat in the west, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala," the National Conference leader said. He stressed that every region must witness progress for the national vision to materialize.
"Unless all of us see that development... (it) would remain a dream and a slogan. So, how does the whole of India develop? It develops through conferences like this. It develops through taking a ground-up approach rather than a bottom-down approach," he said.
Abdullah emphasized grassroots development.
"If our districts perform, our states and Union Territories perform. If our states and Union Territories perform, our country performs," he said.
The chief minister said such gatherings ensure that governments do not "reinvent the wheel" and enable the sharing of best practices across districts and states.
"For far too long, we lived in silos where sharing of information was discouraged rather than encouraged. Thankfully, over the last few years, we have seen more holistic governance and greater cooperation," he said.
Abdullah underlined that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to governance challenges.
"What works in one state may not work in another. What works in Jammu and Kashmir may not work in Gujarat or Maharashtra. But we can certainly adapt successful models to suit our local conditions," he said.
He said that the transition to e-Office and digital governance has significantly improved efficiency and transparency in the Union Territory.
"We have come a long way. Today, I very rarely see a paper file. Everything comes digitally, and that has made life much easier," he remarked, recalling how a simple email in his earlier tenure once resulted in a file nearly a foot thick. He emphasised offline meetings wherever possible and not calling people "unnecessarily."
On efficiency, Abdullah observed, "If we speak of a single-window system, it should genuinely function as a single window. Sometimes a 'single window' leads to another window, then to a ventilator, and finally to a wall behind it. That is not how it is meant to work."