Bhubaneswar: Devolution of powers to the block and Panchayat level is not possible without media playing a constructive role, said experts at a media workshop on decentralised planning this week, in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha. The workshop aims to familiarise media people with local planning processes and good practices with focus on the larger picture of decentralisation and convergence.
Organised by the Planning & Coordination Department, Govt of Odisha, along with Niti Aayog and UNDP, the workshop was facilitated by OneWorld Foundation India, a non-profit, the workshop aimed to familiarise media people with local planning processes and good practices with focus on the larger picture of decentralisation and convergence.
Media is an important stakeholder in decentralised planning and has a much wider role to play in furthering the devolution of powers from the national level to the Panchayat level, said B D Virdi, Advisor, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.
Virdi contended that media had a much wider role which is not restricted to negative issues alone, but transcends to the positive side, too. He lamented that many good practices at the grassroots level do not get documented because of certain reasons.
New ideas, new models need to be looked into for devolution of powers, suggested Virdi. “If we look at the whole picture in totality on governance issues, we find that not just policy makers but even the grassroots people are benefitted by enhancing governance at the grassroots level,” he added.
The impressive growth witnessed over a last decade has failed people on the socio-economic parameters. “The workshop would be instrumental in talking about the issues and processes related to decentralised planning with the media community,” he said.
Virdi lamented that the economic growth in our country is not as inclusive as it should be, adding that inclusive growth is necessary not just for addressing regional issues but also to plug in development loopholes. “Despite huge investment under the Centrally sponsored schemes and State schemes, the kind of results expected, have perhaps not come,” he said.
Virdi stressed that there is a vast scope to improve our economic growth and unless the latter is inclusive, it will not be sustainable. “When we arrive at this conclusion, we are forced to look at decentralised planning,” he said.
Virdi recalled that special initiatives have been taken from time to time to strengthen the capacities of local bodies. “We were seized of the issue as to who are the stakeholders of this process, and thus, we realised that media is an important component which has led us to this workshop,” he said.
G B Reddy, OSD & Member –Secretary, PHDMA, Planning and Coordination, Govt of Odisha, said that decentralised process has a mandate in the constitution also. “Odisha is one of the few states where the process of district level planning was initiated very early, way back in 2007. The state government has created a district component under different schemes,” he said.
Reddy said that the process of decentralised process is a long drawn process and it needs to be strengthened with the help of media which could act as a transmission platform. “The outcome of this workshop would result in a document which would help the government in its policy formulations,” he said.
