Workshop on grass root democracy and voter’s awareness in Arunachal Pradesh
Staff Reporter
RONO HILL, Sep 30: Home Minister Bamang Felix on Monday urged the Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) to play an important role in the fight against money culture in the state.
He said this while attending a one day workshop jointly organized by the department of political science and state election commission (SEC). The topic of workshop was grass root democracy and voter’s awareness in Arunachal Pradesh.
“Cash for vote has become big concern for everyone including politicians. Today majority of MLAs who won assembly election are in debt due to heavy expenditure incurred during election. If this money culture continues, the state will never get developed. RGU can play pivotal role by educating masses about ill effects of money culture,” said home minister.
Later, he released two books- research trends on fish and fisheries in mountain waters of eastern Himalayan region by Prof DN Das, Santhos Kumar Abujan and
Achom Darshan Singh, department of Zoology and contemporary Indian society: Issues and Challenges with special reference to North East India by Dr Anga Padu and Narendra Singh of the department of education, RGU.
The vice chancellor of RGU Prof Saket Kushwaha in his address emphasised on self discipline and transparency.
State election commissioner Hage Kojeen spoke about the vitality of grassroot democracy in Arunachal and the positive changes it can bring. He also spoke on the role of state election commission and the journey how it evolved in Arunachal
During the technical session several speakers spoke on various topics assigned to them. The first technical session was chaired by Prof PK Panigrahi, head of department, police science, RGU. Prof Nani Bath spoke on the topic local self government and evolution of Panchayati Raj and Municipality in the state.
Prof Bath charged state government of breaching constitution of India by not conducting the local body election and expressed serious concern over delay.
Former Zilla Parishad Chairperson (ZPC) of East Siang district Kaling Dai spoke about grass root realities and challenges facing the Panchayati Raj while Ajin Apang, standing counsel, state election commission spoke on the topic electoral offenses and corrupt practises, understanding legal provisions under RP act, state act/rules, etc. Secretary state election commission, Nyali Ete highlighted about model of conduct and role of state election commission.
Former Itanagar Municipal Council (IMC) chief Higio Aruni highlighted the issues concerning IMC and termed solid waste management as a big challenge for Itanagar municipal.
Arunachal Time’s Journalist Taba Ajum spoke on the subject role of media in understanding grass root democracy through Panchayati Raj and Municipality.
The workshop was coordinated by David Gao and Samanth Sahu of the department of political science, RGU.
