PROCEEDINGS OF THE 34TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE J&K REGIONAL BRANCH

The 34th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the IIPA J&K Regional Branch was held on January 5, 2013 in the IIPA Seminar Hall. 52 members attended. Shri J.A. Khan IAS (Retd.) Economic Advisor to the Govt. of J&K presided.

1.At the out set Hony Secretary while welcoming the members introduced the topic “Industrial Policy of Jammu & Kashmir” and speaker Shri Vikrant Kuthiala, Joint Secretary, IIPA J&K Regional Branch. Mr Kuthiala while presenting the paper he stressed upon the constrains under which the industry works in J&K. He specifically stressed upon the lack of availability and proximity to markets, absence of large Central Public Sector Undertaking, absence of an extensive Road network in rural regions of the State.

He further stated that State has reasonably well qualified availability of Man Power, good availability of Electricity, good telecommunication services. He suggested that specific sectors of the Industry, where State has comparative advantages must be further encouraged through focused Incentives.

He also drew attention of the House to the fact that, since 2002, J&K has attracted industrial investment of 2500 Crores, Himachal Pradesh has attracted industrial investment of 35,000 Crores and Uttarkand at over 44,000 Crores. He suggested that State Policy must encourage actual value addition and sustainable Industrial investment in the State.

Mr J.A. Khan, Economic Advisor to J&K State gave presidential Remarks. He stated that right from early days, State Government has provided all possible Incentives and facilities to Industry in the State and would continue to do so in the near future, also.Mr Khan also highlighted various measures and initiatives taken by the State Govt. for balanced Industrial development of the State.

2.Hony Secretary Shri J.B.S. Johar presented his annual report in which he enumerated that 14 programme/Workshops/events were organised in the Regional Branch during the year 2012, besides releasing of two biannual issues of the IIPA news letter. He further apprised the members that 8 new members have been enrolled during the year.

Hony Secretary informed the members that, in recognition of our activities, the J&K Regional Branch has been co-opted on the Executive Council for the 2nd successive term, for two year 2012-14. Hony Secretary thanked all the members for extending their Co-operation in carrying out various activities by the Regional Branch during the year.  He specially mentioned the names of Shri Nisar Ahmed & Shri Vikram Gour.      

He further thanked the Editorial Board/ Editorial Team for the co-operation & untiring efforts in release the bi annual issues of the IIPA newsletter regularly.

3.Shri T.P. Singh Hony Treasurer presented audited Statement of accounts for the financial years 2011-12 and comparative Receipts & expenditure for the financial year 2010-11 & 2011-12.  He apprised the members that the  Income Tax return of the IIPA Regional Branch for the assessment year 2012-13 has been filed through M/S K.B. Sharma & Co. Charted Accounts Jammu. This was followed by the discussion on the annual report of the Hony secretary & Financial statement of accounts, annual audited reports presented by the Hony Treasurer, which was approved by the General Body. The members also approved the services of M/S K.B. Sharma & Co. Charted Accounts Jammu for auditing accounts and filing of the Income Tax return at the remuneration of Rs 5000/- per year.

4.The following suggestions were made by the members regarding future programme:
                   (a) Climate change and its effects
                   (b) Traffic Management in Jammu
                   (c) Ethics in policing
                   (d) Getting rid of menace of polythenes
                   (e) Joining hands with Regional/Local branches in North Zone to share faculty and organise joint programmes.

 A suggestion that AGM in future be organised on a Sunday forenoon found a strong support amongst the Members.

5.The Chairman Dr Ashok Bhan in his address thanked the Members for braving through a cold evening and coming in large numbers. He dwelt on the challenges before the Regional Branch in the background of Governance coming in for strong criticism in the country after a series of scams and questions being raised about the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System.

The Chairman emphasized on making continuous efforts towards building capacity for Good Governance through our programmes. In this regards he recounted the series of workshop for Government officials held in the recent past and future programmes on Administration of Urban development and Urban Services delivery and Consumer Protection in collaboration with IIPA, New Delhi.

Dr Bhan appreciated the role of Srinagar based members in reviving activities of the Regional Branch and laid emphasis on enrolment of young members. He, however, lamented on the thin attendance of members during various programmes. In this regards further updating of mailing list and use of e-mails could help in better reach to the members.

The Chairman while appreciating the role of Editorial Team in publishing of Newsletter regularly wanted reputed academicians/members like Dr Ashok Aima, Prof Rekha Choudhary and Prof Versha Mehta to help launch the “Journal for Public Administration and Management”. Similarly, history of the Regional Branch need to be recorded as it enters 35 years of its existence. This initiative will have to be taken in the right earnest so that the volume is available before the 35th AGM next year.

He thanked the members and the Executive Committee/office Bearers for their continued support in making programme a success.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair and followed by the Dinner.