New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to strengthening local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said smooth elections to village councils and the first-ever elections to district councils after seven decades in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are a symbol of commitment of the government led by Prime Minister Modi to strengthen the local bodies.

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The minister was speaking at the valedictory function of a three-day orientation programme on urban governance for mayors/chairpersons and municipal commissioners/chief executive officers from Jammu at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) headquarters here.

Singh said that efforts have been made to change the political culture since Modi became the prime minister in 2014, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

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He said the three-day workshop of local bodies' representatives of Jammu is a step in that direction which will be followed by a similar programme for Srinagar and then other parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said that Modi has given the mantra of "reform, perform, transform" and today transparency in all spheres and at all levels of the governance can be seen.

He said that honesty and accountability are the key words for the smooth conduct of the duties by people's representatives.

Singh, who is also the chairman of IIPA, said that the local bodies' representatives should be in better coordination with the officials to be able to remove several obstacles easily.

He urged the participants to inculcate vision, imagination and innovation.

Singh said that efforts are on to conduct a number of programmes in Jammu and Kashmir such as start-up based workshops which can open a new horizon for people, especially the youth of the valley.

Such programmes will be based on themes, specific to the local area, the minister said.

Similarly, discussions are on with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to organise Rozgar Mela (job fair), the statement said.

Singh referred to multiple roles of elected representatives like developing a bottom-up connectivity in city governance, promoting emergence of natural leadership from the grassroots level, community participation and mobilisation of local resources, and operating as intermediary link between city government and community, and state leadership and city.

He said reforms in Jammu are not only important for the city but are also important for other towns in the union territory.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)