Kohima, July 2 (DIPR): The Inter Media Publicity Co-ordination Committee (IMPCC) meeting was held today in the Field Publicity office Kohima.
Addressing the meeting, Consumer Activities and Advocate and President of NVCO, Kezhokhoto Savi said that DCs of some districts has already issued notification banning items like Gutkha, Talab, Tez etc and opined that NSF can also issue orders in compliance with the government notification. He further said that police agencies and municipal bodies can be directed to seize the banned goods and take it for destruction, in the presence of media persons. He informed that selling of such items to a minor below 18 years is banned. Stating that Consumer Awareness is still lacking in our state, Kezhokhoto said that consumer awareness is the key to bring a positive change so that everyone knows what are their rights enshrined in the Constitution. ‘Unscrupulous mindset, unfair trade practices and corruption should be weeded out in order to bring a change’, he said.
Assistant Director, RD, K. Neibou Sekhose while highlighting on some major flagship programmes of Government of India said that during 2008-09 NREGA programme has been implemented in all the 1110 recognized villages in the state. ‘NREGA is a scheme along with RTI Act so it is very transparent’, he stated. He said that NREGA money is credited to VDB account where they are given the power to implement the scheme. Rural Development department acts only as facilitator, he informed. He also also said that Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) is being implemented very successfully by the department till date with a high level of social acceptance in the diverse society of the state and has attracted wide community participation in its implementation.
Participating in the meeting, Deputy Director Agriculture, Rongseinla informed about the department’s plan to organize Agri Expo during the 2nd week of December 2009 where participants from the national and international arena would be invited to participate in the event. ‘All the departments including the media will be involved in a big way’, she said. She also informed about the Rodent Control Campaign carried out in Peren district, where the departmental officers have already covered 74 villages. To create awareness among the farmers and to control the rat menace, the campaign will start tomorrow in Wokha and Kiphire, she said. The department is also focusing on Agricultural Technological Management Agencies (ATMA) where all the Agri and allied sectors are working to reach out the farmers, she stated.
Representative from DDK apprised about the need to operationalise the earth station so that DDK programmes could be relayed in all the districts of Nagaland. Additional Director General, Field Publicity, Ministry of I&B, A. Lassa in her concluding remarks termed media as vehicle of change and called upon them to publicize all the programmes and policies of the Government making awareness as the key factor so that public participation is encouraged. She called upon all the participants to join hands together to bring a change where media should be the transformation agency.
The meeting, chaired by A. Lassa, was attended by representatives from departments of Health & Family Welfare, IPR, Agriculture, Rural Development, besides representatives of DDK, AIR, DAVP, Nehru Yuva Kendra and PIB.
