‘Need for decentralised,participative and gender-sensitive government’

In his inaugural address,C P Barthwal,Vice-Chancellor of Kumaun University,Nainital,laid emphasis on evolving an ethical environment to protect citizens’ rights,foster accountability and transparency even as globalisation was leading to the shrinking of public space. He advocated the cause of making governments more decentralised,participative,gender-sensitive and responsible towards the socially-marginalised.

Presiding over the seminar,Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor,Jaspal Singh said,“Though we have become globalised,yet internally we are becoming all the more skewed and shallow,a trend which ultimately is going to prove catastrophic,” he said.

L S Rathore,former vice-chancellor of J N Vyas University,Jodhpur,in his keynote address,regretted that crime was proliferating at a fast pace as a consequence of “consumerist culture”. Talking about the role of media,he said that its focus was more on paparazzi and sting operations.