New Delhi: Emphasising the importance of communication tools, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said the "biggest punishment" for people is when they have no means of communication. The Information and Broadcasting Minister, speaking at the National Awards for community radio event here, also hailed the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir as "historic decision."
"We did a lot of work. In Kashmir, people did not get the right of development like the rest of the country. So that they get this right of development, Article 370 happened. It is a historic decision. The development that Jammu and Kashmir did not have, it will get it now."
He also said, "the people didn't get reservation, they will get it now, they didn't have right to education, they will get it now, they were being left out of government schemes that are doing well, they will get its benefits now. All the laws will now be applicable there. So, now they will grow at a higher rate than the rest of the country."
Javadekar said at present, the situation in India is such that everyone has a mobile phone through which one can talk to each other across cities. He said that India has emerged as the largest user of the mobile phone in the country.
"This is the power and need of communication...when people store everything in their hearts and are unable to tell anyone about it, is the biggest punishment. When you cannot talk to anyone, you cannot contact anyone and you have no tool to communicate, that is the biggest punishment," he said, adding that one of the biggest medium of communication is community radio.
"Incidentally, the minister's comments come in the backdrop of restrictions imposed on communication services in the Kashmir Valley after the abrogation of the Article 370 by the Union government on August 5.
The minister gave away awards in five categories for the years 2018 and 2019. While in 2018 for the Radio Namaskar, Odisha received the first prize, the second prize was bagged by Radio Sharda, Jammu and Kashmir in the Thematic Category, in 2019 the first prize was won by Friends Radio, Tripura followed by Salaam Namaste in Uttar Pradesh.
Javadekar also said that the government led by Narendra Modi was taking decisions at high speed and unlike earlier governments which gave annual reports of its work, this government gave 50 days and 75 day reports. He also released a booklet of 75 days of the Modi government highlighting its achievements called "Jan Connect."
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