By IANS,
Raipur: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Tuesday said that Maoism has affected development in parts of India, and said the government and civil society should work together to find a solution.
“Maoist violence has hit hard the development process and territorial integrity of the affected regions. It has also endangered life and livelihood of the people,” Meira Kumar said at the start of the Fourth Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) of India and Asia regions here.
“It is imperative for the governments, corporate houses, entrepreneurs, civil society organisations and the public to put a joint effort to bring peace and prosperity in the troubled regions,” she said.
Meira Kumar also said a regional cooperation framework was needed to deal with challenges of food security and terrorism.
“It is only with inter governmental cooperation and integrated concerted action that we can achieve the objective of inclusive development,” she said.
She said peace and harmony were vital prerequisites for political stability and sustainable growth.
“But unfortunately terrorism has emerged as a major threat to democratic societies, hitting at their very foundation. All of us have felt the pangs of terrorism. Our country has been a victim of cross border terrorism.”
She said terror attacks all over the world underscored the necessity of strongest collective action.
Recalling the terror attack on Mumbai in November 2008, the speaker said the incident was “a grim reminder” that legislatures have to strive towards strengthening inter-governmental cooperation against terrorism.
The speaker said increasing the availability of food was vital for guaranteeing food security to all.
“The present crisis-like situation on the food security front is a consequence of a combination of several factors such as global warming and climate change, that adversely affect agricultural production, increasing international fuel prices leading to higher transport costs, exorbitant cost of agricultural inputs, impediments in global agricultural trade and speculations in agricultural commodity markets,” Meira Kumar said.
The five day conference will be attended by 60 delegates from CPA India Region and 17 delegates from the CPA Asia Region.
Besides the delegates, about eight secretaries from CPA India Region and about 30 countries from CPA Asia Region are taking part.
The conference, concluding Oct 29, will see discussions on several key issues, including a debate on “Terrorism and Naxalism: Threat to Democracy-Need for joint effort in the region”.