Chandigarh, April 26 (IANS) Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar led discussions at a National Chintan Shivir here that saw a consensus on a set of time-bound, actionable recommendations to strengthen last-mile delivery of social justice schemes, an official said on Sunday.

The Minister said, “The three-day National Chintan Shivir provided a serious and result-oriented platform for the Centre, States and Union Territories to reflect collectively on how social justice delivery can be made more accessible, responsive and implementation-driven.

He noted that the deliberations were anchored in the larger national resolve of “Antyodaya ka Sankalp, Amrit Kaal ka Pratibimb – Viksit Bharat@2047” and reaffirmed that social justice must remain rooted in dignity, accessibility and continuity for the last person in the queue.

Organised over three days, starting April 24, the Shivir progressed from an inaugural focus on vision, dignity and accessibility, to intensive theme-wise deliberations on the second and third days, culminating in a concluding session that consolidated the outcomes into a forward-looking roadmap.

Virendra Kumar observed that the discussions during the Shivir went beyond broad policy intent and focused on practical solutions in areas such as scholarship delivery, de-addiction, senior citizen welfare, accessibility, certification for persons with disabilities, and inclusion-linked support systems for vulnerable communities.

Referring to the Ministry’s ongoing digital and institutional initiatives, including platforms and applications launched during the inaugural session, he underlined the importance of technology-enabled governance, process simplification, better monitoring and stronger coordination between the Centre and States/UTs.

The Union Minister expressed confidence that the recommendations emerging from the conclave would help shape a more effective implementation framework in the social justice sector.

He said the Ministry would take forward the outcomes of the Chintan Shivir in close partnership with States and Union Territories, with continued emphasis on inclusion, empowerment and measurable ground-level outcomes for the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of society.

Earlier, the third day began with a yoga session, followed by a thematic breakfast on “Jagrukta se Sulabhata – Awareness to Accessibility under DoSJE”, where participants discussed the need to move from scheme-centric thinking to a rights-based, universal design approach that treats accessibility as integral to all public infrastructure, services and digital platforms.

–IANS

rch/uk