NEW DELHI: Emphasising the importance of societal peace to strengthen the nation, former Jammu & Kashmir Governor NN Vohra said the pace of development would slow down if the government is forced to spend its energies on ending communal violence and arson.
Speaking at the launch of a book, Beyond the Trappings of Office A Civil Servant’s Journey in Punjab, by Rajan Kashyap, former Punjab Chief Secretary, Vohra said normalcy must continue to enable the country become stronger, both militarily and economically.
Vohra said blaming the bureaucracy in case anything went wrong was puerile. “But for the bureaucracy, this country could not have been held together,” said Vohra, a 1959-batch IAS officer. On the country’s post-Independence growth, Vohra said great results have been achieved from scratch in 1947, when famine-like conditions prevailed.
Former Delhi L-G Tejendra Khanna and former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah also spoke about the book and issues related to the bureaucracy and country.