Best wishes to India’s 2.50 lakh Panchayats, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had greeted on the National Panchayats Day last year calling upon people to recognise the power of democracy to enhance the image of the country so that by making the panchayats self-dependent they can be taken to the heights of progress. We are all representatives of the people, said the PM. We are all dedicated to this democracy. Although the scope of work may be different, the goal is the same- public service to nation service. Whatever schemes have been made by the central government to make life easier for the poor, our Gram Panchayat is putting them on the ground with full dedication, the PM had stated As an enabling agent of social and economic change or as the engine of rural development, Panchayats across the country are making their significant contribution, said the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Manoj Sinha. The chosen representatives of Jammu and Kashmir are doing their work diligently to meet the challenges of sustainable development and also in helping to enable citizens. A memory room (Smriti Kaksh) has been built to save the memory of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Palli Panchayat village in Jammu and Kashmir. The Lieutenant Governor said he got a chance to visit Palli. Today, in Samba village18 and in Anantnag 6 Panchayats were inaugurated, LG said. With the efforts of the PM, grassroots democracy has strengthened in not only Kashmir but also the rest of India and the overall resources of common citizens and villages have increased. The Panchayati Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir has harnessed the power of change happening in the 2.50 lakh Panchayats of the country. The collective efforts of ordinary citizens are making big dreams come true in small villages here. Palli Panchayat is India’s first carbon neutral village, LG said. I feel proud that all the sectors, whether they be financial inclusion, education, health, road, livelihood, by winning the respect of being high achievers in all the sectors, Palli is giving a new model to the country in the form of an ideal village. We all have to take special care of this, LG said. After the country’s largest panchayat parliament in Delhi, the most important institution that we have are the village panchayats.The stronger the Gram Panchayats are, the better it will work, LG remarked. We will achieve success by changing the direction and condition of villages, LG said. He said how Palli Panchayt’s Sarpanch and their team have helped Women Self Help Groups, Green Plantation and have shown amazing leadership. Excellent work has been introduced in Chachwal Panchayat where youth have been given self employment in the fishery sector. Many such examples are being seen in Jammu and Kashmir. Change begins with one person. The day this feeling awakens in us that the filth in the villages is a blot on society, on that day the change in villages will surely begin, LG said. That’s why I will request again and again that the seedling of change can grow only from the lowest grassroots unit and strongest unit of democracy, stated LG.