Delhi, Punjab govts sign knowledge-sharing agreement for better health, education infra

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann signed a Knowledge Sharing Agreement (KSA) between the states to enable them to send and receive officials, ministers and other personnel to learn and share their knowledge, experience and skills for public welfare.

While speaking about the new agreement, Kejriwal said the KSA will mark a new experiment in history as the two governments have resolved to learn from each other's good deeds and practices in order to improve the lives of the people of Delhi and Punjab. The two governments will collaborate for the benefit of the people, he added. "We shall learn and pass on our good actions to one another. Cooperation and collaboration are the only ways through which Delhi & Punjab can progress and drive the country to success. We will fulfil Babasaheb and Sardar Bhagat Singh's dreams together," Kejriwal said.

He said India will progress if every state starts learning from the good work done by others. "It will be wrong to say that only we have done good work. There were several islands of excellence across the country but there were divisions of parties and states, and nothing was learned from that," he said in a press conference held jointly with Mann.

Around 1.8 million children in the city are enrolled in 1,068 schools run by the AAP government and around 25 per cent of the total state budget is dedicated to education. The main pillars of Delhi's education revolution are quality infrastructure, a strong school community, capacity building of teachers and curriculum reforms, the government said in a statement which added that it has raised its capital expenditure for healthcare by 5.5 times so far. The Delhi government has established a four-tier healthcare system with 38 government hospitals, 30 polyclinics, 414 dispensaries, 519 mohalla clinics and 20 school health clinics.

"As an artist when I would travel all over the world for my shows, I had the chance to see schools and hospitals in Canada and America as well.

But the technological advancements and the confidence in students that we saw here in Delhi were unparalleled. We hence wish to incorporate these developments in Punjab to take our state to the next level," Mann said.

The Delhi Chief Minister said there are many examples of exceptional development work that have been undertaken by various state governments led by different parties over time. However, the one department that the country lacked was the spirit of exchange of ideas and learning from one another, he said. "Hence, this Knowledge Sharing Agreement which we have signed today (Tuesday) is a new kind of collaboration through which we will ensure that praises which are being sung about Delhi's health and education models all over the world today, reflect for Punjab soon," he said. The Delhi government will in turn learn from the Punjab government's feats in agriculture.

"We will work for a golden future for Punjab. Lots of NRIs, from Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Toronto, London and California, call me about adopting schools and villages as they have the confidence now that their money will be spent for a good cause," Mann said. He added that his government will also promote industries in Punjab and come out with a roadmap for job creation. Citing the depletion of the water level in Punjab, Mann said his government will also work on crop diversification. He further maintained that Punjab's schools and hospitals are in terrible condition. "We have doctors and teachers but there's no infrastructure. We yearn for growth and even if we have to go to Italy or some other state to seek guidance and knowledge, we will do so," Mann added.