Starting all attendees are in listen-only mode Good morning everybody and welcome back to the economic development webinar series I'm Susan Lowe and I'm with the design coordination and outreach branch of the Ministry of Jobs Trading Technology I'm here to moderate today's webinar and keep our large staff of presenters Hurted they're a little like cats these bunch looking forward it to a great session today on strategic planning for economic development I may be a little odd because strategic planning is one of my favorite subjects in the whole world So this is like Christmas for me I'm located in Victoria, BC on unceded territory of the Lekwungen people known today as the Esquimalt and song he's First Nations and I'll do a little Run through our presenter list today. We have Mark Vondergana He's on a webcam and we've got Declan and Kostania Who is also on a webcam join Doddridge is joining us from Hundred Mile House She's not using a webcam today, and then Kathy Lachman and Jeff Miller are coming to us from Campbell River Before we go too much further. I'll just review the housekeeping items So let's have a look at your tools for participation I am sure that there is going to be many questions and we might even get some discussion rolling today The orange arrow at the top of your control panel lets you shrink the panel to the side of the screen It automatically shrinks if you don't do anything for a while And if you're finding that the slide presentation is really small on your screen That's it. That's a you thing What you need to do is actually adjust the size of the go-to webinar screen. 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Well, they are they're just in a different place and we are recording today's session and It will be posted with the presentations in about a week on our website bc gov dot bc dot ci slash economic development And you look under the bc ideas exchange section in the webinars and then the past webinars recordings And you'll find it there. It takes me about a week to get the recording converted And sent to our people to put it onto youtube and then post it to our website So it should be around by next tuesday Before we carry on this is the upfront call for volunteers. We're doing some User interface design work on our website and we're looking for people who use our website for a brief interview With my coworker liz. So if you're interested in helping us improve our website Please contact us economic development at gov dot bc dot ca and we'll connect you with liz All right With no further ado. I'm going to let mark and kathy take it over mark can introduce You can introduce yourself mark and we'll we'll let you take it away because we've got a busy schedule. Thanks mark Sure. Okay, so I need uh The control to share my screen here There you go If I hit the drop down excellent so people should now see my intro slide so uh i'm going to lead off talking about the strategic planning tool kits and um presenters are myself and kathy lockman We both work for regional economic operations branch and you can see we're all very happy people So strategic planning um, essentially it's a process that looks at Your current situation and compares that to where you'd like to be Within a a certain period of time Um, why would you do strategic planning? essentially people that have done it Agree that and have a plan agree that it's effective Um, it allows communities to be responsive to funding opportunities By already having a plan in place and knowing what their priorities are It helps with coordination of efforts Making connections within your community. It helps to market your community and attract investment it gets passed just talking which Communities like to do talk talk talk politicians whatnot. Um, and it helps keep track of where you're going and Seeing if you're making a difference with your economic development efforts Typically, uh, this describes the state most communities are in either they What we found is either they have a plan, but they don't really have action Or they have lots of action with no plan and and what we mean by this is a lot of communities have said, okay, we need a Economic development plan. They've hired a consultant to come in and do it Um, they've gone through a big process. They've got a you know, a two-inch thick document and It sits on a shelf and then it never gets used A lot of cases it's got You know 30 to 40 priorities or recommended items and they just don't know where to start other communities They're super busy. They're always in reaction mode. They're scrambling for funding opportunities that come up And they don't have any plan and they wonder why they're always seem to be chasing their chasing their tails. So We're suggesting if you have a strategic planned a short concise plan You'll be better off. So By developing the toolkits, uh, what do we hope to do? We hope to empower local leaders Most politicians, uh in in communities say they're going to try and do something around economic development Um But what does that mean? Um, they'll say you we're open for business What does that mean? What concrete actions are they taking to? To prove that out? By using the toolkit, we're hoping to give you an achievable process Regardless of what stage you're at We want to break down the whole process into manageable pieces Give you the self-guided customizable step-by-step approach Um, it starts with initial self-assessment that can tailor the the process to your community's needs A lot of things within a strategic plan. You may have already done like a SWAT analysis or an asset inventory We're not suggesting you redo those. Um, we're just saying, um We want every community is different and we wanted the toolkit to be designed to take that into account and be customizable to to your specific situation So in the end the toolkit should deliver a manageable 8 to 12 page plan, uh, maybe even There's an option to do a plan on a page So get it down to one page Plan that can sit on your council's desk and they can refer to it as you as you move along throughout the year Or a couple year period To see how you're you're doing and the toolkit finally is based and downloadable Uh, when we set this up, we envision three approaches, uh for doing using the toolkit One that community could lead its own process with existing staff If they have those in-house resources either their economic development officer or their uh, cao could could lead the process Um, a second approach would be to have R. E. O. Regional managers like myself To assist in facilitating the planning process help working with communities to to lead them through the process Or you could hire a consultant to help facilitate the process And we thought potentially accessing the world they would fund in the $10,000 dollar bucket for uh for planning Like I said, the the toolkit structure has been set up that, um There's some Worksheets and things you can do before starting the planning process just to get you set up and ready Get your project team identified and available And then you go through the the self-assessment tool, which essentially like I said, it it walks you through and and helps you see What you already have completed and what you need to do and then by by, um Going through that self-assessment tool You can see which pieces of the toolkit you can pull out and and then use to get to a complete package It's kind of like the analogy of you know, you have to fix your car Maybe you need an oil change you bring it into the shop You go over to your toolbox and pull out the specific wrenches and tools that you need to do that job specifically Um, and you don't you're not going to use every tool in the toolkit You're just going to use what you specifically need to do that job So we tried to set up this the toolkit in a way That would allow you to to only use the pieces that you needed So on the webpage, uh, what it looks like, um, you can see there, hopefully it's it's clear on your screen. There's, um Five different components getting started. Where are we now? Where do we want to go? How are we going to get there? And are we getting there? So This um, and each one of those five sections has, uh, components to it. Um, and uh At this point, I'm going to turn it over to Kathy to To walk you through those five pieces Wonderful. Thanks mark. Uh, as mark mentioned, there are five, uh components to the toolkit The first one getting started contains the self-assessment so you understand As a community what what you've already created and what needs to be, um, it done yet And having those starting to have those conversations with stakeholders and building that project team And developing that work plan that's ultimately going to take you forward Next slide mark So the next module is, um, focusing on understanding where the community currently is and identifying Further identifying your stakeholders and starting to identify the community strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats Next slide So once you understand where the community is now, you can start, um, Identifying processes that are going to help the community identify where it wants to go Next slide So this module helps in identifying the goals and actions that will go into the plan. Um and help identify and, uh, prioritize the, um The goals and actions that the community wants to move head with And then next slide And then an important part of the economic development strategy is monitoring and evaluating the plan as it's implemented You want to know that the plan is doing, um, what what you set out to do And if you find that you're not then you can go back and go back to one of the other, uh, modules And and redo it or refocus whatever the community is, um Looking to do Next slide So we hope that this can be a valuable tool for you and your community and We're going to have some examples of communities that have used the toolkit and I'm looking forward to folks having any questions Yes, Kathy will answer all the questions Thanks mark All right. Well, we have We have, uh, I'm excited to say we have 44 attendees on today's webinar, which is nice, which is top notch Um, thank you everyone for joining us. Um, just a reminder if you've got questions to ask There's a little box on your go to webinar control panel That says enter a question for staff or something similar every now and then they change it on me Um, but feel free to enter something in there and uh in a break. I will direct it towards the correct speaker I want to encourage people to do that. Also, I want to say that if we end up running late because we have really good questions I will let this go on We're scheduled for 75 minutes and I don't want us to lose any of the fabulous information and knowledge sharing Um, but that I'm also Well, we're we're coming to the next speaker Kathy and Jeff Let me just actually change my screen here All right, we're going to have Kathy Lachman and Jeff Miller talk about the gold river experience and using the strategic running toolkit in gold river And oh before we go we have a question Let's just come in. Someone has asked is this toolkit something a post-secondary student could volunteer to assist a community with Why don't we answer that before we go on? Sure. Most definitely. I think that would be awesome. It'd be um Great experience and would help a community for low cost Yeah, I would echo that. I think anyone that's willing to just uh seize it and and lead Maybe they're they're not as Connected or in a compromised position like someone that would be on a on a village staff or or whatnot So I think that's an excellent idea. Yeah, it's really good practice actually the the SWAT analysis part is really good practice for a a b-con student or someone doing a public administration degree or a community development a program to Start looking at things and someone has asked where can you get an outline or of? Sorry, where can you get an outline of or the actual workbook itself? It's downloadable right off the website. Yeah, so if you go to gov.bc.ca Slash economic development. Uh, you're looking in the planning and measuring Your economic development efforts. I believe it's the category you're looking for Um on the the website Alrighty, we will change things over to Kathy. Are you ready Kathy? I'm ready. Okay. It's coming your way Is it coming my way? Okay? Yeah That button that button And How's that? We got it. Great. Hey, yes. Wonderful Thank you. Uh, this is uh, what we're going to talk about has been a very exciting process for both for Jeff and myself We're going to talk about the gold river experience Gold river is located But one hour west of Campbell river in the traditional territory of the Moachat-Mushlatt nation Has a population of about 1200 people and they were very interested In doing an economic development strategy. They had not had one since 1998 But like many small communities you had very limited budget So they were successful in applying to rural dividend for $10,000 planning grant And they hired Jeff Miller from Miller and Associates to To assist the community in developing the the strategy And so Jeff and I partnered on on doing this process And we went to the toolkit the toolkit is what we thought was going to get us through this process and The uh, I guess I can do this This is just a screenshot of the toolkit quick start guide That is the first document we went to to kind of Tell us okay This is what we want to do what pieces of the toolkit are going to help us through this process So I am going to turn this over to Jeff Miller from Miller and Associates And he is going to take you through The process that we used in gold river So you're going to see a little bit of a switch here because we're sharing a computer So Good morning everyone the Toolkit was a great resource for gold river and for kathy and and myself as we as we move through it And it really clarified a number of areas for the project team and municipal council in gold river Overall the toolkit helped connected the community vision to the strategic plan which was very important It built a collaborative plan that created a plan with goals that were Specific measurable achievable They were relevant to the community and the community's vision and they were time based and this is where the ease of implementation came came into it And finally they created flexibility Which was linked to the anticipated growth of gold river available budget and the human resources that they had in order to be able to Implement the strategic plan The steps in the planning process are really Very logical sequenced and they begin and conclude with the community values as you can see in this flow chart In general terms this process is how we interpreted the toolkit actions for gold river That's the toolkit actions that you saw in in the presentation earlier from mark and kathy Now here in more detail is how we personalized the toolkit to gold river in starting on the left hand column at the top with municipal council's approval and and including hiring myself as the consultant Through several meetings that the project team had right down to the to the planning session And then over at the top of the right hand column was drafting the the strategy itself through all those stages Having a community meeting Finalizing the strategy and then presenting and adoption by council and then into the implementation stage The most important thing and really what it's all about is making sure that the community provides direction and through a variety of tools in the community consultation stage It was the community members who really pointed the way in gold river In community consultation, how do we connect with the community? Well, first of all we connected through Survey monkey for online surveys. We kept the survey simple with just eight questions One thing that we talked about afterwards in retrospect We didn't have the age of respondents or the length of residency in gold river And that's something that we would consider next time and something for you to consider as well Organizing one-on-one meetings with suggested contacts that came from project team input This was time consuming but certainly very important Some local business owners and others in the community didn't want their opinions necessarily aired in public in a public setting. So having that one-on-one meeting was was very important Taking time to set up the focus groups properly be organized arrange the hospitality. That's the coffee and the water and comfortable setting and And taking pictures of the focus groups and other public meetings People don't mind that at all and confirm attendance if possible and follow up with the people that don't attend Make sure they provide their comments to you by email or at the very least that they go to the online survey And one final comment about the focus groups is it's preferable to use a tag team approach for this focus groups One person leads and and moves the the attendees through the process and one maintains the flip chart and and records all the comments In the literature review, this was a very important step both in the preparation stage and during the strategic planning process And the relevant documents may be suggested by the project team or municipal staff the official community plan obviously would be one The the relevant documents would also include previous strategies and that community vision And the community vision is actually Very important and this is quoted directly from the strategic planning toolkit I'll just let you read that on on the screen The two interlocking circles at the bottom show how community development and economic development are just intrinsically linked Very important that quality of life and and the housing and social welfare and all the services that are provided to the community On that community side plus the economic development component the standard of living and and business in the community So very important and that comes out in the community values This is an example from the gold river strategy and these are the seven areas that Through the community and through the the consultation and meetings with the project team and and with municipal council These are the seven target areas for the For the strategic planning Process including governance image of the community business retention and expansion business attraction downtown The waterfront and partnerships and those are the areas that we expanded on throughout the strategy So the implementation of the action steps in this process Was used to direct the implementation stage for gold river and is taken from the toolkit with just some minor adaptations So the first of course is the steps to success Resources required the cost of the action step the human resources that are required to implement it and then the timelines on the next slide i've got a a screenshot Of one of the action steps just to give you an example of what it looked like in in our case with gold river and Just notice the very first Two lines there shows the actions item itself And then the next two paragraphs are the background detail then three in this case three very clearly delineated steps The resources required to implement it and the funding sources and then the timelines the one The item that's not necessarily shown here is the evaluation which is really showing what success looks like and in some cases It's really self-explanatory In gold river some simple overall next steps from the gold river strategy Council approval is monitored annually and the work is completed project by project And there's advice and support and expertise that comes from the economic development contractors And and finally local supervision and oversight Provided by the economic development committee who will report all that back to council So what did we learn from the gold river experience? First of all, it doesn't need to be a mega strategy. It's very important to fit the plan to the community Take pictures can't emphasize this enough. It is easy to forget Communicate often with the project team and with the community and and respond quickly to the questions or comments They want to make sure that you're very Interactive with them Don't skimp during the community consultation stage. It's important to do that job properly And finally, yes, take pictures while we can emphasize this again It's great for the record for council and for the final report and for other power point presentations So that's our presentation on the gold river experience and behalf of myself. Jeff miller and kathy lockman from flin roared Thank you very much. And and also I'd like to at this point Um, just interject a big thank you to the mayor and council of the village of gold river The chief administrative officer and to the members of the project team So that's that's it for the gold river experience If you have any questions Kathy or myself will be happy to answer them Thank you so much. We do indeed have some questions How did you control who did the online survey? For example, were they residents or not? Did did you get duplicate response? And there's a second question coming as well But I'll let you answer that one first and then I'll ask you the second question the the the first question came well, basically the Gold river is a It's a long a long way from the other communities on the west coast of vancouver island and from campbell river are our promotion for the For people to interact with the survey was done through Through notices throughout the community through interaction with the service clubs on the municipal website and As there's no newspaper or radio station specific to gold river That was the best way to get it out the the people that that responded Came in from it came in locally and through survey monkey. They Don't allow duplicate responses in survey monkey Oh, okay. That that makes it handy. Um, okay Second question. How did regional or provincial or federal economic developments? Oh, there was an extra question. Uh, connie, do you want to try revising the second part of your question because I don't see a verb I need a verb, please Another question has come in. However for gold river. Did you have a strategy for getting people involved from? At populations that typically don't participate for example new canadiens people in poverty or minorities the I guess the most important group for us uh, was the Was the mocha at mushelat first nations and uh, we met with the uh, there was a there was actually a transition of of managers for the band managers for the For the first nations and we did meet with with him a couple of times and exchanged emails during the the process and As much as possible we had interaction with them and They had just hired a new economic development officer at the same time as the process Was was going on and we had some some response from her as well So and some and some suggestions for the strategy as far as uh The other folks in the community. It's a community of 1200 people and So consequently it's a very tight circle and We through the through the focus groups that we had and through the one-on-one contacts and and just meeting people at coffee shops and and going around door to door we were able to We feel make uh make a very good connection with the Was certainly everyone that was over the age of 15 in the community Great Okay, here's the other half that that second question. Uh, how did regional provincial federal economic developments strategies or initiatives tie in with your work? well the uh certainly the Strathcona regional district has uh, uh, it has some work under going and ongoing in the uh in terms of uh communication improvement in the in the form of uh, of uh web access for for gold river and for the other communities uh at the northern end of vancouver island, so That obviously tied into what we do and that was uh, it was funding there through island coastal economic trust as well as As well as the regional district and the province and federal government Uh, the working with uh with kathy the lockman from uh, From flin road was really uh, I think key to getting the project completed and and kathy was the um what was uh, the entree if you want to call it or the Enabled us to uh to connect with other branches of the provincial government that uh that were able to um affect some inputs and changes to the strategy as we move through it It helps if I unmute myself Okay, uh We have a notes from someone on the on the webinars uh paper copies of the gold river survey were also available for people who are not able to do it online Thank you. Yes, and I'm glad Kathy did uh correspond with the municipal office and the project team members were informed about that and Hopefully that was one of the project team members and we did have copies available at the municipal office For those that did not have online access Great. Okay. So um, I had seen someone had raised their hand But they must have lowered their hand again. Perhaps they were just stretching So we have a couple more minutes For questions. We're doing really well on time everybody. This is fabulous. So um All right, we can always come back and ask more questions of any of the speakers at the end of the session. So Uh, what I will do is I'm going to now introduce Our next speaker. This is joanne dodridge from 100 mile house Who's going to talk a little bit about, uh, the 100 mile house strategic planning experience Including working with uh the council um Having been a counselor. I can say that uh We're friendly types, but sometimes fearsome So joanne, have we Got you have I got you unmuted that's an important question Can you hear me? Yes, there we go. Uh, joanne joanne and I decided that uh a webcam Was not going to happen today because she has a surface pro and I couldn't guarantee I'd be able to troubleshoot any issues So she's coming to us Like she's on the radio So thanks for joining us joanne take it away Thank you. Good morning everyone Yes, they asked me if I would uh speak to our experience working with the strategic planning toolkit in 100 mile house And specifically working with with our council So, uh, I'm sure I will echo a lot of the same things as um, jeff did for gold river. Um So i'm joanne dodridge. I work in economic development and planning here at the district of 100 mile. I've been here about 10 years Uh 100 mile house is in the sequepum traditional territory We're located on highway 97 where we see approximately two two and a half million vehicles a year travel Through the center of our community 100 mile is also very small. We have a population of about 2000, but we service a much larger area Let me just advance my slides um Probably around 15 000 uh is our regular service area population, but that grows to about 25 000 in the summertime We have a council of five and a staff a total staff of about 16 to 20 and that includes our Our public works and our municipal office staff And our annual taxation collection is around 2.7 million So I share that with you To just basically Show the need for a strong economic development plan as we are a sort of a commercial center But understanding that we have some limitations as far as time and staffing goes to undertake strategic planning It was easy for us to think we were alone in this whole Um strategic planning not having a good strategic plan Uh before we got started with the toolkit, but in fact about 23 percent of small Municipalities either don't have an economic development plan or don't actively use one So we weren't alone We did have an economic development strategy of sorts. It was very outdated It was not very strategic. There were a lot of statements Nice statements about supporting different industry sectors It was not workable for staff. We couldn't build a work plan From you know, the strategic plan we had or the plan we had And we were never really sure if our efforts were on track with what council wanted or what what the community wanted so basically It it was a plan that was useful when it was first developed But it was no longer useful to us and we fell within you know into that 23 percent of small municipalities without a plan But we did have a lot of the documents jeff referenced quite a few We did have a lot of plans already in place that incorporated economic thinking and economic Uh, I guess components of an economic strategy We had a brand new ocp and zoning bylaw. We had tried to really reduce regulation for business in the new bylaw We had a sustainability plan In which the economy was one of the pillars Council's municipal goals and objectives one area was sort of a high level economic development focus We had recently done building blocks workshop And we had policies and plans and studies Around sort of quality of life trails recreation planning housing studies that kind of thing but but these These statements were all over the place and it was we had no single place where all of this information was kind of housed We also had a lot of the components of the toolkit already We had a vision statement a good understanding of Sort of the key facts in our community and and our community assets We had already undertaken a SWAT analysis fairly recently And we were doing all kinds of economic development work within councils generally, you know established priorities But without really clear direction So What we wanted was a focused economic development plan and it had to be strategic And it had to be functional. We needed to bring all of this information into one place Our council did not want a strategy as such So we didn't call it a strategy it was a working session and and Unlike, you know, sort of the focus Jeff Jeff and Kathy, you know, we're talking about we opted not to do public consultation During our process For a couple of reasons and I should probably explain some of them first We we had recently undertaking a bunch of planning exercises that involved public consultation And attendance at different meetings and our tactics to try to involve the public work. We're sort of dwindling We had a business walk planned for very shortly after our toolkit session And so we didn't we wanted to avoid duplication of our efforts with with consultation And really I think the big thing was the timing that we undertook this process was right after the fall after our big wildfire season We had a lot of resources offered to the community And so there was a lot of outreach taking place Our wildfire recovery manager one of her key roles was to do public outreach And I think quite frankly our public was our residents were Sort of saturated there was a lot going on and they just wanted to get their lives back on track their businesses up and running again So we opted not to do public consultation at that time plus we just really needed a starting point We needed something where all these various bits and pieces of resources were all brought together We didn't anticipate that we would see a lot of new direction Out of the toolkit process it was welcome if if that's what happened, but we weren't really anticipating anything new just a compilation of Of all of these resources together and we had no time and no money So how we use the toolkit first we reached out to our regional manager Emily clumbo who then reached out to colleagues brad and mark Um together we sort of brainstormed how to fit the toolkit to meet our needs and our timeline and our budget We completed the self-assessment tool that was mentioned just to get focused And then started this compilation process of pulling together all these various documents I mentioned and also all the work that was already underway And together, uh, I think we all sort of Brainstormed and distilled all of that information into five major themes and strategic areas Which these are the five that we settled on in our community and we combined them sort of as appropriate Each one you can see has an and in inside so That's when we took it all to council we held a council senior staff workshop in the evening It was facilitated By our by our friends, uh, our regional managers It was a very casual setting and there was pizza I recall So we probably I don't know. This is probably the lowest tech, uh, avenue Possible that we took Where we took each of those strategic areas each of the the five that were on the previous slide Put one on a piece of poster paper each and then listed all the key activities. We were already doing underneath Those strategic areas and then we just simply asked council. Hey, what you know, what do you think? What's missing? Do we need to add something or or what do we have up there? That's not needed Should you know, should we juggle some of these action items around do they belong better in a different strategic area? And so we just had a conversation and we landed upon A great list of strategic areas and activities. Some of them were new mostly they were not new They were activities. We were already doing And then we just applied a very simple exercise to prioritize Those major strategic areas and we just used a simple dot system to do that But also each of the activities that we had Previously sort of brainstormed and listed We wanted to determine how financially realistic they were how easy they were to implement and what kind of benefit they would yield So Again, very simply. We just kind of gave it a ranking from one to five How financially realistic how easy to implement and what the benefits were and came up with a With a number we added, you know, we added up the the totals This gave us a really clear picture of our priorities right away and everybody You know sort of got to participate and see it unfolding in front of them Then it was just a simple matter of using the toolkit to actually create the plan I think what worked for us If this process the toolkit and the process really Confirmed council's direction rather than starting from scratch. It's it's daunting to think to do strategic planning from scratch But the toolkit really helped us it helped by using plans. We already had and incorporating all our existing work and policies So we're again, we're not reinventing anything The toolkit was customizable to meet our needs council's needs and staff needs Sort of together and we were very focused on economic Recovery it was still very fresh for us after the wildfire season So we wanted to make sure we included a placeholder in our active plan for this wildfire recovery And the toolkit was able to help us do that I guess overall it was a positive session. It felt like council and staff were working together and and as I said We could see those priorities unfolding right in front of us as we added up the numbers Of our priority session The toolkit was very easy to use. It never felt like we were strategic planning It didn't feel like we were using a template. It was just very natural and and it flowed really well Our plan is very simple to start There's lots of gaps in it still not every part of the toolkit was used But we we hope to build on that over time and round it out over time It didn't take very long from the time I picked up the phone to chat with Emily Until the evening workshop was just about six or eight weeks It was very practical to use and we have a workable plan now something that we can actually pick up and use To create a work plan and start to measure some of our some of our efforts And so now even though we didn't undertake a public consultation process when we first developed this plan We now have something in our hand that we can use to engage the public and I think that's going to be helpful Again, not starting from scratch So now it's been a year We have a new council and so it just makes sense that we can pull that plan up We can update our progress on it We can revisit those same strategic areas and see if they need to be shifted a bit or see if we need to To change or add or or otherwise sort of move our focus And then apply a new priority exercise And again, I think we can update this plan in house For now as we you know start to build it and round it out So I guess a big takeaway if I've said it a few times Confirming our direction was much much easier than starting from scratch And so I think that the toolkit Was the framework that allowed us to just sort of pull together all the various pieces of information We already had and and use that to sort of fill in the blanks Cool. Thank you Joanne That was wonderful Um, you mentioned I was just thinking I wonder how long this took them But you had mentioned that your session with council was an evening session So yes, it was just a couple of hours one evening And then a little bit of work at my desk to use the template to actually create the plan That sounds very doable very beautiful great. Um, is it it is um Is the result on the 100 mile house website at all? I looked I couldn't find it, but I was just doing a cursory glance You know, I don't think we posted it there because one of the Action items in our plan is to improve our economic development website or web page And so that is on our books for next year. So Uh, so you'll see something up there, you know when that happens Okay, great. Um, I'm gonna open it up and see if anyone who's on the call has questions I've just noticed that we have people, uh, from as far away as the sketch one. So that's exciting I was just looking at our attendee list and didn't recognize some names. So I did some googling Um, so yeah, we have some time for questions Uh for Joanne If any of our other speakers have questions as well, you can unmute yourself and ask them I'm enjoying the seeing what different communities are doing Um One question we have uh from a frequent liar connie. Thank you for all your questions connie Any surprise outcomes from your planning session? Um, I don't think we had any surprises. No, um, but Like I said, we we just really needed to Bring all these little bits of information together into a comprehensive place So I think We already knew sort of what our council Wanted and didn't want out of the session. So I think that was pretty helpful as well and And we knew that mark wanted pizza. So that was not a surprise It was excellent by the way and and uh, yes regional managers are there available to help and we can be easily baited with food Always a necessity. Um, here's another question. Joanne 100 mile house is a forestry based community and the forest sector is changing Is economic diversification included in your active plan? Yeah, economic diversification is always, um front of mind Our key areas of focus Uh, we're sort of drawn from work that was already being done including sort of business Uh retention So, um economic transition is is definitely a front of mind for us right now So when we pick up our plan again, which we hope to do early in the new year with our new council, um that diversification Could could rise even higher As a priority in the in the plan moving forward all right, thank you and um Here is another question for presenters and I think also Kathy and Jeff might answer this for Gold River as well. Uh, did you have any challenge to implement the economic development plan in your community? I know just before you answer that I know that Declan will be talking about his implementation plan as the next presentation But for Joanne and for Jeff, um, what were some of the challenges that you faced in implementing the plan? think think think We need to run the jeopardy theme song Our plan is very simple, um to start with and so Because it was drawn from actions that And work that was already being done. It's sort of a matter of Me staying on top of the the goal areas and ensuring I revisit the plan on a very regular basis To make sure that that i'm on track and that i'm working towards towards the actions and the milestones that that we set up So I think moving forward as our plan probably grows in complexity It it we may encounter more challenges with implementation, but right now it's it's a work. It's a workload It's a workload management kind of um Challenge that's that's our biggest challenge It's always nice to put things into a strategic plan that you know, you're already doing Sometimes people get into a room. It's flip charts and markers and post-it notes and think that this is an opportunity to write down every good idea that they have for their community and It becomes a A make work or a make to do list session, but it sounds like you guys really avoided that by focusing on um, organizing what you had instead of inventing new work Maybe I could jump in Susan. Uh mark here. Um It was really gratifying to see the toolkit doing what it was intended to do which was um You know being able to be totally tailored to the situation that jalan had in hunter mile Using the documents and not repeating steps that they they did and coming up with a very Usable workable plan that they could action You know many communities like I said if you've got you know, 50 number one priorities You don't have any priorities. So getting it down to Um a number of of Strategic areas and then having a very clear process to prioritize Based on you know, is it having an impact? Is it's you know, do we have the the dollars and the energy to do it? Um, that gave them very clear direction Great, um, Kathy, do you or jack went away in on Any challenges to implement the economic development plan in gold river? Nice, you're still muted at the moment. Oh, there we go the thanks Susan the uh, the challenges I think are mainly going to be with the municipal council and the project team as well because and the economic development committee because the uh, the strategy was developed and and the Throughout the process we talked about the Restrictions that people are going to face and that includes the economic development resources that are available to them the the dollars the The human resources factor too. So all of those things the challenges will come about in the implementation stage and It is now in the community hands For that process to move forward, which is what the community is doing right now. She's muted again Ah, you think I would have had this one figured out by now Uh, that was an excellent segue into our next presentation by Declan of course, dania who is uh with the regional district of kimets to kim and uh Declan is going to talk about how his uh Economic development strategy came together. I'm going to change the presenter over to you. It's coming your way There we go. I don't suppose you have any way of closing that blind behind you. Do you Uh, actually, I think I do. Yeah, that way we can actually see your face Not the window That that makes it a little bit better. There we go a little bit better. Yeah, okay. I'm attending you the presenter controls Should be It is All right Good morning, everyone. Uh, my name is deaf and christianne. I'm the economic development officer for the regional district of kimets to kim Uh, based here in terras on the beautiful simshen nation territory specifically the kitsum kiln and kitsulis fixed nations So i'm going to speak a little bit about the regional districts perspective on economic development And and sort of how I come into things and how I sort of took The visioning and the strategic areas and turn them into you know action items and uh, and sort of where we Have gone with it and where we're at right now So I'm I'm structured very Interestingly We serve the municipalities or regionally, um, the regional district serves kimets terras hazelton new hazelton Stuart and electoral areas a through pass But my Makeup of how I deliver My services is actually split, um between the whole regional district and what's called the economic development commission service area The economic development commission is made up of representatives Of the municipalities of hazelton new hazelton steward and the electoral area directors And then the regional economic development operations are Include terras and kitamat Um, so this sort of looks at how it's sort of broken down um Sort of board priorities things that affect the whole region Um, that terras and kitamat their their economic development staff may not um direct resources towards I would take care of and then the commission I sort of act as capacity for hazelton new hazelton steward in the electoral areas and uh, and We sort of go off of the the plan that we've created and move forward with ideas So we did a strategic plan. We worked over the we had an older plan from 2016 I believe like 2015 2016 and we It was a bit general in and needed to be a little bit more refined And so we went into a strategic planning process. We came up with the vision your reading now And so that sort of broke down into the strategic areas workforce and resident attraction through to tourism marketing And we During our strategic area process actually had uh mark come in and and help with that And we did the the dot democracy and that was things were ranked and we came out with the top five And so then from the the action I didn't go into the strategic areas developing action items within those um I think juan touched on it uh feasibility complexity and benefits matrix And you know we I sort of in the plan and and and in the process Spoke to you know, if there's a quick win or something is available and and although it may be lower priority Then something else that currently is unactionable. We would act on that lower priority thing to sort of take it off and and move forward with the plan So we came out with these action items. You can sort of see that they arrange five to very many action items Sort of generalize them here And and they've been actually quite reasonable to to work on and we've been moving through them You know surely slowly but surely um to sort of Create some more structure because the the previous plan was very general And having an actual dedicated economic development staff member You know as part of staff is actually relatively new to the regional district Um the plan I think was created back in 2015 Around the same time they actually hired their first economic development officer under planning and economic development So I wouldn't I'm the second iteration of that and because things are still relatively new in that regard It's very unstructured. So I thought I'd Take the action items and strategic areas a little bit further create a little bit more structure for the commission and and for efficiencies on my end To and so I kind of came up with this sort of strategic area plan of where we would go and Take something that if it's a new action item new direction from the commission we would go out and do start by Determining Its feasibility at a more detailed granular level and gets more detailed engagement from the Communities that we would be performing those actions in coming up with an actual feasible option or options Get the commission's input and then carry forward on The the one that commission the commission chooses um Going from action items into um the implementation and evaluation We in the strategic planning process it was Clear or it I made it clear that we did not want to die by the numbers. So We mentioned workforce and resident attraction as a strategic area Increasing the number of work people in the workforce in our region Is not exactly the best stat to go off of especially if You know, we had the plan adopted in march and we recently had The final investment decision of lng canada Being the the green light Area, you know our workforce numbers are going to go up and I unfortunately can't take credit for that so You know with our implementation plan There's an example there We look at things that we control as a department And really where where we want to act because we're not creating the jobs. It's other Employers in the region that are creating jobs and we need to assist them in filling positions that they make available so and just with this strategic area here We followed a very similar theme for each strategic area Post completion of the plan we've had some successes In the workforce and resident attraction tourism marketing and the business retention and expansion strategic areas number one are There was a study done by the kidamat valley institute That identified a base case of Jobs becoming available over the next I think it's next eight years A thousand jobs annually per year And most of that being due to retirement. So there's going to be a major need for workforce and that our population currently can't fill a hundred percent and then with the additional jobs coming from larger industrial projects there's an increased need to fill and to Fill up the workforce and the need in the region So what came from this was a commitment to workforce and resident attraction We had some funding from the bc rural dividend fund to complete a marketing plan For the region for the northwest as we called it our partners being the district of kidamats to be a terrace district of steward district of hazelton Just our village of hazelton district new hazelton and the city of prince rupert We've the regional district has committed some funding over process of the first few years of the project And we're going to be carrying that over the next bunch of years depending on how things go we're going after funding support and And trying to start on our the first steps of the plan Um very similarly tourism marketing. Um, we've recently Tourism marketing was a strategic area that's continued over from the older plan We were able to get some funding through the rural dividend fund northern development initiative trust And destination bc we partnered up with the destination marketing and management organizations From the region tourism kidamats commodity tourism as well as the municipalities of hazelton new hazelton steward and the niskillism's government We all banded together came and came up with sort of a plan project to get some better data on our Our tourism in the region Do some get some content create a regional website and do some marketing that plan is Has taken off. We're expecting some research back very soon. We've got a film company Doing some pre-production work and We'll be soon selecting a Company to do the website and so the website and marketing stuff will Start up in 2019 business retention expansion we've done I've done three business blocks the region I helped out with a few and And on each one volume of people people was the was the issue staff Qualified staff enough staff enough people to make retail and other services feasible Were those were the issues and so we took that we did do some workshops from the needs that were expressed in the business walks as well as the More force and resonant attraction project were Proposing to do to sort of counteract those those issues So after things sort of complete the projects kind of come to an end on a on a Case-by-case basis and then at the end of a proposed strategic areas life span We'll go into an evaluation of that So we'd survey our our partners and ski ski stakeholders And sort of see you know, has it achieved what we wanted it to achieve has it overachieved underachieved what needs to be done to change it and We haven't reached this process yet But we've got a plan which is nice so that once we kind of go into it where we're not looking at what we need to do we'll have that ready and As things change we'll be able to modify things Yeah, so I think joyan also mentioned we've had some turnover in In our elected officials the commission as well in the regional district district as well So we need to check our priorities the same now as they were before And Very similarly we didn't do public engagement during our strategic planning process before I think that's a learning that You know now that we have a document in place and that we're just going to be doing some shifting What we what I think we'd like to do is Kind of take the Draft priorities and go and engage Key stakeholders in the region Our region being very large Over 100,000 square kilometers. We've got Several stakeholders to engage. We'll try to stay stay to the regional or full community Stakeholders like chambers and and regional dmo's and things like that Finally final finalize the priorities and we're currently in budgeting Season as well. And so once that all sort of settles We'll have a pretty good idea of how things are going to turn out for 2019 and years to come Yeah, that's sort of where we're at. We're sort of in progress Learning things as we go, but I think we've been pretty successful so far And I'm looking forward to learning the priorities of the new Or new composition of the commission and and seeing where we go from there Thanks for your time Thank you, Declan. That was good and I really liked theirs Hopefully it didn't scare anybody. No, no, no, not me at least I got one request, uh, would it be possible for you to share your full strategic plan? Is it's on your website? Is it not? Um, I don't think it is. We're currently undergoing a revision of our regional district website. So once that's out, um, we're gonna We'll have those documents available and same thing with the regional like the strategic plan. Um, I once that's all revised and we'll have that Out and about but uh, if if anybody would like the document, I also have the plan on a page that I can share If anybody wants it, um, I can send that to them Yes, so I think you've got, um Your website your email address is available on your website for the regional district of Kitimat, Stakeen and the Okay, good, uh, if people can't find it there You can email me at the economic development at gov.bc.ca account and I'll put you in touch with Declan um And and just for people who are just joining us late There is a recording of the webinar being made and it'll be posted in about a week to the um gov.bc.ca slash economic development Um an interesting question that has come up and actually this is something that you might answer Declan and anyone else any of our other speakers as well To ensure that the plan the big plan Doesn't just sit on a shelf Um making it simple and concise can be really helpful How large is your plan and how large are typical plans? Do you think?  Um, well, I think it is uh, a large large plan um, I think When we we developed it instead of doing it for a three-year plan Plans are typically three or five year plans We made it in a longer range planning just because it was you know, the position having a dedicated active officer Is actually relatively new um, and having a more Detailed strategic plan is new um I think I anticipated some learning opportunities in the coming months and years and uh, and I was right, so with As we go along refining it Making it more concise and and with this reprioritizing opportunity with the new commission You know things can be tightened up or You know made more concise and You know, I don't think we'll shorten the plan this plan will not get uh smaller per se You know having a long list of action items I mean you can take it or leave it having It's where the priority priorities come into place where if you have ranked strategic areas and within those you have ranked action items You know, which one is priority one? You know priority one in a lower ranking strategic area is still lower than priority one in a higher ranking strategic area and and just keeping an Keeping the pulse on what's happening in your economy. What's happening and funding opportunities What's happening with your partners and key stakeholders and your community members? Having the plan there and Allows you to adapt within it I don't think my plan is too large. I think it's um, and I don't think it's necessarily small I think it's adequate and I think it will become more refined over time Do you have lots of appendices? um, we have um I mean No, actually, I don't think so. We just have sort of uh, where we came from with the the data um, and research and and literature review that was done at the start um There's some data referenced in it. Um And then just past bylaws and how it came to be the commission came to be um and And and the past plan and sort of showing where we're where we've come and and where we plan to go um That's sort of our our appendices. So we we sort of Did the same thing as joined it with the the poster paper and writing it all down and uh doing it in a workshop format. Um And I think it's it's a good way to go All right, uh, I've just realized that it's 11 13 um So I think we will Hold it there and I have a couple of announcements to make. I just want to say I'm going to just change the presenter back to my slides here Here we go I just want to say a really big thank you to kathy and mark and jeff and declin and joanne all of whom Have agreed to volunteer their time to help out with today's session and bring Stories from their own community and how they use those strategic planning toolkit. Um, we had a couple of rehearsals and putting together a session Like this with five guest speakers It's kind of the grand finale for the christmas season of the webinar Christmas ending of the webinar series. So thank you very much to all of you and everyone who joined us If you final announcements, um, yes, I'm working on the next season of webinars. I have Seven or eight topics lined up to run from probably late january into may Dodging some of the conferences and other things coming up the spring But I don't have the dates for you yet So please keep your eyes on bit dot lee slash active webinars or the economic development website After this webinar, uh, you will get as an attendee You will get a feedback survey for this webinar and so please Take a moment to do that and that gives us an evaluation for this one We're also looking at our entire webinar season going back to september and wanting your input for future sessions so the website for that is bit dot lee slash active webinar survey and Um, I will also be sending that out in email to everybody who gets our regular emails So, um, thank you very much everyone for joining us for joining us All autumn on the economic development webinar series I'm really excited about some of the topics we have coming for you things like how to put together Budgets for your grant applications. How to market your community Um talking about post disaster marketing Um building economic resilience through community economic development practices Accessing capital for rural small businesses There's three or four more and I can't even remember them all.  So if you are wanting to keep your eyes out for the announcements They will be coming out possibly before christmas, but definitely in early january Write this down. This is the short link bit dot lee slash active webinars Or if you lose that you can always go to gov dot bc dot ca slash economic development and find everything including the strategic planning toolkit Thank you very much to everybody for joining us and uh, although it seems very early to be saying this I'm going to say a happy holidays To all of you and I hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday season That is the end of the webinar.


Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy. The list of topics chosen for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. Here is the first news article. See this op-ed column in which the author talks about the impacts of frequently using the provision of sedition to curb dissent. In this context, let us have a brief idea on what is sedition, its origin, and what author is saying in today's news article. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. Every most of us know that free speech is one of the most significant principles of democracy. The purpose of this freedom is to allow an individual to attain self-fulfillment, assist in discovery of truth, strengthen the capacity of a person to take decisions and facilitate a balance between stability and social change. So the freedom of speech and expression can be called as the first and foremost human right and the mother of all liberties.  However, this freedom is subjected to certain restrictions like sovereignty, integrity, security, public order, decency, etc. So here in these reasonable restrictions like sovereignty, integrity, security, public order, the offence of sedition assumes significance. See it is provided under section 124A of Indian Penal Code of 1860. It says that whoever, by words, or by signs, or by visible representation, attempts to bring into hatred or contempt are attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India amounts to sedition. Here very importantly, we should note that whatever the contempt or disaffection or hatred directed towards the government, not the country, amounts to sedition. So the ruling government can misuse this provision. According to this section, sedition shall be punished with imprisonment up to three years to a life term to which fine may be added and not just that a person charged under this law is barred from a government job, they have to live without their passport and must produce themselves in a court as and when required. The relevance of this section in a democratic country like ours is a subject of continuous debate. Why? Because sedition is a colonial legacy and thereby unsuited in a democratic country. There is an apprehension that this provision might be misused by the government to suppress dissent. Exactly in this context only, this news article has been written. It is also argued that amidst growing concerns of national security like separatism, naxalism, Maoism, communalism, sedition proves a reasonable restriction on article 19 for the security and the integrity of the country. So if properly used, sedition can be an effective tool in curbing naxalism, Maoism, separatism thereby protecting the integrity of the country. Coming to history of sedition law in India, it was initially included in Lord Macaulay's draft penal code of 1837. However, in the enacted form of 1860, this section was missing. Later in the year 1870, this section was added to Indian penal code. The punishment proposed was life imprisonment then. The intent of the section was to punish an act of exciting feelings of disaffection towards the government. Interestingly, the great freedom fighters like Bal Gangadhar Thirukh, Mahatma Gandhi were charged with sedition by the British government. So a section which was used by the colonial government against the Indians is still available in India's penal code that to after independence. So this is a matter of concern. Do India really need a sedition law? Many law commissions and many Supreme Court high court judgments tried and discussed the removal of section 124A from Indian penal code. See after independence, the most important development in this regard happened in 1962. It was Kedarnath Singh versus state of Bihar case. Here the constitution bench upheld the validity of section 124A and noted it as a reasonable restriction on free speech. But it also said that a citizen has right to say or write whatever he or she likes about the government or its measures by the way of criticism. So this shall be allowed as long as he or she is not inciting people to violence against the government established by law. So basically, if you are writing something negative about the government, we should not be charged with sedition law. But if the writings done by us are inciting people against the government or creating public disorder, then we can be charged with sedition. So this is the basic info regarding sedition, its history and what is the important case that is Kedarnath Singh case of 1962. With this, let us come back to today's opiate column. See in the recent years, the term sedition is frequently in the news. For example, a school in Karnataka and students were charged with sedition for performing a play against the new citizenship law. In the recent days, we have seen the toolkit case regarding farmer protests where a 22 year woman was arrested for sedition. In this context, we should note that Bombay High Court had issued guidelines which the police must follow before invoking the provisions of sedition. See it includes an objective evaluation of material to form an opinion on whether the words and actions cause disaffection, enmity and disloyalty to the government or whether they incite violence or tend to create public disorder. So it means police should evaluate the words or actions made by the persons before invoking the provisions of sedition. And not just that, the High Court also directed to obtain legal opinion in writing from a law office of the district, followed by a second opinion from state's public prosecutor. Here are the saying that these co-directions are mostly ignored by the police force because the author cites a report of National Crime Records Bureau. It says that between 2016 and 2019, the number of sedition cases increased by 160%. At the same time, the rate of conviction dropped to 3.3% from 33% in 2016. It means police are invoking sedition frequently without proper evidence. So the cases are not leading to conviction. This is why it is said that aim of imposing sedition is not to punish or convict anyone but to incarcerate them and the process itself is the punishment. For example, if I am charged with sedition, suddenly some media outlets may start treating me as an anti-national and then comes the Twitter where every person sees me as some separatist. So the process itself is incarcerating or destroying my character. So the aim of imposing sedition is not punishing or convicting but to incarcerate them. So this process itself is a punishment. Even if I am acquitted by the court, say after two years, the two years the agony which I go through is a very big punishment. So because of these reasons, the sedition provisions in IPC should be revisited. Here Law Commission's 2018 paper on sedition is also significant. It has said that people should be at liberty to show their affection towards their country in their own way. For doing the same, one might indulge in constructive criticism or debates or pointing out the loopholes in the policy of the government. So these kind of expressions might be harsh or unpleasant to some people like government. But that does not render the actions to be branded seditious. So just my opinion of criticizing the government should not result in charging me with sedition. So section 124A should be invoked only in cases where the intention behind any act is to disrupt public order or go through the government with violence and illegal means. For this, author gives a solution to adopt an effect-based test for slapping sedition, which means effects of the seditious text should be considered rather than content of the text. That is why this column is titled, Sedition lies in the effect not in the content. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. Have a brief idea on what is sedition? What are the negatives of sedition? Because these are very important to write a mains answer. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See these two news articles which mention the pleas filed in the High Court of Madras regarding the absentee voters and Section 60C of Representation of People Act of 1951. So in this discussion let us try to understand who are absentee voters and what is Section 60C and what are the issues with this section. Before going further, the relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See the first article mentions a repetition to get the list of absentee voters to a particular political party. Generally when elections happen, the electoral role or the list in which all the names of electors is contained will be shared with political parties. So this is a regular norm. But why is this political party went to High Court to get a list of absentee voters? See under the conduct of election rules 1961, certain categories of electors or voters have been given the provision to vote by postal ballot. Postal ballot is a type of voting whereby ballot papers are distributed to voters and they are returned by voters after casting their vote through post. So generally instead of going to polling booth, certain categories of voters can cast their vote through post. That is called postal ballot. Many of you might have seen this in many movies, where in last vote comes through postal ballot and a good person wins the election.  This includes special voters, service voters, voters on election duty, electors subjected to preventive detention and persons notified under section 60C of RPA 1951, including the absentee voters. Here the last one is a new category added by conduct of elections, amendment rules of 2019 and further it was amended by 2020 amendment rules. So basically absentee voters are a new category of voters and who are considered as absentee voters? It is defined in this rule, according to which absentee voter means a person belonging to such class of persons as may be notified under section 60C of RPA 1951 and who is employed in essential services. So basically absentee voter means all categories of persons who are notified in section 60C of RPA 1951. So currently it includes persons above 80 years of age during June 2020. This age limit of 80 years was reduced to 65 and if you remember we even covered about this happenings and there was lot of criticism also. But this move was retracted by election commission in July itself. Then persons with disability are also eligible for absentee voters. Third, it also includes COVID-19 suspects or COVID-19 affected persons. So that is those electors who are tested COVID-19 positive and those who are under quarantine due to COVID-19. So these are the persons who are notified under section 60C of RPA 1951. Further to use the postal ballot route, the absentee voters have to intimate the returning officer. For that the absentee voter has to apply including the required particulars like age, COVID-19 details etc. Such application should reach the returning officer during the period from date of announcement of election to five days following the date of notification of election. So though these time periods are not important we should understand that only after election is notified the persons can apply to become an absentee voter. Now the repetition has sought the list of such possible absentee voters in advance. And for this Tamil Nadu's CEO that is chief electoral officer has said that it would not be possible to share the list of absentee voters. Because as we saw the applications by the possible absentee voters will be filed until five days after the date of election notification. So basically the list is not yet ready so cannot be shared and very importantly sharing of such profiling of electors before they file application may amount to invasion of their privacy. So come into second article which is about another repetition. This repetition has asked the court to declare section 60c as unconstitutional that is to strike off the section 60c. As we just saw persons notified under this section are entitled to vote by post. But the issue raised is regarding the powers of election commission of India under this section. See this section empowers election commission of indium to notify new category who will be entitled to postal ballot after consultation with the government. So simply election commission can make changes to this section to add a new category of absentee voters. Accordingly election commission has also notified consequent statutory rules and guidelines. So the repetition is requesting the court to declare this clause rules and even guidelines as unconstitutional. Because this power of election commission of India to notify new category of voters as absentee voters is leading to delegation of uncontrolled legislative function to the executive. Which means generally this kind of power of notifying new voters should be done by legislature that is parliament. But the power has been delegated to election commission of indium. So the repetition has stated that this power is leading to unguided or uncontrolled legislative function on the executive leading to excessive delegation. So this provision should be termed unconstitutional and should be removed. So this is all about these two news articles. In first article they are asking for the list of absentee voters. In the second article they are asking for a judicial review of section 60c. So let us wait and watch what high court decides. In these cases in this context try to remember who is absentee voter, what is section 60c and who has the power to notify new categories under section 60c. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See this news article which says that former union minister and current member of parliament has filed a petition last year challenging the provisions of RTI amendment act of 2019. So let us have a brief discussion on what are the amendments made in 2019 act and also what is RTI reasons for its introduction and the challenges associated with it. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See RTI act of 2005 was enacted to provide the right to information for citizens. This act repealed erstwhile freedom of information act of 2002 and signifies the citizens right to information and also mandates public officials for proactive sharing of information in public platforms. So this act of 2005 was amended by RTI amendment act of 2019. The amendments dealt with the issues of tenure and salary of chief information commissioner and information commissioner both at central and state level. Coming to changes made by the amendment act, firstly know that the original act of 2005 prescribes the tenure of chief information commissioner and the information commissioner to be five years, same with the state level as well. But the amendment removed this provision stating that the term of office for CIC and IC both at central and state levels will be notified by the central government. Secondly, the original act mentions that the information commissioners will be paid in equal terms with the members of election commission. That is the salary of CIC and ICs at central level will be equivalent to salary paid to chief election commissioner and election commissioners respectively. CIC will get same salary as CEC and IC will get same salary as EC. Similarly, salary of CIC and ICs at state level will be equivalent to salary paid to election commissioner and chief secretary to the state government respectively. This provision was removed by the amendment and it stated that salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of CIC and ICs both at central and state level will be determined by central government. So since the act came out many sections including the opposition criticized the move. Why because diluting the term powers and terms of service will reduce the efficiency of the right to information act. So the reason stated by center for bringing the amendment is salary, allowances and other terms of conditions of the information commission members is equal to election commission in the original act. But when you see the chief election commissioner and election commissioner are treated in equal terms with the judge of Supreme Court. So therefore chief information commissioner, state chief information commissioner as well as information commissioners become equivalent to a judge of Supreme Court in terms of salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service. Now the issue is that functions being carried out by information commissioners and election commissioners are totally different. In addition to this their mandates are also different. Further election commission is a constitutional body while information commission is a statutory body established under R.J.A. Act. So there comes a need to rationalize their status and service conditions accordingly. So salaries, allowances, terms and conditions of a statutory body cannot be equated to a constitutional body which is equaling to judges of Supreme Court. So based on this reason the union government brought an amendment empowering itself to make rules over the tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of service. And as I said before the amendment empowered the central government to make changes to salary, tenure of the information commissioners. Therefore it is affecting the autonomy or independence of information commission. So this may result in hampering the information demanded by the citizens. Additionally by reducing the position of information commissioners from being equal to Supreme Court judge the ability of chief information commissioner or information commissioner to direct senior government officials is also brought to question. So previously they were equal to Supreme Court judges in terms of salary, terms of service, etc. So previously they had more respect and integrity to call on any government official including the secretaries. Now that their position has been diluted the efficiency of information commission as well as right to information act is now questioned. So let us wait and see what Supreme Court is going to do with respect to RTA amendment act. Will it focus the amendments or strikes of the amendment? We have to wait and see. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us take up this comment column from today's editorial page. This is a very interesting column wherein the author links science and technology with diplomacy. He also talks on the current position of India in the globe with respect to development of science and technology and how India is taking initiatives to utilize its science and technology prowess as a soft power in international relations. So we will try to understand all these aspects before going further. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See we should know that science and technology is a key element for economic growth and in this regard technology should be a strong priority area of the government and government is aiming to make technology more people centric. So first let us have an understanding on the development of science and technology in India from a historical perspective. See India's global priorities in science and technology were clearly mentioned by our first Prime Minister Nehru who showed India's intention of seeking international scientific advances for the development and prosperity of our nation. At the same time he was also aware of both constructive and destructive power of science. So this was the basic strategy of development during 20th century. But this met with mixed results because more powerful states like US sought to curb or limit India's ambitions in critical spears like nuclear and space programs. For example when India went nuclear in 1990s US has put sanctions on India. Similarly we were refused cryogenic technology for our space programs. But despite all these India still managed to indigenously develop all this technology and also to assist its partners from the global south. See generally global south means developing our underdeveloped countries broadly referring to regions like South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. It is similar to terms like third world periphery which denote regions outside Europe and North America. So mainly low income or often politically or culturally marginalized countries are called global south. So this was the case in 20th century. In the late 20th century India went for economic reforms in 1991 and this led to more proactive assertion of India's interest in science and technology development. And by early years of 21st century India sought to reduce its dependence on foreign countries and then to emerge as a net provider of development assistance in the international system. See in 20th century we were dependent on funds from big countries. Now India has evolved into a position where we are funding the other countries. Interestingly if you remember we even offered a line of credit to Russia to develop its eastern region. Further China's aggressiveness and India's smooth rise with US and European countries helped our nation to design and develop in strategic spheres like nuclear space technology and also led to signing of strategic partnerships in sectors like science, space, nuclear, nanotechnology, et cetera. So within 70 years of independence India managed to show its prowess in international sphere when it comes to science and technology. Now let us see where India currently stands in terms of science and technology development. See India ranks third among most attractive investment destinations for technology transactions in the world. Also India is among the top most countries in the field of scientific research and also positioned as one of the top five nations in the field for space exploration. Yes is very famous right? Last year India moved four places to reach 40th rank and made to the top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time. Further know that India also moved up to fifth rank in global R&D funding forecast of 2020. So basically India as a country is improving in science and technology, innovation, research, funding, et cetera. So author says that government is extensively promoting research parks, technology business incubators, et cetera to promote the innovative ideas till they become commercial ventures. And it is expected that R&D expenditure in India will reach to at least 2% by 2022. And as we discussed at the start of the month under the union budget, government announced the largest ever allocation of rupees 6,000 crores to Ministry of Science and Technology. So the funding is also increasing. So this is all about science and tech. How this is affecting our diplomacy, here author talks about ongoing vaccine my three campaign in which India is provisioning that is giving or granting COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the world. Yes, we are known as pharma capital of the world. And according to author, this is one of the most important recent initiatives to leverage science and technology advantages to benefit foreign policy objectives. Many small countries like Maldives, South African countries, even Latin American countries have applauded our support with vaccine my three. And not just that, India's COVID-19 response also came closely aligned with its neighborhood first, actist and Indo-Pacific and look west policies. So even the delivery of vaccines was made according to foreign policy objectives. But as we all know, still India lacks behind China and many Western countries when it comes to science and technology research. So what are the solutions given by the author so that our nation can holistically develop as a world leader in technology? First, India's financial share to science and technology related to research must rise to enable the country's own rise. Second, participation of India's states, universities and private sector in research and development efforts must be strengthened. For example, Oxford University and AstraZeneca came together to develop a vaccine. But in India, most of the vaccines are being developed by only pharma companies. So universities, research labs should come together for developmental efforts. Then India's young scientists and technologists should be made more aware of countries foreign policy objectives so that they can align their objectives with India's needs. Finally, the country should enable all stakeholders in the policy establishment to learn more about science and technology to bridge the intellectual divide only by bridging or limiting the intellectual divide we can enable all the stakeholders in formulating the policies regarding science and technology. So these are the solutions given by the author to develop India into a world leader in technology. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. We had a brief discussion on how science and technology evolved in India and how India is leveraging its science and technology prowess to match its foreign policy objectives and what are the solutions given by the author. Let us move on to next news article discussion. See this opiate article which talks about the role played by a scientist in the pandemic. At one point, she notes that studies predict that India will be a hotspot for possible zoonotic disease emergence. And further, global meta-analysis revealed that zoonotic diseases tend to emerge in areas with certain characteristics. So for example, the characteristics include areas with many mammal species, areas having high land use and land cover change and areas of high human population density. If you see almost India qualifies in all the categories. So in this regard, let us try to understand what is a zoonotic disease? See, zoonotic disease is any disease or infection which is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans. For example, Ebola. Here, zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or even parasitic or sometimes they also involve unconventional agents. So it can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water, environment, et cetera. So in short, zoonotic diseases are caused by germs that spread between animals and people. Simply put, the diseases come from animals. So zoonotic. Even the COVID-19 or the coronavirus are also zoonotic because it is said that the virus came from rats in China. So there are around 200 known types of zoonotic diseases and they comprise a large percentage of newly identified infectious diseases and also existing diseases in humans. So why zoonotic diseases are assuming significance? Because humans have a close relationship with animals in agriculture. Animals has companions and even animals in the natural environment. So zoonotic diseases represent a major public health problem around the world. And as we all know, COVID-19 became a pandemic which is a zoonotic disease. Additionally, they also affect economic activity as zoonotic diseases can cause disruptions in the production and trade of animal products for food and other uses. If we take the example of bird flu, last month, Tamil Nadu Kerala reported the cases of bird flu. So whenever bird flu comes, the sale of chicken will drastically come down. So trade and economic activity will come down. So can we prevent zoonotic diseases? The answer is both yes and no. See, there are some diseases which are 100% preventable through vaccination and other methods. For example, Tecrabis, which can be preventable through vaccination. But it is difficult to have a common prevention method as prevention methods differ for each pathogen. But still these practices are recognized as effective in reducing the risk. The practices are given here. Most of the things we know, like cleaning our hands, standards for clean drinking water waste removal, appropriate guidelines for animal care in agriculture sector, et cetera. Next author talks about main issue in handling zoonotic diseases in India. The main issue is that India's approach to addressing these diseases is reactive, which means we act only after disease comes out like COVID-19. So research and public health interventions begin only when there is an outbreak, like in the case of COVID-19. So the need of however is proactive prediction of an outbreak. But it is not a simple task because for this, the viral and bacterial diversity from wild reservoirs like bats in our biodiversity hotspots need to be sampled. We need to understand ecological and evolution dynamics of possible pathogens. Finally, we should be able to monitor such possible hotspots of virus so as to detect a disease occurrence. Simply put, we need more research in biotechnology and healthcare. And to make this possible, the main need is teams of interdisciplinary scientists along with sustained efforts. So this is what the author of this article is saying. What is a zoonotic disease? Can we prevent them? And how to predict them even before they occur? Have a basic idea on all these aspects? Let us move on to next news article. See this question, which is framed based on this news article. With reference to joint comprehensive plan of action, consider the following statements. Statement one, it was signed between Iran and P5 countries of UNSC along with Saudi Arabia. This statement is incorrect because the deal is between Iran and P5 countries along with Germany. Statement two, the permanent five members of UNSC will have the sole responsibility to verify the nuclear related provisions of the agreement. This statement is also incorrect because the compliance to agreement will be verified by International Atomic Energy Agency. So both statements are incorrect. So answer is option D, neither one nor two. So coming to article, what article says is the IAEA, that is International Atomic Energy Agency announced a temporary solution or a three month arrangement to allow Iranian facility inspections to continue. So what happened was in 2018, the then US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and even imposed sanctions on Iran. The America accused Iran of supporting Hezbollah and Hamas groups of West Asia. So citing this reason, US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. After that for a while, Iran followed the agreement and then it announced that it will not follow the limit set under the agreement and will start enriching the uranium. So if Iran starts enriching the uranium, in the future it can prepare nuclear weapons. And in the last year, that is December, Iran's parliament passed a law demanding suspension of inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency if US failed to lift sanctions by this Sunday. But so far, US neither rejoined agreement nor lift the sanctions. But for a very long, we have been hearing that US may rejoin the agreement under new president of Joe Biden. And as I said before, Atomic Energy Agency has announced a temporary solution to continue the inspections in Iran. So if US comes back to deal within three months, then Iran may stop enriching and will abide with the limits set by IAEA and JCPOA agreement. That is joint comprehensive plan of action. Just have a brief idea on JCPOA and recent happenings with respect to this agreement. Let us move on to next news article. Say this question framed based on this news article. Consider the following statements. Statement one, both India and Maldives are members of SARC, Indian Ocean Reem Association and BIMSTEC. This statement is incorrect because yes, India and Maldives are members of SARC and Indian Ocean Reem Association, but Maldives is not a member of BIMSTEC. If you take members of BIMSTEC, they're all the peripheral states of Bay of Bengal. As Maldives lies southwest of India, it is not part of BIMSTEC. Statement two, the eight-degree channel separates India's Minicoid Island from Maldives. Yes, this statement is correct. The eight-degree channel separates Minicoid Islands of Lakshadweep from Maldives. So statement two is correct. Therefore, the correct answer is option B two only. Coming to news article, as the title says, Maldives Parliament debates defense deal with India. So two days back, India and Maldives has signed a defense deal. Following the signing of this agreement, few MPs of Maldives raised an emergency motion to discuss or debate the defense deal with India. If you remember last year, Maldives signed a deal with US also. For very long, India was objecting the deal between Maldives and US because India does not want any other big power to meddle into India's neighbors. After many years of negotiations, India welcomed the deal between Maldives and US. If you see, until 2018, Yamin was the president of Maldives. He's a pro-Chinese president. Consequently, many of the India's efforts made to develop diplomacy between the countries has been negated because of his proximity towards China. After the defeat of Yamin in 2018, Ibrahim Mohammad Soli became the president of Maldives and has been pursuing India's first policy. But all the MPs of Maldives are not happy with the deal with India. So they wanted an emergency motion to discuss and debate the deal. But as of now, the deal was signed and we have to see what the fate of deal is going to be. Just have a brief idea on the location of Maldives, the recent diplomatic relations between India and Maldives and why Maldives is important in the security of Indian Ocean region because Maldives lies at the strategic location in the Indian Ocean. Just have a brief idea on all these issues. We will be having editorial or op-ed in the coming days. Then we'll have a elaborate discussion on India-Maldives relations. Let us move on to practice questions discussion session. See this question. Which of the following organizations release the Global Innovation Index? Four options are given here. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is IBRD. B, World Intellectual Property Organization that is WIPO, World Economic Forum and International Science Council. The correct answer is option B, World Intellectual Property Organization. This index ranks the innovation performance of countries and economies across the world based on 80 plus indicators. Know that this index is co-published by World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University and INSEED. See this question. Consider the following statements. The Central Information Commission was set up under Right to Information Act of 2005. Yes, the statement is correct. Statement two, the salaries and allowances of Chief Information Commissioner at central level are equal to that of Chief Election Commissioner. This statement is correct before the amendment of 2019. So after the 2019 amendment, the salaries, allowances and terms of service of Chief Information Commissioner will be determined by Union Government. So statement two is incorrect. So correct answer is option A, one only. Consider the following. See the question asks, which of the above constitutes the reasonable restrictions on fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression? So simply they're asking, what are the reasonable restrictions for Article 19? So first one, security of the state. Yes. Second one, friendly relations with other countries. Yes, correct. Three, morality. Yes, correct. And four, defamation. Yes, this is also correct. So all the four should be in answer. So correct answer is option D, one, two, three and four. See this question. Which among the following diseases is or are not a zoonotic disease? Salmonellasis, West Nile virus, rabies. Say here all the three are zoonotic diseases. So the correct answer is option D, none of the above. See Salmonellasis is caused by bacteria called Salmonella, which is widely distributed in domestic and wild animals. Coming to West Nile virus, it is a mosquito-borne disease and is maintained in nature in a cycle involving transmission between birds and mosquitoes. Rabies is a vaccine preventable zoonotic viral disease. It can spread to people and pets if they are bitten or scratched by rabid animal like bats, raccoons, et cetera. But in most of the cases, domestic dogs are responsible for rabies virus transmission to humans. So all three are zoonotic. So the correct answer is option D, none of the above. Consider the following class of persons. Persons with disability, members of armed forces of union, employees of government of India, posted outside India, senior citizen above 65 years of age. Who among the above is entitled to vote by post at an election in a parliamentary or assembly constancy? If you see one, two, three are correct. Fourth one is incorrect because it is not 65 years of age, it is above 80 years of age. So persons above 80 years of age are eligible to vote by post. So if you remove four, we can arrive at the answer that is option C, one, two, and three only. Say this main question. While it is essential to protect national integrity, sedition should not be misused as a tool to curb free speech. In this context, discuss the relevance of section 124A in independent India. So first try to explain first line why sedition should not be a tool to curb free speech to protect national integrity. In this context, discuss the provisions of section 124A and whether they are necessary. You can discuss Kedarnath Singh case, law commission 2018 report and take a stand in the conclusion. So whether it should be properly used or it should be removed. Write the answer and post it in comment section. Thank you for watching our video. If you find this video resourceful, like, comment, share, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.