NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION S.No. 1 States Date of Workshop UT. of Chandigarh with participating States Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir 28th -29th April, 2017 National Seminar on Good Governance, Development and Human Rights 2.65 The NHRC organized a two day ‘National Seminar on Good Governance, Development and Human Rights at New Delhi on 21st -22nd September, 2017. The Seminar was inaugurated by Justice Shri H.L. Dattu, Hon’ble Chairperson, NHRC. Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Union Home Minister was the Chief Guest during the inaugural session on 21st September 2017 and Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Law & Justice and Electronics and Information Technology delivered the valedictory address on 22nd September 2017. This seminar was a culmination of three Regional Workshops organized at Shillong (Meghalaya) for the North-Eastern region, Bangalore (Karnataka) for the Southern region and in U.T. Chandigarh (Punjab) for the Northern region. 2.66 The participants of the Seminar were Senior Officers of the Union Ministries/States/ UTs, representative(s) State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), National Commissions, International Labour Organization (ILO), United National Development Programme (UNDP), Special Rapporteurs & Members of Core Group on Bonded Labour of NHRC, NGOs, Academic, research scholars from Universities. 2.67 The objective of this Seminar was to raise awareness amongst all stakeholders about the importance of good governance in relation to human rights and development. This Seminar provided a platform to share the best practices amongst the States, identify the development gaps and how these gaps can be bridged at the grass root level, with focus on Nyaya, Niti, Niyam and Neeyat. The recommendations emerging out from the Conference are given below:1. Sharing and Adoption of Best Practices amongst the States/UTs: Best practices of all states should be shared and uploaded on the State Portal so that other states can replicate rather than reinvent the wheel and it will further enable the states to learn from each other. 2. Maximize Governance and Minimize Government: The hallmark to minimize government and maximize governance is proactive investment in empowering the people. This includes simplification of procedures, identification and repeal of obsolete laws, identification and shortening of various applications and reporting forms like registration of house, opening of bank accounts, leveraging technology to bring in 26 Annual Report 2017-2018