Earmarking of 30% of “Schemes of NEC” allocation for development of deprived areas; deprived neglected sections of Society:
The Government in January 2020 approved the allocation of 30 per cent of North Eastern Council’s (NEC’s) allocation for new projects under the existing “Schemes of North Eastern Council” for focused development of deprived areas; deprived/neglected sections of society and emerging priority sectors in the Northeastern States. Indicative List of areas/ sectors are as under:
- Programmes for afforestation of denuded hills in NER. The plantation will involve tall-growing trees other than bamboo.
- Programmes/projects for development of organic farming in NER.
- Commissioning of studies to look into problems of ethnic groups in NER like Bru, Chakma, etc. and possible solutions to the identified problems.
- Documentation of disputes between different States of North East for further action by MHA.
- Study of various languages/scripts of NE States and measures to revive the lost languages/scripts.
- Such other projects of importance for focused development of deprived areas, vulnerable and neglected groups/sections of society and other emerging priority sectors.
Digitization of MDoNER: With 100% implementation of E-Office in MDoNER by way of providing support infrastructure and enabling access to E-office through VPN to officials, there was no disruption in working of Ministry in post COVID period. This ensured full utilization of the funds allotted to Ministry in FY 2019-2020. This also ensured safety and protection of employees without loss of productivity.
Development of Bamboo Sector in North Eastern Region: Around 35% area under bamboo is in North Eastern States. However, this potential of Bamboo for NER was not being fully utilized due to restrictions in movement of Bamboo under Indian Forest Act, 1927.
Government removed Bamboo from the classification of trees in Indian Forest Act 1927 through Indian Forest (Amendment) Act, 2017 and re-classified it as grass by Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change. The decision is a game-changer for development of Bamboo in the North Eastern Region as it would facilitate large scale cultivation and processing of bamboo.
Another major reform relates to increase in import duty on bamboo sticks from 10% to 25%. This decision has paved the way for setting up of new agarbatti stick manufacturing units to meet the ever-growing demand of Agarbatti in India. There has been no import of raw batti since September 2019 and local bamboo produce is being used.
Moreover, in coming months, three Bamboo Clusters will be developed in Jammu, Katra and Samba areas for making of Bamboo basketary, Agarbatti and Bamboo Charcol which will provide direct employment opportunities to about 25,000 people. Apart from this a Mega Bamboo Industrial Park at Ghati near Jammu and Bamboo Technology Training Centre will also come up in the region within two years of the allotment of land by the UT of J&K administration.
Destination North East: Destination North East is a calendar event of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region conceptualized with the objective of taking the North East Region to other parts of the country and bringing them closer together for better understanding and strengthening national integration. Previous editions of the Festival were held in Delhi, Chandigarh and Varanasi. Focus of Destination North East 2020, held virtually in September 2020 was on the theme “The Emerging Delightful Destinations”.
Union Budget 2020-21 accorded highest priority for the overall development of North Eastern Region-
Budgetary allocation saw a hike of over 14% from Rs. 2670 Crore last year to Rs. 3049 Crore in 2020-21.
The Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that in case of Ministry of DoNER, the budgetary allocation for 2020-21 is Rs. 3049 Cr as against Rs. 2670 Cr in the RE 2019-20 (increase of 14.2%). Out of this, the provision for development of infrastructure is around Rs.2900 Cr. Compared to AE 2014-15 of Rs. 1719 Cr, the budget allocation of Ministry of DoNER in 2020-21 is higher by 77.26%. In case of schemes being implemented by North Eastern Council (NEC), the current year’s budgetary allocation is Rs.1474 Cr, an increase of 19.23 % over RE 2019-20 allocation of Rs.1237 Cr.Dr Jitendra Singh also informed that the Budget for North East Council just doubled from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1474 crore in the last five years.
Dedicated Desk of Invest India for NER
In March, 2020, it was proposed to set up a special dedicated desk of Invest India for North Eastern Region. The desk will take up investment targeting, promotion, facilitation and website development for North Eastern States.
The facilities that are proposed be extended to the NER are: –
- Information provision
- Targeting support
- Facilitation support
- State training and capacity building
- Creation and structuring of state investment teams
- Advisory for states for their investment summits/roundtables
- Investors targeting support
- Website
All the above activities will be done in close coordination with the State Governments.