Pre-budget exercise – a meaningful dialogue between Govt and stakeholders
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Stakeholders from various fields including academicians, media personnel, leaders of social organizations, retired bureaucrats and legislators took part in the first ever pre-budget exercise on Friday. They have all suggested to the State Government to give special thrust for the growth of a number of important sectors especially agriculture, education, health, youth and empowerment of women while allocating resources for 2012-13.
While emphasizing on the need to increase the fund allocations on these sectors, the stakeholders also gave valuable suggestions on the steps which the Government should pursue to improve the functioning of the delivery system of various Government departments.
Participating in the budget discussion, the former Assistant President International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Phrang Roy touched upon the critical issue of ownership of land in the State.
“The growing disparity between the rich and the poor is a worrying issue as also the increase in the number of landless citizens in the State,” Roy said while also suggesting for an urgent need to take necessary measures to bring in greater equity.
Mr Phrang Roy also stressed on the need to bring back culture to agriculture and to pay heed to the voice of the farmers.
He also stated that there is need to develop the rural areas by reclaiming these areas to prevent migration of people to urban areas which creates its own problems .
Senior journalist Philip Marwein pointed out that while few individuals have been able to purchase miles of land in the nooks and corner of the state, landless labourers/farmers are now in a majority.
He suggested that Government put in place a comprehensive Land Policy.
Former Minister RG Lyngdoh pointed out that the various schemes introduced by the government are not impacting in the rural areas because of the lack of ownership of the schemes by the common people. “The majority of people in the rural areas cannot correlate with the interventions of the Government. The government needs to go deep into the community and explain the why’s and wherefore’s of the interventions, ” Lyngdoh said. He also emphasized on the need to bring flexibility in the budgetary allocation for seeds and other agriculture related products. The former Minister also expressed concern on the meagre budget for tourism which is only 5 % to 6% of the total budget stating that this does not indicate that Government is serious about boosting tourism in the State Shillong Times Editor Patricia Mukhim has questioned whether mining and other extractive industries have brought any benefit to the people. “We have also heard of steps being taken for empowerment of women. But women’s empowerment means understanding women’s practical and strategic needs. They need to be stakeholders in project planning and implementation and gender should remain a cross cutting them across departments,” Mukhim said, adding that the budget allocations must show visible outcomes. ICARE president Toki Blah has emphasized on the need to strengthen the Look East Policy in view of students from Bhutan and Thailand coming to the State to learn the English language. The ICARE president also touched upon improving trade relations with Bhutan and Bangladesh. Taking part in the deliberations KSU President Daniel Khyriem expressing concern over the exorbitant fees charged by private educational institutions and called upon Government to rationalise the free structure of these institutions.
“As of now, people coming from a lower income group are not able to send their children to the private run schools due to exorbitant fees. This is also the main reason for the rise in drop out rates in Meghalaya,” Khyriem said. He also drew the attention of the Government on the need to improve the infrastructures of the government educational institutions in the semi-urban and rural areas.
The KSU president also stressed on the need to protect the various water bodies especially the catchment areas. While welcoming industrial development, Khyriem cautioned the Government against promoting cement industries which bring no benefits to the people and State but only exploit the mineral resources and destroy the environment. Khyriem also called for an outcome budget where people can see the results of project implementation. “This exercise is important since it would allow the Government to get an inside information to how the funds which it has invested are utilized. While touching upon the issue of regional imbalance in the rural areas, St Anthony’s College Principal Ioannis War Pakma stated that educational infrastructure in the rural areas need revamping. Pakma also spoke on the need to speed up the delivery services in the rural areas. Other participants asked the government to put an end to the ongoing exploitation of minerals, rejuvenation of river basins, creation of railway lines, making educational institutions in the rural areas more vibrant through public investment, hike in taxes, empowering the youth and women, giving impetus to agro-based industries, providing better healthcare facilities and a host of other suggestions. Emphasis was also laid on capacity building and holding of awareness programmes to enlighten not only the people but also government officials vis-à-vis schemes and policies. The government was also requested to look into the rehabilitation of victims of sexual abuse and female sex workers. A suggestion was made to open a women’s only market in the state along the lines of the one at Imphal, Manipur.