SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has launched Restart Meghalaya Mission worth Rs 14,515 crore to revive the economy of the state hit by COVID-19.
Addressing the gathering at Polo Ground on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations on Saturday, the chief minister said that the mission comprises a series of programmes to support farmers, entrepreneurs and to build growth promoting basic infrastructure and services.
“We are calling this mission Restart because we want to revive and give a push to the different development activities that were brought to a standstill by COVID-19. I am committing an amount of Rs 14,515 crore which is to be spent over the next three years for the Restart Meghalaya Mission. Out of this, Rs 7,839 crore has been earmarked for this year”, he said.
Farming priority
The first set of programmes under the Mission relate to the primary sector.
“Farming and farmers are at the epicentre of our rejuvenation plan. We are all aware that the year 2020 has already been declared as the Year of the Farmer. The economic slogan today is localisation, not globalisation. Given this, we in Meghalaya should also strive to become self-sufficient in the production and marketing of agricultural and allied products”, he said.
The government plans to double the reach of the Kisan Credit Card programme from the current number of 86,000 within one year. Efforts are on to make KCC loans attractive by providing an interest subvention of 2% on timely repayment. “This measure, for the first time in the history of the state, will enable Meghalaya’s farmers to avail loans at only 2% interest rate”, Conrad said.
The government will also support 400 agri-entrepreneurs in the purchase of power tillers with a 50% subsidy.
“Rs 4 crore will be spent on this measure as collection and aggregation of the produce comes next in line where we need to build economies of scale. We have already started a programme for formation of about 10,000 farmer producer groups across the state”, he said.
The government has set up a corpus fund of Rs 10 crore to provide lower interest rate loans to producer group members. The producer groups will be slowly aggregated into farmers’ producer organisations that will focus on marketing and value addition. The government plans to build at least 50 farmer producer organisations across the state by 2022, the chief minister said, adding that the farmer producer organisations will become the focal points for taking up higher value addition activities like food processing.
He said Rs 15 crore has been sanctioned for the setting up of modern markets in all the districts of the state. An additional Rs 5 crore was approved for setting up of smaller farm-gate infrastructure like collection centres.
MGNREGS
The second priority area under the Restart Meghalaya Mission is the promotion of well-being and livelihoods in rural areas.
In this context, MGNREGS remains a pivotal programme.
While Rs 1,098 crore was spent on the programme in the last financial year, the government has already spent around Rs 700 crore in the last four months.
This year, the MGNREGS expenditure is expected to touch Rs 1,600 crore. This will translate into an average direct annual income of about Rs 17,000 to the 5,89,000 registered rural households in the state, he said.
Small businesses
The third priority area under the Mission is entrepreneurship and small businesses. On account of the disruptions in both the supply and demand sides, MSMEs, particularly small businesses and entrepreneurs have been badly hit by the lockdowns and restrictions, he said, adding that several of these businesses like small vendors, shopkeepers and small aggregators need some cash to restart work. “However, many of our small businesses do have credit linkages with the banking system”, he said.
To solve the problem, the chief minister’s support programme will start for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
“Under this programme, the government is launching an online small loans portal, which will enable small businesses to easily apply for loans without having to physically visit the bank branches. More importantly, the government will provide a one-time grant support of upto Rs 10,000 for any new small business loans of upto Rs 50,000 that are availed. A corpus fund of Rs 15 crore is created for providing the grant component under this programme, he said.
Help to skilled workers
The chief minister said another very important category of entrepreneurs that currently needs support are the large number of skilled and entrepreneurial youth who have returned to the state.
Among the returnees are highly skilled individuals with strong experience in the industries of IT, financial services, media and hospitality, he said.
“A plan for Rs 3.25 crore to support the group through building enterprises in the sectors of manufacturing, business and service has recently been approved by NEC”, he said.
The fourth priority area under the Mission is infrastructure improvement.
“Quality infrastructure forms the basis for long term development. Given this, we are giving a push like never before to achieve results in the infrastructure sectors. A total investment of Rs 8,753 crore is committed over the next three years”, Conrad said.
The fifth priority area under the Mission is focus on tourism.
“In our state, close to 50,000 people are dependent on tourism for sustenance and livelihood. I understand the economic hardship faced by the various tourism stakeholders, including hoteliers, home-stay owners, restaurant owners, shopkeepers around tourist sites, tourism guides and taxi drivers”, Conrad said.
Students to get tablets
He said the sixth and perhaps the most significant priority area is human development.
“Education lies at the core of human development. We are taking steps to ensure that children continue to learn, despite the shutting down of schools. To facilitate remote learning, we are planning to distribute tablets to 25,000 class XI students”, the chief minister said.
On the infrastructure front, the process of construction of 13 Ekalavya Model Residential schools will soon begin; another 25 such schools have recently been sanctioned.
“I am taking all steps to ensure the completion of all the 40 Ekalavya Model Residential schools by the end of 2022. The construction of these schools will cost about Rs 960 crore”, Conrad said.
The power sector will also undergo a comprehensive revamp as part of the Mission. The state government has already decided to avail Rs 1,345 crore low-cost long-term loan being provided to the distribution company, the MePDCL, as part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.