From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, Feb 1: Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced a Rs 1500-crore centrally-funded scheme christened “Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East” (PM-DevINE) exclusively for the region over and above all other schemes.
“It will fund infrastructure, in the spirit of PM GatiShakti, and social development projects based on felt needs of the North East. This will enable livelihood activities for youth and women, filling the gaps in various sectors,” the minister said in her Budget speech.
Sitharaman clarified that the scheme will not be a substitute for existing central or state schemes. “While the central ministries may also pose their candidate projects, priority will be given to those posed by the states,” she said in the first paperless Budget.
“An initial allocation of Rs 1,500 crore will be made. The whole scheme will be implemented by the North Eastern Council,” she announced.
Union Home Minister, Amit Shah said development of the Northeastern region has always been the top priority of the Modi Government.
“The announcement of the PM’s Development Initiative for the North East will go a long way in realising PM Modi’s vision of a prosperous region,” he added.
While the new scheme was applauded by the ruling BJP members, Congress MPs from the region pointed out that a much lesser amount announced earlier was spent for the region, resulting in many schemes remaining only on paper.
An analysis of the 2020-21 Budget shows that the central government had, uniformly, spent far less in the NE region than the previous financial year. The budget allocation for the North East in FY 2021-22 also dipped under most heads accordingly.
While the 2020-21 Budget for cumulative central sector schemes and projects was Rs 3027.65 crore, the revised budget allocation for that year showed only Rs 1839.28 crore. This reduction in the actual spending has had its effect on the FY 2021-2022, in which the sum allotted is Rs 2637.49 crore, the analysis shows.
Under the ‘other central sector expenditure’ heading in the DoNER ministry, Rs 3048.73 was the budget allocation for FY 2020-2021.
The expenditure shown was only for Rs 1,860 crore, leading the Centre to allocate less than what it did in the FY 2020-2021. Notably, the sum allocated in FY 2021-2022 is Rs 2,658 crore.
Congress member from Meghalaya, Vincent H Pala criticised the current Budget which he said has been a let-down for the North Eastern region especially in context of the “tall claims” made by the Finance Minister.
Connectivity is crucial for North East’s growth and development but the allocation for the scheme is reduced by 39.5% from Rs 994.03 crore in the revised estimates for 2021-22 to Rs 600.71 crore in 2022-23, he said.
On the crucial social development fronts of education and health, the budget is simply disappointing, Pala said. Allocation for school education for the eight states of the region is a mere 9% of the department’s expenditure.
This shows how much of a priority North East is in terms of Budget allocation, he pointed out.
“The allocation of the Department of Health and Family Welfare for NE has, to our displeasure, reduced from RE 2021-22 and the capital outlay for NER has remained constant at a meagre Rs 50 crore,” Pala said.
This is problematic since Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam all fall in the 10 worst performing states in terms of maternal health, he added.
Conrad hails Budget
Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said that the Government of India’s vision for Amrit Kaal is aligned with their vision for ‘The Meghalayan Decade’.
“The special impetus for holistic development of youth, women, and farmers is in line with our focus and approach towards our vision of being among the top 10 states in 10 years. In the union budget for 2022-23, the estimated expenditure is Rs. 39.45 lakh crore, and estimated receipt is Rs 24.84 lakh crore, which will enable our GDP to grow at 9.2%,” the CM said.
He said that their suggestions during the Budget discussion meeting last December to increase outlay under the scheme for financial assistance to the states has been well accepted and now Meghalaya stands to gain Rs 100 crore more this year itself.
“Additionally, Rs one lakh crore has been allocated to assist the states through interest free loans for 50 years over and above the normal borrowings. This will drive the economy of Meghalaya along with the national economy at an accelerated pace in these tough pandemic times,” Sangma said.
He also expressed his happiness over the announcement of the PM-DevINE (Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East) which will be implemented through the North-Eastern Council and it aims to enable livelihood activities for youth and women by filling the gaps in various sectors with initial allocation of Rs 1,500 crore.
Stating that the Budget has laid special allocation for the farmers to leverage digital and hi-tech services including use of Kisan drones and comprehensive package in horticulture sector, the CM expressed hope that the farmers would be greatly benefitted through these programmes.
BJP MP from Silchar, Assam, Dr Rajdeep Roy termed the Budget as pro-development at a time when the country is reeling under COVID-19 pandemic.
He also hoped that more funds will come towards North East during the later part of the year.
