SHILLONG, March 19: The very first media workshop titled ‘Vartalap’, of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) Shillong, held at the Shillong Club in association with Shillong Press Club on Saturday shed light on the Union Budget 2022 announced recently by the Ministry of Finance, with emphasis on Meghalaya.
Speaking at the event, chief guest C Songate, Goods and Services Tax (GST) Commissioner, Shillong, highlighted that the state’s GST collection was higher than the pre-COVID days, in a comfortable position as far as meeting the targets of the GST is concerned.
He also spoke on the direction of the Centre to open a trade facilitation centre in all the GST Commissionerates in the country, including Meghalaya. “It is expected that these trade centres will iron out all the difficulties faced by the small traders,” he said.
Associate Professor, Finance, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong, Dr Neelam Rani’s take on Union Budget 2022 stressed on the potential of Meghalaya to progress in the years ahead. Her suggestions included efficient energy storage considering the huge potential of around 3000 MW of hydropower from the existing eight units.
Meghalaya can also envisage on the agriculture sector as a huge chunk of population is into farming, she said.
Stating that the Union Budget 2022 is futuristic, she said that it would reflect positively in the long run.
Rani also highlighted aspects of PMGatishakti, MSMe, Education, agriculture, Start-up, digital banking etc.
Appreciating the Union and the State Budget 2022, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, North-Eastern Hill University, Dr D War Thangkhiew, said that it can act as “a very powerful instrument for bridging the gap of many socio-economic indicators.” She further talked about investments on sustainable development while terming them as extremely important.
Highlighting the Northeast Gross District Development Index 2021-22, the professor said, “Only one district, the East Khasi Hills, earned the status of the Performer and has been placed in the 57th Rank out of 100 places in the North East. It is very obvious that we need a big push in this aspect.”
She asserted that Self Help Groups (SHGs) are a success story in Meghalaya and the government is trying to create similar success stories in the Tourism sector through several programmes and proposed the launching of e- buses and e-buggies.
She, however, added that the aspect of higher education is yet to be addressed adequately by the government, adding that the state needs institutes that can offer professional and vocational courses.
Vartalap, which was organised with the aim of providing clarity on the impact of the budget on the common man, was attended by more than 30 journalists from the district.
An interactive session involving the resource persons and the participants followed soon after the experts concluded presenting their thoughts on the subject of the workshop.