Prioritizing Northeast in shaping ‘New India’, Govt slates 15% hike in budget for seven sisters and Sikkim
New Delhi, July 8: The positive inclination of the government towards the Northeast has dragged the seven sisters and the state of Sikkim towards building New India. With Indian budget-making big news last week, the Ministry of Northeast (DoNER) has successfully slated in nearly 15% hike in the 2019-20 budget. The rise came from Rs.2629 crore in the last financial year 2018-19 to Rs.3,000 crore in the current financial year.
However, the rise is in addition to the 10% budget allocation from each of the non-exempted Ministries, which will also correspondingly find a substantial increase of about 25 % in the current year. Disclosing this on Monday, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Modi Government's priority for Northeast will continue in the second term as well and no stone will be left unturned to achieve the objective laid down before us by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring Northeast at par with the other parts of the country.
The transformation witnessed in the last five years is to be seen to be believed and very soon, Northeast is going to be the favorite destination, both for entrepreneurs as well as tourists, he said. The transformation in the region, is not only at the infrastructural and development level, but also at the psychosocial level, for which the maximum credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal outreach who has, as Prime Minister, visited the North Eastern region more than 30 to 35 times, which could be a record in itself.
Not only this, Narendra Modi as Prime Minister personally chaired the meeting of the North Eastern Council at Shillong and issued instructions for setting up a separate NITI Aayog Forum for Northeast, he added. He further said, today there is a network of roads and double gauge rail tracks being laid down at a fast pace in different States of North Eastern region and for the first time, a special focus has been given to Inland Waterways as an alternative and cost-effective mode of transport.
The rail track for the first-ever train to Bangladesh from Agartala in Tripura is also being laid down. Narendra Modi's government decided to introduce an exclusive North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) and to amend the 100-year-old Indian Forest Act for Bamboo cultivation will not only open new avenues of livelihood but also strengthen the "Act East" initiatives through trade and business.