New Delhi, January 19 (IANS): The Indian government has made development of northeast a major priority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the northeast Region more than 50 times in the last eight years, while various other ministers have also visited the region over 400 times.
The government has approved schemes of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) with an outlay of Rs 12,882.2 crore for the balance period of the 15th Finance Commission (2022-23 to 2025-26). According to a press statement issued by the ministry, there has been a 74%reduction in insurgency incidents, 60% reduction in incidents of attacks on security forces and 89% reduction in civilian deaths in the northeast. About 8,000 youth have surrendered and joined the mainstream, ushering a better future for themselves and their families.
The actual expenditure in last four years under MDoNER schemes was Rs 7,534.46 crore, whereas the funds available for expenditure in the next four years till 2025-26 is Rs 19,482.20 crore (2.60 times approx). Massive efforts have been undertaken for infrastructure development in the region with improving connectivity being a prime focus.
For improving railway connectivity, Rs 51,019 crore has been spent since 2014. Nineteen new projects worth Rs 77,930 crore have also been sanctioned. For railways, in comparison to average annual budget allocation of Rs 2,122 crore during 2009-14, in the past eight years, there has been a 370 per cent increase in average annual budget allocation totaling Rs 9,970 crore. For improving road connectivity, 375 projects worth Rs 1.05 lakh crore are underway. In the next three years, 9,476 km roads will be laid under 209 projects. For this, the Central government is spending Rs 106,004 crore.
Air connectivity has also improved massively in the northeast. Today, air traffic movement in northeast has increased 113 per cent since 2014 (weekly basis). To further give boost to air connectivity, Rs 2,000 crore will be invested for civil aviation in the northeast region.
For improving telecom connectivity, the Cabinet has also approved 4G connectivity in 4,525 villages in the northeast region.
Waterways are integral to life and culture of northeast. The Indian government is undertaking all efforts to develop this important sector in the northeast region. Before 2014, there was only one national waterway in the region. Now 20 waterways are declared as national waterways in the northeast. Recently, around Rs 600 crore was sanctioned for the development of national waterway 2 and national waterway 16.
Approximately Rs 190 crore has been spent towards enhancing skill development infrastructure in the region, along with upgradation of existing government ITIs into model ITIs between 2014 and 2021. A total of 193 new skill development institutes have been set up. Rs 81.83 crore has been spent as expenditure towards skilling. A total of 16,05,801 people have been skilled under various schemes.
The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) have been promoted under various schemes to boost entrepreneurship development. Rs 645.07 crore has been spent to support/ set up 978 units. The government has spent Rs 31,793.86 crore since 2014-15 in the health sector. From 2014 till now, the government has spent Rs 14,009 crore to promote higher education in the northeast
