File Photo.
Our Correspondent
Kohima | March 27
Nagaland’s Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today said that the aim of the state government is now to take Nagaland towards ‘A State of Excellence.’
“We will lay out policies, programmes and developmental strategies that will enable our citizens, especially the youth to attain excellence in all sectors, and succeed at national and international levels. Our citizens must strive to excel in their chosen fields and careers and in doing so, push “brand Nagaland” and popularize “Naga soft power,” Rio, who also holds finance portfolio, said in his Budget Speech in the 1st session of 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) here today.
Stating that achieving excellence begins with strong foundations of capacity and caliber, Rio assured that the government will lay special stress on capacity building in all sectors, especially in areas where the youth have the talent and the ability to reach the highest levels.
Rio announced to take up capacity building in the coming fiscal, which includes; Scholarship for sponsoring doctors for further specialized education, exposure trips and study tour for progressive farmers, capacity building to promote indigenous products & entrepreneurs , scholarships and awards in the field of sports and games, Capacity building and Chief Minister's Scholarships on music, arts and performing arts, capacity building and training for meat and dairy production, Training centres and coaching institutes for students aspiring for civil services and common entrance exams, sponsoring for courses in institutions within and outside the state for specialized students and introduction of Chief Minister’s Journalism & Media Fellowship and study tour-cum- seminars for press and media fraternity.
Financial issues
Rio said that reforms are being undertaken in the domain of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) by their integration with the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) portal.
All CSS implementing departments are now required to manage all receipts and expenditure as well as submission of Utilization Certificates through the PFMS portal.
Under this new system, Rio said that both the state as well as Central Government have the facility of viewing all transactions undertaken from the Single Nodal Account linked to PFMS.
“Now most of the CSS programs have gone into Direct Benefit Transfer mode. Along with the rest of the country, our State has also migrated to this system that will bring in more transparency and efficiency. We are also required to release the Central Share and State Share within thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of funds from the Central Government, failing which we shall have to pay penalty of 7% per annum on the amount received. This requires all CSS implementing Departments to ensure timely movement of files,” Rio said.
He continued that the implementation of CSS programs in the state are of critical importance to, since they can substantially impact the State socially and economically.
As such, it is necessary for the implementing departments to ensure that they maximize the impact of the activities undertaken. For this reason, I intend to have in-depth reviews of the implementation of the CSS programs in the State on a quarterly basis, Rio said.
The Chief Minister said that the review shall examine the physical and financial progress of the projects, and the impact they have made on the target areas or beneficiaries.
All the concerned departments may accordingly prepare themselves from the start of the next financial year.
Further, Rio maintained that there is a growing trend of Departments neglecting their core activities over the years. As a result, the delivery of Government services for the public benefit in various sectors is being neglected. Excepting some major CSS programs, most departments are paying less attention to their core activities and focusing more on construction of offices and residential buildings.
“This trend needs to be corrected. We have to ensure that the activities of departments positively impact the lives of the public,” Rio insisted.
