Moa Jamir
Away from the perpetual deficit and related issues that have regrettably become the focal point of discussion over the years, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio made some key announcements in the recent Nagaland State budget 2022-23 with potentialities of having a huge positive impact on the ground. There are some big caveats; however, more on this later.
The first is the ‘Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme’ touted as a major step towards universal health coverage for all the citizens of Nagaland to be launched during the financial year 2022-23.
This scheme will provide every citizen with hospitalisation insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per annum, irrespective of the family's income and provide cashless services for predefined packages covering secondary and tertiary care procedures at empanelled Government or private hospitals, both within and outside the State, informed Rio, the Minister-in-charge of Finance, in the budget speech. Again, he announced the constitution of an autonomous society for the new Medical College in Kohima adding: “We shall strive to ensure that admissions for the college commences from the academic session 2023-24.” The allocation of fund for patient guest houses in Dibrugarh as well as Vellore was also notable.
Another key announcement was the “Chief Minister’s Micro Finance Initiative,” slated to be introduced during the year. The initiative is aimed at further facilitating credit flow to hard-working farmers and young entrepreneurs, the Chief Minister said, adding that it would make credit more affordable and available to individuals, Self Help Groups and Farmer Producer Organisations with a corpus of Rs 65 crore. Among others, the scheme, whose detailed framework is yet to be notified, aims to increase farmers’ income, promote credit discipline, encourage private enterprise and improve the Agri marketing network and infrastructure.
In the power sector, listing out several projects, the Chief Minister asserted that the State would become self-sufficient in power as well as in a position to export surplus power and earn revenue “once these projects materialise.” The Government is also actively pursuing setting up a separate High Court for the State at the earliest and this year, the Parliament is expected to enact an Act for the State regarding the matter, he said.
In the sports arena, the Chief Minister also announced a new Scheme called ‘Target Champion Scheme (TACS)” envisioned at spotting talents and giving scholarships for training and development for a specific period to ‘produce champions at the highest levels of the sport.’
Many other initiatives were announced during the budget speech, with the Chief Minister underscoring that in the State Development Outlay for 2022-23, efforts have been made to ensure that priority is given to the completion of ongoing projects. A total of Rs 775 crore was allocated for the State Development Outlay of 2022-23, representing an increase of 10.71% over last year’s outlay.
Despite lofty intentions, given the previous precedence, these ‘promising’ steps must be taken with some caveats.
Moreover, the developmental outlay is too little an amount to make any significant impact. For instance, the 750 crore represents just 3.39% of the total estimated expenditure for the ensuing 2022-23 fiscal year. Funds allocations to key departments like School Education, Health and Family, PHED, Agri & Allied, Transport etc are glaringly low.
For instance, from the same platform, the Chief Minister last year said that the State Government is planning to “apply for starting the Kohima Medical College from the academic year 2022-23 to the National Medical Commission.” Now the goalpost has changed.
Withstanding the assertion that ‘priority is given to completion of ongoing projects,’ the latest “State Finances Audit Report” of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India relating to the Government of Nagaland for the year ended March 31, 2020, gave a different story. The report, laid during the same session, indicated that non-submission of Utilisation Certificates (UCs) and non-completions of projects were a permanent trend in Nagaland.
As of March 2020, there were 104 UCs worth Rs 378.59 crore due for submission for periods pertaining up to 2018-19 while there were 399 projects lying incomplete for which Rs 1,309.30 crore had been expended and there was a cost overrun of Rs 153.68 crore on these incomplete projects.
Many promises made during the first budget are yet to be implemented till now and the citizens of the State are also accustomed to those at the helm of affairs making bold promises, but faltering in delivering the ‘goods.’ Accordingly, while the 2022-23 budget has made some positive announcements, it should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism till its actual implementation on the ground.
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