Finance Minister Arun Jaitley shaped up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dreams of greater emphasis to the North Eastern region of the country to end the “sense of isolation”.
With an allocation of Rs 53,706 crore for the North East, Jaitley proposed a slew of proposals, including enhanced road and rail connectivity and fostering of organic farming.
To bring N-E into the mainstream, the Government also announced launching of a 24x7 television channel named Arun Prabha for the region apart from setting up a sports university in Manipur.
“North Eastern Region has suffered from under development and a sense of isolation due to lack of proper connectivity,” Jaitley said while presenting the Budget in Parliament. Reminding the house that it was the previous NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee which made compulsory 10 per cent allocation of plan funds for North Eastern region and had made them non-lapsable in nature, he said from the current budget the new Government has introduced a statement which will separately show plan allocation made for the North Eastern Region.
“In the Financial year 2014-15, an allocation of Rs 53,706 crore has been made for North Eastern region,” Jaitley said. In the Budget for 2014-15, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has been allocated Rs 2,332.78 crore, out of which Rs 2,306 crore is under plan and Rs 26.78 crore non-plan.Stress has been on the need for development of rail system in the region urgently to bridge the gap with the rest of the country. An additional sum of Rs 1,000 crore over and above the amount provided for in the interim Budget has been set aside.
A total investment of an amount of Rs 37,880 crore, which includes Rs 3,000 crore for the North East, has been proposed on National Highways Authority of India and State roads. Emphasis has also been on the need to tap potential for development of organic farming in India’s N-E region.