NITI Aayog Releases North Eastern Region District SDG Index and Dashboard 2021-22

Under the aegis of Hon’ble Union Minister Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Shri G. Kishan Reddy and with round the clock support from Hon'ble MoS Shri B. L. Verma, DoNER is committed to serve the North Eastern Region of the country addressed by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji as 'Ashta Lakshmi' the eight forms of the goddess of wealth.

During their small tenure till date, both the Ministers held several rounds of talk with their counterparts from key Central Ministries viz., Home, Finance, Railway, Civil Aviation, Education, Agriculture, Telecommunications, Jalshakti, Health, NHAI, etc. to speed up the ongoing projects and to further discuss new projects/schemes so as to give an overall development and to generate employment opportunities for the people of NER. Rounds of discussion were also held with Hon’ble CMs of the NER States to coordinate with the projects being implemented in the States. These efforts are not only conveying a positive face of Centre towards the NER but also bringing fruitful results, some of which are highlighted below:

• Home-Border area roads development –Fast Development under 10% GBS
• Railways-122 Tunnels work in progress in NER. 27 completed.
• Telecommunication- 6000 Villages identified for cellphone connectivity in NER. Tendering action completed for more than 5000 villages. For balance villages tendering action is in progress.
• Civil Aviation- Small flights under UDAN to NER have been introduced and some new routes under UDAN to be considered.
• Tourism- Secretary, Tourism held meetings with Film Industries, Mumbai to explore the possibility of NER as film shoots. Identification of 100 Viewing points to be developed in NER in consultation with DoNER.
• Health- AIIMS Guwahati work in progress.
• Oil Palm- Out of Rs. 12000 Crores Rs, 6000 crores allocated to NER.
• Visit of Union Ministers to NER- frequency increased.

As a result, there is a considerable transformation in the working of the Ministry and its organizations, which clearly reflects in their achievements as highlighted below:

MDONER in collaboration with NITI Aayog releases North Eastern Region District SDG Index and Dashboard 2021-22: With technical support from UNDP, first of its kind in the country as it focuses on the North Eastern Region. The index measures the performance of the District of the eight NE States. This is the first time, a District wise index is being prepared in the country. This SDG Index will be used as a base for planning of development and welfare activities, education, health care. Chairman stresses upon the need to generate livelihood which will not only help in increasing the family income but will also raise the living standards.

Committee Meeting under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister, DoNER to review and discuss Livelihood schemes being implemented by DoNER. Hon’ble MoS Shri B. L. Verma and Members of the Committee, Shri Abdul Khaleque, Ramprit Mandal, C. Lalrosanga and Rebati Tripura were present. Government of India is fully committed to raise the living standard of the people of NER besides strengthening of infrastructure and connectivity in the region as well as other measures for its holistic development through the collective efforts of all the Union Ministries/Departments.

Oil Palm Mission: The National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) as a new centrally sponsored scheme with a special focus on NE Region and A&N islands. MoU for the Bamboo FPO Agreement on Edible Oils – Oil Palm for NE States has been signed. The aim of the Mission on edible oils is to increase the cultivation of oil palm from 3.5 lakh Ha. to 10 lakh Ha. across India in the next five years. 50% of the new cultivation is targeted for NE Region. Out of the estimated cost of the scheme of Rs. 11,040 crores, about Rs. 6,000 crores will directly benefit the farmers of NE States.

Revival of North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister has approved a revival package of Rs. 77.45 crore for revival of NERAMAC. Revival package will help NERAMAC to implement various innovative plans namely providing better farming facilities, training to farmers in cluster, organic seeds and fertilizers etc and will generate direct or indirect employment for about 33,000 persons.

Workshop on “The changing role of North Eastern Council in the development of North Eastern Region (NER)” in Shillong: A workshop titled “The changing role of North Eastern Council in the development of North Eastern Region (NER)” organized at the Conference Auditorium of NEC, Shillong. The Chief Guest of the event was Hon’ble Vice president Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu.

COVID related infrastructure:

• Oxygen Plant was setup in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh with financial support provided by MDoNER.
• COVID relief container having 10710 family health and hygiene kit, 10 oxygen concentrators, 3 portable health devices for 3 district hospitals, oxymeters, medicine kit and 3 telephonic medical consultation devices was sent to designated places in the State of Nagaland.
• 250 crore sanctioned by MDoNER for healthcare facilities to fight COVID-19 in NE States.

Atmanirbhar Hastshilpkar Scheme by NEDFi under MDoNER:

With the objective to develop the petty artisans of the NE Region by providing financial assistance NEDFi has introduced Atmanirbhar Hastshilpkar Scheme.

Monitoring and Geo-Tagging of projects in NE Region: Initial stage of development of project monitoring mechanism alongwith its Geo tagging in NE region being funded by DoNER/NEC. This is first of its kind in the whole Country where there is an Institutionalized involvement of ISRO in mapping and sharing of data for development projects.

Destination North East and Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM): Regular preparatory meetings are taking place at the highest level for the celebrations of the AKAM and DNE, which is scheduled from 15.0.1.2022 to 22.01.2022 spread over NER states with some events in the Capital. Awareness programs in the form of Quiz contest and videography and photogrtaphy context have already been started through MyGov platform and are attracting interest from general public.