Niti Aayog to Focus on Monitoring of Govt. Schemes Implementation in North -East Region

NITI Aayog has constituted17 Sub-Groups on 17 thematic areas consisting of members from Civil Society Organizations, Central Ministries/Departments and sector-related United NationsAgencies as members of the Sub-Groups.  The mandate of these Sub-Groups is to work on 17 sectors and come up with tangible action plans. As per instructions of the Ministry of Finance, a continuation of schemes of the Ministries/Departments beyond 14^th Finance Commission period requires an independent evaluation. Evaluation of schemes implemented by North Eastern Council has since been completed. The work of evaluation of schemes implemented by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has been awarded.

To deal with the situation arising from pandemic due to COVID-19, the Government announced AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with the aim of making the country self-reliant and to focus on local manufacturing, local market and local supply chains. Accordingly, Ministries/Departments were tasked to frame the schemes/programmes as per the announcements. Some of the important initiatives include AatmaNirbhar Bharat RozgarYojana; extension of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Schemes for MSMEs, Businesses, Mudra borrowers; additional outlay for Pradhan MantriAwaasYojana-Urban and Pradhan MantriGaribKalyanYojana (PMGKY); Income Tax relief for Developers and Home Buyers; equity investment in debt platform of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) etc.

COVID-19 Impact on North-East

The COVID-19 situation was regularly reviewed and coordinated action was taken by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. To mitigate the difficulties of people in the North-Eastern States, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region/ North Eastern Council sanctioned untied funds amounting to Rs. 25.00 crore to combat COVID-19 pandemic in 8 NER States. Projects worth Rs. 25.00 crore have also been sanctioned to NER States for livelihood generation for returnee migrant workers due to COVID-19. In the health sector, five projects worth Rs.193.32 crore have been sanctioned under North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland for strengthening health infrastructure for fighting COVID-19.the ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has also coordinated with Central Ministries/Departments to resolve issues related to medical supplies, creation of testing infrastructure etc.

This was stated by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singhin a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.