New Delhi, Jan 07, 2023, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT/ TT

New Delhi, Jan 07: The Government has accorded a cardinal priority to the development of North East, if the massive jump in budgetary allocations and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the region more than 50 times in the last 8 years are any indication.

The North East was previously known for unrest, bandhs and insurgency, but in the last eight years, peace has been established under the leadership of PM Modi, an official release said on Friday.

There has been a 74% reduction in insurgency incidents, 60% reduction in incidents of attacks on security forces and 89% reduction in civilian deaths. About 8,000 misguided youth have surrendered and joined the mainstream, selecting a better future for themselves and their families, the release said.

Agreements were concluded with the National Liberation Front of Tripura in 2019, The Bru and Bodo in 2020, while the Karbi Agreement was inked in 2021. Besides, the Assam-Meghalaya and Assam-Arunachal border disputes have almost ended, and with the restoration of peace, the north-east region has moved on the path of development.

"Since 2014, a massive increase in the budgetary allocations to the region has been witnessed. Since 2014, more than 4 lakh crores under 10% Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) have been allocated for the region," the release said.

The Union Cabinet, at it's recent meeting chaired by the prime minister, approved schemes of Ministry Of Development Of North Eastern Region, with an outlay of Rs 12,882.2 Crore, for the balance period of the 15th Finance Commission (2022-23 to 2025-26).

The actual expenditure in last four years under MDoNER schemes was Rs 7,534.46 crore, whereas the fund available for expenditure in next four years till 2025-26 is Rs 19,482.20 crore (2.60 times more approximately).

Massive efforts have been undertaken for infrastructure development in the region and improving connectivity has been the prime focus.

For improving Railway connectivity, Rs. 51,019 crores have been spent since 2014. As many as 19 new projects worth Rs. 77,930 crores have been sanctioned.

For railways, in comparison to average annual budget allocation of Rs. 2,122 crores during 2009-14, in the past 8 years, there has been a 370% increase in average annual budget allocation totaling Rs. 9,970 crores.

For improving road connectivity, 375 projects worth Rs. 1.05 lakh crores are under way. In the next three years, the government 9,476 km roads will be laid under 209 projects. For this the central government is spending Rs. 1,06,004 crores.

Air connectivity has also improved massively. In 68 years north east had only nine airports, it jumped to 17 in a short span of eight years.

Air traffic movement in north east has increased 113% since 2014 (weekly basis). To give a boost to air connectivity, Rs. 2,000 crores will be invested in civil aviation in North East region.

For improving telecom connectivity, from 2014, Rs.3,466 crores have been spent under 10% GBS. Cabinet has also approved 4G connectivity in 4,525 villages in NER. Central government has set a target of 500 days to provide complete telecom connectivity in the region by end of 2023.

Waterways are integral to life and culture of North East. The government is undertaking all efforts to develop this important sector in the NE region. Before 2014 there was only 1 national waterway in NE region. Now 20 waterways are declared as national waterways in NER. Recently around Rs. 600 crores have been sanctioned for the development of national waterway 2 and national waterway 16.

Approximately Rs. 190 crores have been spent towards enhancing skill development infrastructure in NER and upgradation of existing government ITIs into model ITIs between 2014 and 2021. 193 new skill development institutes have been set up. Rs. 81.83 crores have been spent as expenditure towards skilling. A total of 16,05,801 people have been skilled under various schemes.

MSMEs have been promoted under various schemes to boost entrepreneurship development. Rs. 645.07 crores have been spent to support/set up 978 units. According to DPIIT, 3,865 startups were registered from north east.

Imporving health infrstructure has remained a key focus over the last eight years. Government has spent Rs. 31,793.86 crores since 2014-15 in the health sector.

19 state cancer institutes and 20 tertiary care cancer centres have been approved under the strengthening of tertiary care of cancer scheme.

Over the last eight years, efforts have been carried out for improving education infrastructure in the region.

From 2014 till now, the government has spent Rs 14,009 crores to promote higher education in the north east. 191 new institutes of higher education have been set up. There has been a 39% increase in number of universities set up since 2014. 40% increase in central institutions of higher education set up since 2014-15.

As a result, there has been a 29% increase in total student enrollment in higher education.

Power infrastructure has been strengthened to fuel development in the region. Since 2014-15, government has sanctioned Rs 37,092 crores out of which Rs 10,003 crores have been spent so far. North East Gas Grid (NEGG) project of Rs. 9,265 crores is underway and will improve economy in the region.