Jyotiraditya Scindia interview: ‘‘PM Modi believes Northeast can be country's fulcrum … It is growing at almost the twice national rate'
A year in, Scindia reflects on his tenure at DoNER, speaks of the investment push in the Northeast, and points out the challenges that remain. Excerpts:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes the Northeast has tremendous potential to become the growth fulcrum of this country, despite being neglected for 65 years. There are historical and cultural underpinnings to show that the Northeast has always been the setu (bridge) between Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. That belief has been acted upon in the last 11 years (under PM Modi) and will now see fruition.
There has been a lot of infusion of capital, and that has translated into huge social and physical infrastructure.
We are talking about an investment of close to Rs 5 lakh crore over the last 11 years. The world is growing at over 2.4%, India is at 7% … And my eight states (in the NE) are growing at 11%-13%, almost twice the national growth rate.
In contrast to the past, the region has witnessed the visits of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (ministers) multiple times. While the PM has visited the region 60 times, there have been more than 700 ministerial visits. So, there is a granular level of understanding of the requirements (in the region) and (the) articulation of that understanding into very detailed projects.
We held the first NE investment summit for all the states together (in May). That has brought in a promised investment of Rs 4.18 lakh crore … It took 10 months and nine roadshows. This (promised investment) would roughly be about Rs 50-60 crore per state. This is besides the Rs 27,000 crore promised in the Advantage Assam Summit.
There are tremendous capabilities (being built) …. Agartala-Mumbai flying time is the same as Agartala-Singapore, Guwahati-Chennai is the same as Guwahati-Bangkok. You will have to think of the NE as a launchpad to Southeast Asia.
No disturbances …
Manipur is a different case. Today, across the Northeast, you can go from one state to the other and travel freely by road, rail, or air. I think the (advisories against travelling) are more state-specific rather than a DONeR issue. I want to push for the (larger) NE region environment as opposed to a state-specific environment.
Those questions have to be taken to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). My mandate is social, infrastructure, and economic development. It is about becoming a bridge between the Centre and the (NE) states. I will not stray from my mandate. For instance, Sikkim had a problem with a national highway and they required a new alignment. I went to (Nitin) Gadkari and got that new alignment approved. So, I am their (NE's) soldier.
I have done a strategic review of the states, with every Chief Minister, assessing various social and infrastructure indicators and identifying areas of potential. Also, we have outlined a penetration of banking strategy to facilitate home-grown entrepreneurs and industries. I am now looking at a tourism circuit for each state,and will start pilots in two states in the coming months.
One USP has been identified for every state: king chillies for Nagaland, Queen pineapple for Tripura, organic produce for Sikkim, agarwood from Assam and Tripura. An entire value chain will be built around that USP.
All eight states have been asked to conduct a study on social and physical infrastructure in their border villages and tell us what they want to achieve as a priority. Some have indicated issues such as roads, some have asked for electrification.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
4 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Delhi govt spent beyond means under AAP: CAG report flags fiscal deficit, subsidies
Delhi spent beyond its means under the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled on Monday in the Assembly by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta as the Monsoon session commenced. The Capital went from a fiscal surplus of Rs 4,566 crore in 2022-23 to a fiscal deficit of Rs 3,934 crore in 2023-24, as per the report titled 'State Finances for the Year 2023-24'. A fiscal deficit happens when the government spends more money than it earns. Even as fiscal deficits are common across the world, the city went from a surplus to a deficit, the data shows. 'The continuous mismatch between receipts and expenditure indicated a rising fiscal stress,' the report underlined. The report also pointed out 'an increasing trend of subsidies, which increased from Rs 3,593 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 4,840 crore in 2023-24'. Power subsidies constituted the lion's share, costing close to Rs. 3,249 crore to the government exchequer, constituting 70.39% of the total subsidies, according to the data shared. Under the previous AAP government, consumers who used less than 200 units in a month did not have to pay for electricity consumption. Those who used up to 400 units got a subsidy of 50%, of up to Rs 800, in their electricity bills. Meanwhile, the CAG report also pointed out that the expenditure on free travel for women in public buses went up from Rs 115 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 482 crore in 2023-24. The subsidy on water saw an expenditure of Rs 463 crore in 2023-24. Even as the BJP leaders had earlier termed these subsidies as freebies or 'revdis', all the schemes continued to run after the party came to power. As per the CAG report, between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the capital expenditure fell short of the capital budget. The capital expenditure — broadly defined as expenditure incurred by the government to create long-term assets like roads or constructing new buildings — also decreased by 15% in 2023-24 as compared to the previous year. The decrease was sharp under important heads such as Medical and Public Health (49.87%), Education, Sports, Art & Culture (42.19%), Public Works (39.70%) and Urban Development (36.36%). Revenue expenditure made up a significant portion of the money spent by the government, constituting up to 83%. Revenue expenditure, which refers to the government's spending on its regular operations like salaries, subsidies, interest payments, and maintenance of services, is necessary for daily expenditure but doesn't create new assets or infrastructure. The report points out that the revenue surplus of the city also saw a dramatic fall — from Rs 14,457 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 6,462 the next year. Devansh Mittal is a trainee correspondent with The Indian Express. He studied political science at Ashoka University. He can be reached at ... Read More
Indian Express
4 minutes ago
- Indian Express
1 in 4 construction workers registered with govt in Delhi may be only on paper: CAG report
Nearly one out of four construction workers registered with the Delhi government's welfare board may exist only on paper, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, tabled in the Delhi Assembly on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday, indicated. The report said that despite claims of 6.96 lakh registered construction workers, only 1.98 lakh had complete records, with thousands of duplicate entries or those with faulty images. The audit report also stated that the government failed to ensure mandatory registration of establishments, utilisation of welfare funds, and inspections. 'Duplicate images, images with no faces, and multiple registrations of the same face indicate several loopholes in the registration process. Since a robust computer algorithm would require exactly one face in each image, this indicates failure of the IT system to detect such images during registration,' it said. The report, Welfare of Building and Other Construction Workers, for the year ending March 31, 2023, was tabled by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. According to the report, the Board of Construction Workers (BOCW) could provide a complete database of only 1.98 lakh out of 6.96 lakh workers stated to be registered with it. Of the 1.98 lakh beneficiaries, for whom images were made available for the audit, 1.19 lakh beneficiaries were linked with 2.38 lakh images — more than one image for an individual beneficiary. The report also observed that in the South and Northwest districts, 97 private establishments that deposited cess between April 2019 and March 2023 were not registered. 'Similarly, 25 establishments involved in construction, as per information available on the Delhi Fire Services website, were also not found registered,' stated the report. 'It clearly shows a lack of proactive action on the part of the Board to use various sources of information to identify and register eligible establishments,' it said. The report also said that Delhi lags behind the rest of the country in terms of renewal of registrations — 7.3% against the all-India rate of 74%. The report further pointed out that the previous government spent only 9.53% to 11.33% of its total funds on welfare schemes, except in 2021-22 when extra payments were made to help workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Between 2019-20 and 2022-23, benefits were given under only 12 out of 17 approved schemes. No money was spent on five schemes, including support for miscarriage, advance for purchase or construction of a house, and loans or grants to buy work tools or insurance, the report indicated. The report also showed that the board released Rs 46.08 crore to the Directorate of Education in March 2022 to help 58,998 children of construction workers with their education for the years 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Economic Times
4 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Stock Radar: Globus Spirits breaks out from 9-month consolidation; check target & stop loss for long positions
Globus Spirits Ltd, part of the breweries industry, breaks out from 9-month consolidation on the daily charts which has opened room for the stock to head higher and might even hit fresh 52-week traders can look to buy the stock for a target of Rs 1,450-1,500 in the next few months, suggest stock which is also part of the BSE Smallcap index hit a high of Rs 1,373 on September 17, 2024, but it failed to hold the
