New Delhi : As per extant Policy of the Government, all Non–exempted Central Ministries/Departments have to spend 10% of their Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) resources under Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes for the North Eastern Region (NER). The BE allocation for the year 2021-22 for NER under 10% GBS is Rs 68020.24 crores. G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region along with B.L.Verma, Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region has started a series of meetings with Union Ministers to discuss various issues relating to the Development of NER states pertaining to these Ministries.
As part of this interaction today, on 27th August 2021, Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region, Shri G. Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, Shri B.L.Verma met the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar to collectively lay down the Roadmap for Development of Agro-Horticulture Sector in the NER in areas identified for holistic development i.e. Palm Oil, Bamboo and Organic Horticulture. Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare and Dr. Inder Jit Singh, Secretary, Ministry of DoNER and Senior Officials of Ministry of DoNER and Agriculture were also present. It was agreed that there was tremendous scope for working jointly and taking forward the interventions in agro-horticulture. For the current year 2021-22, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has budget allocation of Rs.12242.70 crore. Union Minister Shri G. Kishan Reddy sought the intervention of the Agriculture Minister for taking forward the recently approved National Mission for Edible Oils/Oil Palm with comprehensive coverage of the North- East and steps to increase the pace of implementation of other schemes in NER i.e. PMKSY, PMFBY, Kisan Credit Card etc or design suitable schemes within available budgetary resources. Minister of State, Ministry of DoNER Shri B. L. Verma stated that there are adequate budgetary resources for prospective sectors. Minister of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare observed that North East is a focus area for development and Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare has not only designed area specific interventions but also relaxed conditions of its schemes for better absorption. Outreach Meetings are regularly held with the States for identifying their difficulties for taking corrective action. It was agreed after detailed discussions that a Regional Business Summit in the area of Palm Oil and Organic Agriculture could be organized jointly at the earliest. A meeting with the Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of the North Eastern States could also be held to identify the state-specific needs and identify issues with the Central Schemes. Other areas that were discussed briefly include Farmer Exchange/Study Visit Programme between major Palm Oil growing states such as Andhra Pradesh and NER Farmers, Use of Drones, Improvement in Agriculture Infrastructure such as Cold Storages, availability of Land etc. Minister of DoNER assured support of Ministry of DoNER and its attached offices for ensuring timely implementation of various projects for development and promotion of Agriculture and allied sectors in NER as per the vision of Prime Minister of India.
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