Our Reporter
Dimapur, Aug. 24 (EMN): Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that Nagaland very much requires a good exposure to investments and projects that can benefit from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
She was interacting with journalists at Rhododendron Hall, Police Officers’ Mess in Chümoukedima, just hours before leaving for New Delhi as her three-day visit to the state came to an end on Wednesday. She was accompanied by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Dy CM Y Patton.
While lauding the chief minister for organising the CSR and Investment Conclave, the Finance minister pointed out ‘Nagaland is yet to get as much investment as it is capable of absorbing, and as a result running short of CSR’.
However, she mentioned that there is an increase in investments on health-related projects, like procuring high-end equipment for hospitals.
She informed that a total of 36 CSR projects have been announced for the state, amounting to a total of INR 38 crore and some of which (over and above INR 38 crore) were yet to come because the projects had not been completely presented to them (government). She maintained that the Ministry had planned to come up with an INR 40 crore announcement and now it has reached INR 38 crore, ‘but the rest will be made up soon’.
It may be mentioned that the central government data presented in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year showed that only INR 8 crore was spent in Nagaland as part of CSR over the past seven years, accounting for a paltry 0.006% of the total INR 1.2 lakh crore spent in the country during the same period.
Sitharaman said that there are quite a few investors and industries who are keen to ‘work on possible ways of investing in the state’.
‘From the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs side, we want to ensure that there is enough bank access to the state. As a result, we had a complete review of how many districts benefit from the presence of banks. And those districts which are not really as much covered by banks, there should be banking facilities provided,’ she asserted.
She added that Dimapur has the maximum presence of banks with 94 branches in total (both public sector and private banks), followed by Kohima with 58, Mokokchung in the third place, Wokha fourth and Mon fifth.
The Finance minister had inaugurated an Axis Bank branch on Tuesday, August 23.
In total, there are 271 bank branches in the state, out of which 200 are of public sector and regional rural banks.
Through the Jan Dhan Yojana, accounts have been opened for all the citizens and the cumulative direct benefit transfer (DBT) to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in Nagaland is INR 287 crore.
Sitharaman asserted that the tax devolution in the state has increased to INR 13782 crore during the period of 2014-19 compared to INR 3844 crore during 2009-14.
Grants-in-aid from the Centre has also increased from INR 20812 crore during 2009-14 to INR 29483 crore during 2014-19. The total Finance Commission-based Grants-in-aid allocation for 2022-23 from the Centre to the state will be INR 47773 crore, she informed.
Other than the usual infrastructure funds which come to the state, she said the Ministry had extended a special assistance to states for building the infrastructure i.e, scheme for special assistance for capital expenditure, during the COVID year (2020-22).
She also informed that INR 1 lakh crore has been set aside for the north-eastern states for the year 2023.
PM Development Initiative for Northeast (PM-DevINE)was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 to be implemented through the North Eastern Council. An initial allocation of INR 1500 crore has been made for the new scheme, she said, adding that it will fund infrastructure in the spirit of social development projects based on felt needs of the Northeast.
The Finance minister specifically stated that Nagaland can submit capital expenditure proposals in any sector up to an amount of INR 1600 crore to meet any developmental infrastructure requirement.
“There will be a component of it where 20% of the component will be tied to some reforms. 80% of the amount can be untied and the 20% is tied only to make sure -- together with this money -- the state is also bringing reforms, which otherwise the state finds difficult. Few steps have been given which I’m sure the state government will consider in the interest of better governance,” she said.
On the Smart City Mission, Sitharaman said that 17 out of 35 projects under Kohima Smart City have been completed; and the Central government has released INR 245 crore for the Kohima Smart City project, out of which INR 195.99 crore has been utilised as on July 8, 2022.
On PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) scheme in Nagaland, she said there are 81 empanelled hospitals and a total of 2.54 lakh e-health cards have been issued.
Meanwhile, under the PM Ujjwala Yojana scheme, 85,283 gas connections have been issued to various beneficiaries in Nagaland and the government has also released a total of INR 49 crore for the project during 2022-23.