Mizoram’s 2019 growth at 14.82% one of India’s best — Governor

Aizawl, Feb. 17 (IANS): Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai on Monday said that the north-eastern state’s economic growth at 14.82 per cent last year was “one of the best” among the Indian states.

Delivering his customary speech on the opening day of the assembly’s Budget Session, the Governor said that various sectors — which will ensure continued growth of the state — have been incorporated in the government’s flagship programme ‘Socio-Economic Development Policy (SEDP)’.

He said that the SEDP aims to accelerate progress in key state sectors and transforming Mizoram into a welfare state.

“For successful implementation of SEDP, 14 boards comprising Ministers, MLAs, experts and officials have been created and 25 aligned departments distributed under these boards for supervision and monitoring of the implementation of SEDP projects,” Pillai said.

The state government’s emphasis has always been and will continue to be on agriculture and allied sectors, in which a majority of the state population was engaged.

The 5th session of the 8th Mizoram Assembly began here on Monday. The Budget Session will continue till March 14, with a break in between.

Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the Budget for 2020-21 on Wednesday.

The Governor said that to tackle problems faced by Mizoram’s farmers, the government had set up state- and district-level coordination committees led by the Chief Secretary and Deputy Commissioners respectively to ensure doubling of their income by this year-end.

He congratulated Mizoram’s Olympian hockey player Lalremsiami for getting ‘FIH Rising Star of the Year 2019’ award.

Lalremsiami, who made her international debut in 2018, was part of the team’s success at the Hockey Series Finals in Hiroshima in 2019. She also played a key role in the team’s performance at the Olympic Qualifiers in November last year where they edged out USA to earn their ticket to 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Pillai also informed the Assembly that an agreement was signed recently between the Centre, state governments of Mizoram and Tripura, and the Reang tribal representatives to peacefully resolve the 22-year-long Reang refugee imbroglio.

AIDS serious problem, should be tackled on war-footing

Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai on Monday called for concerted efforts to control and fight the growing HIV/AIDS prevalence in the state.

“We need more aggressive and collective efforts from the government, the churches, the NGOs and all voluntary organisations to check the rapid spread of the deadly disease,” he said.

Claiming that primary healthcare provisions for people feature among the government’s top priorities, the governor said an “improved” scheme has been launched in Mizoram recently, which aims to provide an insurance cover of INR 2 lakh cover to the beneficiaries.