Shillong, July 23: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has hailed the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Tuesday, calling it a ‘positive development’ that will boost infrastructure in the State.
Further, he said the budget pivots around four castes – Garib (poor), Mahilayen (Women), Yuva (Youth) and Annadata (Farmer) with special focus on employment creation and skill development. He noted several announcements that will be beneficial to the state.
Thank Hon’ble Finance Minister, Smt @nsitharaman ji for presenting a growth oriented budget with special focus on employment creation and skill development pivoted around the four “castes” – Garib (poor), Mahilayen (Women), Yuva (Youth) and Annadata (Farmer).
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) July 23, 2024
“Thank Hon’ble Finance Minister, Smt @nsitharaman ji for presenting a growth oriented budget with special focus on employment creation and skill development pivoted around the four “castes” – Garib (poor), Mahilayen (Women), Yuva (Youth) and Annadata (Farmer),” the Chief Minister said on this X (formerly twitter) handle.
He said the increased focus on agriculture, especially Natural Farming will help the State as it is one of the first States to adopt Natural Farming in the North-East. The increased allocations will provide better seeds and planting material to its farmers and help in increasing their income.
Highlighting the Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan scheme, he said it will be leveraged to saturate all the schemes in the State and all the villages in the State will be eligible for coverage under this program.
He said the budget will also accelerate infrastructure in the state with the increase in the outlay of Special Assistance to States for Capital Investments. The outlay provides 50 years of interest free loans from Rs 1.3 Lakh crore to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, which the CM said “is a positive development for Meghalaya and will accelerate the infrastructure development in our State.”
Further, he said the incentives announced for first time employees (One month salary up to Rs 15,000 in 3 installments under DBT mode) based on EPFO registration can be dovetailed with the Meghalaya Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, to ensure industrial development and accelerated job creation.
Union Budget 2024 in alignment with Meghalaya’s Mission 10
A separate press statement from the Government of Meghalaya said the Budget 2024 will provide the much required impetus to the growth of the State.
It noted that the Centre’s priority to 9 areas – Productivity and resilience in agriculture; Employment and Skilling; Inclusive human resources development and social justice; Manufacturing Services; Urban Development; Energy Security; Infrastructure; Innovation, Research & Development; Next Generation reforms – are aligned to Meghalaya’s Mission 10.
“Further, extension of credit guarantee scheme to provide guarantee up to Rs 100 crore for MSMEs will complement MIIPP, 2024 and provides the much required capital to our young and aspiring entrepreneurs. As the budget announce Industrial Parks in 100 cities, Meghalaya will leverage this opportunity to create world class industrial parks in our State,” the government said in the statement.
On other announcements for the region that will help Meghalaya, the government said setting up of 100 branches in the North Eastern Region by Indian Posts and Payments Bank will improve the banking coverage in the State. It assured that the State will leave no stone unturned to ensure that Meghalaya gets a good number of these new branches.
“The one year internship scheme announced in the budget will help our job seekers to gain valuable experience from top companies. Interns will get monthly allowance of Rs. 5,000 per month for a year and a one time allowance of Rs. 6,000. Generous allocations to housing schemes – PMAY – Grameen and Urban will be leveraged to saturate housing coverage in our State,” the government said.
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