Shillong, Oct 17: Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankar, on Wednesday lauded the “Meghalaya Model of Development” for a “Developed Meghalaya by 2032” but also cautioned that being a developed State is not easy as it requires certain elements, which take time.

Visiting the IT Park at Mawdiangdiang during his maiden visit to Shillong on Wednesday where he was given a detailed presentation by the Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on the way forward for Meghalaya to be a developed State by 2032, the Vice President said being a developed state is a serious business and GDP growth is not an indicator of it.

“Developed status has certain elements and they take time and Meghalaya under the leadership of Conrad K Sangma with the 10 Guarantees is aimed at making Meghalaya a developed state,” he observed.

He stated that it is equally important to take into consideration availability of resources and capacity of human resources while aspiring to be a developed state.

The Vice President also advised that in the developmental growth certain things have to grow on their own like roads, connectivity etc. but futuristic outlook in creating these infrastructures also needs to be kept in mind.

At the same time, he expressed happiness that while aspiring to be a developed state, Meghalaya’s focus was on fundamentals like education, health, technology, skill development, farming, sports and music etc.

Earlier, the Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said that Meghalaya has embarked upon a mission to push growth and development. He said that the state government has identified key areas to achieve the target of “Developed Meghalaya by 2032”, when the state celebrates its 60 years of statehood.

He told the vice president that “Meghalaya Model of Development” is laid on the foundation of four pillars – creating aspirations, collaborating with communities and stakeholders, capacity building and forging partnership.

Citing challenges of 7000 villages in the state, which are geographically remote, rural and hilly, the chief minister said, “We have identified the concerns and the problems of the state and have rolled out programmes to benefit the youth, women and the farmers. We are moving forward to propel the economic agenda of the state.”

He said that the GSDP of the state was far below the national average prior to 2020-21, but post 2021-22 the state has seen 15 per cent growth, with increase in investment in different social sectors, own tax collection going up, absorption of central taxes, and funding from the 15th Finance Commission including investment made through Externally Aided Projects (EAPs).

He also informed that the size of the state budget has increased from roughly Rs. 12,000 cr to Rs. 25,000 cr currently. He further said that the capital expenditure has increased by 2.75 times, amongst other initiatives taken by the government to accelerate growth.

He further told the Vice President on the ongoing initiative to promote value addition in agriculture sector, value chain and marketing, promoting of sports and music, education, healthcare, which have been prioritised by the government.

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