Shillong July, 25: The Hon'ble Chief Minister of Sikkim Shri Prem Singh Tamang was part of the meeting of the Chief Ministers of the North Eastern Region. Hon'ble Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah and Hon’ble Minister DoNER, Tourism and Culture, Shri G. Kishan Reddy along with Chief Secretaries and DGPs were also present in the meeting held at Shillong on 24th July.
In his address, the Hon'ble Chief Minister made few proposals including, the incentives and subsidies like NEIIPP and NEIDS-2018 extended by the Government of India which he stated have helped bring a chain of micro, medium and small ventures. Further, he added that all these have produced income, employment, technology, knowledge and revenue and has also assisted in instilling a sense of confidence and enthusiasm among the local entrepreneurs and changing the perception of the North-East region.
The Hon'ble Chief Minister said," We feel the pace has been well set up now. We need to bring more actors and partners from the South East Asian countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and others". He elaborated by stating that this will meet the goals of India’s Act East Policy as declared by the Hon’ble Prime Minister and also harness the advantages of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and other regional cooperation ventures.
Speaking about some crucial sectors where the region has high comparative advantage like tourism, agro-based products, floriculture– horticulture- bamboo- ethnic fashion designing, and plantations including naturopathy and wellness, he stated that a new set of bolder and bigger interventions are required. In this context, he added that the earlier incentives of 33% to hotel industries may be restored, as this had led to a range of attractive tourism infrastructures.
The Hon'ble Chief Minister added that the pandemic has also highlighted the extreme digital gaps in the North-East region. Citing the latest Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2019-2020, he informed that Sikkim has done relatively well. However, he added that adequate and easy availability of internet connections through sea routes in the Bay of Bengal can help in this aspect. He requested the Hon'ble Union Home Minister to increase the internet bandwidth from the existing 10 MBPS to at least 1 GBPS and for an independent BSNL circle for the state.
Further, he stated that Sikkim would like to be deeply involved in the activities of the North Eastern Space Application Centre Society and welcomed the officials to guidance going forward to adopt various technological modernizations.
Further, he informed that Sikkim is the first state to appoint Economic Revival Committee in May 2020 to study the impact of the pandemic in various economic and commercial sectors and socio-cultural activities in the state and added that the aspects of Atmanirbhar Bharat announced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister have been well ingrained in this report. Further, the Hon'ble Chief Minister added that Sikkim has been striving to transform itself into an education Hub of Eastern and North-Eastern India and informed about setting up the first Subash Chandra Bose University of Excellence in PPP mode, primarily concentrating on courses and programmes focused on hills and Himalayan region of South Asia.
Further, he lauded the historic decision to set up the Ministry of Cooperation and to launch and practice cooperative ventures and requested for constituting a Committee exclusively for this region to draw a detailed plan of action within the next three months. "This will enable the Ministry of Cooperation to kick start its ventures effectively in this region", stated the Hon'ble Chief Minister.
Towards the end, he thanked the Hon'ble Union Home Minister and Minister DoNER for their time and patience and for calling the vital meeting and also expressed his gratitude to all the Chief Ministers and dignitaries present there. He also extended his gratitude to the Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and his team for their constant support in all the development programmes and also in fighting the deadly pandemic.
He particularly thanked the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Meghalaya Shri Conrad Sangma and the officials for flawlessly organizing the event and for the kind hospitality accorded to him and his entourage