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CM interacts with Union Finance Minister via Video Conferencing

Shillong, November 16 2021: Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma on November 15 interacted with Minister, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, Nirmala Sitharaman through virtual conferencing to focus on the State specific economy related challenges and strengths and to discuss steps required for coordination between the State Government and the Government of India to step up investment, infrastructure and growth. The Finance Minister interacted with all the Chief Ministers and State Finance Ministers.

In his opening remarks, Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma while thanking the Finance Minister for calling the consultative meeting said that it is a very positive message that is being sent across that the State and the Central Government are working together as a team. In his submission the Chief Minister said that in the Agriculture Sector the farmers face problems in the overall infrastructures in terms of value chain. “Many of our people are farmers and we face a lot of challenges when it comes to logistics and support that we can give to the farmers, lack of testing and GI labs, cold storage and other infrastructures for value chain will be very important in the medium and long term to really push the overall income of the farmers,” he said.

The Chief Minister also said that the State has a few challenges in the Banking sector as well. He said that about 45 per cent of the villages are still unbanked. He added that the State has a very low CD ratio of 40 per cent. “More Banking facilities need to come up and Banking services in the existing banks should improve to increase financial inclusion among the people especially in the villages,” he said.

Further, the Chief Minister also highlighted the importance of the State Specific Act East policy depending on the neighboring nation a State has. “I would like to stress here that Bangladesh is moving very fast with the six lane highways towards the borders and if we don’t start our work now then it will take us another five to ten years to catch up and take advantage of the entire trade network that will come up,” he said. He said that a focus should be given to road infrastructure, especially the ones that will lead to the development of trade with the neighboring countries. The Chief Minister also said that the fiber connectivity with Bangladesh needs to be moved to improve the connectivity in the State.

The Chief Minister also apprised the Finance Minister of the challenges in the Land System. He said that the North East has a lot of challenges in the Land holding system as the land belongs to the communities which are again controlled by the District Councils in many parts of the North East. He said that there should be some kind of a system for land records with support to the District Councils so as to move faster for industrial and economic development.  “Land record management and challenges and solutions through District Councils is something that most of the North Eastern states require,” he said.

He also made a submission on the Capital Investment Scheme. He said that Meghalaya has always been very positive and aggressive of the capital expenditure and urged the Ministry to continue with the support for the State.

The Chief Minister also brought to light the importance of the State Specific Schemes under the 15th Finance Commission. He said that if the State Specific Schemes fructify it would help in the overall development of the State. He also informed the Minister that the State has been working aggressively on investment oriented policies. “I am happy to inform you that out of the 235 compliances for the Ease of Doing Business in the State, we have reduced it by 112 and have been working hard on the PPP mode and have started the Community PPP to ensure that the land remains with the community, where government can be the facilitator and the private sector will make the investment and how all can benefit by coming together to take the State forward,” concluded the Chief Minister.

Initiatives : Agriculture

Launch of “Restart Meghalaya Mission’ on 15th August 2020

The Mission comprise of a series of interventions to support farmers and entrepreneurs by enabling them to build growth-promoting basic infrastructure and services. Under this Mission, 1917iTEAMS – the IT Platform aimed at enabling farmers access to agricultural information, crop advisories and markets will be expanded logistically through induction of another 100 vehicles.

Creation of the Directorate of Food Processing on May 2018

With the objective of seizing opportunities in the sector and the untapped food processing potential of the state for uplifting the livelihoods of farmers and value chain actors, the Government of Meghalaya created the Directorate of Food Processing (DFP) as a one-stop agency to handle all matters relating to food processing in the state and to deal with all central government Ministries and Agencies (viz. Ministries of Agriculture, and Food Processing, SFAC, NCDC, NABARD, etc.) in all matters pertaining to the development of agricultural food processing sector.

First Ever Farmer’s Parliament held on 4th - 5th December 2018

The parliament was organised by the state department of agriculture in collaboration with Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) and the Hill Farmers' Union (HFU). As a step toward the promotion of new technologies, HFU with the support of Meghalaya government, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence App for farmers — called Nongrep (nongrep in Khasi language means farmer) with its software partner Impetus Solutions from Hyderabad — as a social innovation project. This app will address matters of farm aggregations, soil health and disease identification, crop yield, farm produce pickups, market linkage and retail sellers app.

Launch of the Farmer’s Portal on 7th May 2018

The Meghalaya Famers’ Portal (www.megfarmers.gov.in) of the Department of Agriculture is a platform for farmers to seek any information related to agriculture. Detailed information on farmers’ insurance, agricultural storage, crops, extension activities, seeds, pesticides, farm machineries, etc. is provided. Details of fertilizers, market prices, package and practices, programmes, welfare schemes are also given.

Awards & Recognitions
  • Meghalaya has been selected for the Commendation award in 'Total foodgrains Category-III' for 2017-18. The award consists of a citation and an amount of Rs. 1 crore.
  • Meghalaya Agriculture Department and the MIE Meghalaya Team won the '7th eNabling North East (eNorth East) Award 2019-20' in the 'Agriculture & Rural Development' category for 1917 iTEAMS project which is a project in collaboration with Digital India.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded Meghalaya on May 2018 the Krishi Commendation Award for the year 2015-16, in recognition of the commendable foodgrains production achieved by the State.
  • Meghalaya has been adjudged the Most Improved Small State in the category of Agriculture and received the India Today – "The State of the States” Award on 23rd November 2018.