AGARTALA, 21 Dec: Governor KT Parnaik on Saturday said that Arunachal Pradesh has made significant progress in reducing multidimensional poverty.
Parnaik, addressing the 72nd plenary of the North Eastern Council (NEC) here in Tripura, said that the state has achieved a 166 percent increase in gross state domestic product since 2015-16, along with 321.8 percent rise in the state’s own resources since 2014-15.
Highlighting the state’s achievements and challenges in various sectors, including education, health, and tourism, he said that concerted efforts are being made towards enhancing educational standards in the state, right from strengthening of anganwadi centres to upgrading government schools, implementing NEP-2020, and using technology by means of smart classes and establishment of advanced learning centres in the districts.
He said that Arunachal has a wide scope to develop eco, religious and adventure tourism, adding that major focus for tourism includes creating infrastructure in destinations, skilling the youths as guides and tour operators, and promoting marketing.
Highlighting the progress made in the agriculture and allied sectors, the governor said that the state is producing 5,04,801 mt of cereals, including millets, and 5000 mt of kiwis. He emphasised the requirement of support from the Council of Warehouses for storage and carriage of cereals and kiwi products by rail to enable marketing in the rest of the country and also export the same.
Parnaik said that Arunachal is nurturing a dynamic startup ecosystem with the Arunachal Pradesh Innovation and Investment Park actively supporting investment, startup growth, and enhancing ease of doing business.
He said that the state’s UNNATI scheme “is positioned to propel towards realising our industrial potential, while the focus remains on the ‘non-polluting’ industry.”
“Arunachal Pradesh has also made notable strides in law and order, including the launching of 14 women police stations and ‘pink patrolling’ to safeguard women, and implementing GIS, AI, and ML-based crime monitoring in Itanagar as a pilot project,” the governor said.
He said that the state’s law enforcement personnel have undergone extensive training on new the criminal laws, 2023. “In addition, our legal professionals have been trained on the new criminal laws to ensure preparedness for legislative changes,” he said.
The governor spoke on the need for a multidisciplinary sports stadium, along with good coaches to prepare the youths for sports competitions at national and international levels. He said that the issue has been raised with the union minister of youth affairs and sports.
Touching upon the social issues, the governor said that the women in Arunachal are at the forefront of education, sports, social and welfare activities.
“There are many success stories of self-help groups assisting youth under the influence of drugs (rehab centres), caring for special children (differently-abled, autistic, destitute and orphan) and entrepreneurship. There has been a discernible increase in women participating in political activity,” he said.
Parnaik said that concerted effort is being made for automation of all data at the district level to enable analysis and accurate updating.
Highlighting the challenges of the state in the forum, the governor said that financial inclusion remains a challenge in Arunachal, as well as workforce capacity, which are areas of concern.
“We are pursuing an initiative similar to Mission Karmayogi to help enhance the skills at the grassrootslevel,” he said.
He said that as the nation looks forward to the next 25 years of “amrit kaal,” Arunachal is fully committed to advancing the nation’s goal of realising a “Viksit Bharat” by 2047.
Earlier, union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the plenary session.
Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with the governors and chief ministers of all the eight northeastern states and senior officials were also present at the event. (Raj Bhavan)
