New Delhi:
Much against the sustained campaign by detractors that the lofty 'Cooperative Federalism' has been put on second fiddle, the Modi government has given a major push to the 'wishes and powers' of the states and held a special 'out of box' meeting to seek States' ideas in pushing growth forward.
"The context of the meeting held today (Nov 15) was to seek States' ideas in pushing growth forward, since in most of the issues such as investment, development & manufacturing, it is the States who do from the forefront, support from the Centre being there always," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
The Minister held a virtual interaction with Chief Ministers and state Finance Ministers to discuss measures that will build on the ongoing economic recovery, help invigorate private investment, and push capital expenditure by states.
She said states will get Rs 95,082 crore by November 22 - an excess of exact 100 per cent
jump of Rs 47,541 crore so that the state governments have 'more funds' for their expenditures.
“I have suggested to the Finance Secretary that on November 22, instead of the normal monthly
installment of tax devolution amount of Rs 47,541 crore, I have asked to release another
Rs 47,541 crore — a total of Rs 95,082 crore will be given to states on November 22,”
Ms Sitharaman told a press conference later.
Finance Secretary T V Somanathan had said earlier that the meeting was called in the backdrop of strong economic recovery post the two Covid waves.
Some Chief Ministers requested for increasing the states’ capital expenditure. They said it would be helpful for
them to get a part of the tax devolution. I have directed the finance secretary to do this immediately,” she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi both in his present position and earlier as the Chief Minister of Gujarat
had always stressed on the pro-active role of the states.
As many as 15 Chief Ministers, LG of J&K Manoj Sinha, deputy CMs of three States and Finance
Ministers of several states participated in the deliberations.
"The context of the meeting was that after the second wave, we are seeing a robust growth.
However, it’s also a time where we are looking at ways in which we need to sustain the growth, take it as
close as possible to a double digit growth for which the Centre and states have to work together," she underlined.
She also said: "I must put it upfront that we have had very key ideas coming from states.
There were also generic requests that were posed".
“One of the examples I would like to take is the way in which some of the states have given
approvals for projects, they were looking for better dispute resolution mechanisms post the award
of the contract, enhancing road connectivity".
Ms Sitharaman said, some of the north east states came up with specific suggestions for immediate job
creation.
"It was a very useful session where clearly, the way in which we want to move forward is to ensure that
the understanding that the states have of their way of wanting to move forward post the pandemic, with the
people of India showing greater aspiration to want to come out of the pandemic," she said.
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Vinay Kumar to be India's new envoy to Myanmar
New Delhi: The 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Vinay Kumar, has been appointedas India's next ambassador to Myanmar.A formal announcement was made by the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday.
Vinay Kumar is presently serving as the additional secretary at the MEA's headquarters in Delhi and he will replace the outgoing envoy Saurabh Kumar.
Vinay Kumar is expected to take up the new assignment shortly.
The appointment of a new ambassador at this juncture is critical as Myanmar is one of India's strategic neighbours and shares a 1,640-kilometre-long border with key and sensitive northeastern states, including Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur.
Lately a major ambush by militants in remote Manipur areas claimed several lives including a senior army officer, CO, 46 Assam Rifles and his wife and nine-year-old son.
The military coup and related developments have been keeping Mizoram state government officialsengaged as a large number of 'refugees' have sneaked into the state and are now residingin select rural hubs of Mizoram.
The Mizoram government has officially informed the centre that by mid September over 20,000Myanmar refugees have been 'residing' in the state which neighbours Myanmar's Chin province.
In Nagaland, fast progress is made vis-a-vis long pending peace talks. A particular Naga faction has reportedlystrong presence and nexus with the local 'Naga' population in Myanmar.
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