GOVERNMENT OF MEGHALAYA 73RD INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH SHRI CONRAD K. SANGMA CHIEF MINISTER OF MEGHALAYA 15th AUGUST, 2019 SHILLONG 1 SPEECH OF THE CHIEF MINISTER OF MEGHALAYA 73RD INDEPENDENCE DAY 15TH August, 2019 1. My dear citizens of Meghalaya, I wish you all a very happy 73rd Independence Day from the bottom of my heart! I take this opportunity to pay homage to the valiant martyrs and the great freedom fighters of our country. I also offer my heartfelt tribute to the father of our nation – Mahatma Gandhi and all the freedom fighters. On this occasion, I also offer my sincere homage to the patriots of our State - U Tirot Sing, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa ToganSangma. 2. Meghalaya is a State with bountiful natural and water resources. We have a rich repository of both floral and faunal diversity. With 76 percent of the State under forest cover, Meghalaya ranks among the top states in the country in terms of total area under forest cover. Our communities have always strived to preserve the resources that we have been blessed with. The large agro-biodiversity of Meghalaya can help promote agri-horticulture and livestock based economic development. Further, Tourism and hospitality sectors are key to our growth. The law and order situation is also by and large peaceful and provides the right background for pursuing transformational development. 3. Despite the many advantages, the State also faces several challenges and natural disasters are one of them. I offer my deepest condolences to the families of those persons who have lost their lives due to the 2 recent floods that caused widespread damage and destruction. I also share the pain of all those who have suffered injuries and those who lost their properties during the floods. I would like to express my gratitude towards all those who have assisted in the flood relief operations and those who have made generous contributions towards the Chief Minister’s relief fund. 4. My fellow citizens, the recent verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court lifting the 2014 ban on coal mining is a big victory for the people of the state. The Hon’ble Court upheld the Government’s contention that the Indigenous people of Meghalaya have rights over land and over the extracted mineral. Perhaps for the first time anywhere in the country, the Government argued for protection of Tribal rights, the unique culture and identity of the people before the highest court of the land. This government walked the talk on the issue and I feel a great sense of satisfaction today. The judgement of the court is historic and its implications extend beyond the realm of coal mining. Once tribal identity has been acknowledged by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the customs, practices and traditions will remain protected. 5. This judgement will certainly have a positive impact on the economy of the State and will lead to revival of the coal mining areas. Friends, the state has about 576 million tonnes of coal deposits and about 9,300 million tonnes of limestone deposits. The value of all mineral resources of the State is about 180 billion US Dollars. The government is now putting in place systems for sustainable mining so that the 3 present and future generation can reap the benefits of these important resources. 6. The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) Government’s vision is to capitalise on all the strengths of the State and to take Meghalaya to new heights of development and prosperity in the coming years. We are specifically focussing on Human development, Primary sector rejuvenation, Infrastructure expansion, Entrepreneurship promotion, Environmental protection and Governance reform. 7. I will highlight some key focus areas for my Government as we work towards achieving our development goals. We are placing huge emphasis on secondary education. In our state, the total number of students in Secondary schools is 1,04,727 and Higher Secondary schools is 54,739. However, the number of individuals in the age bracket of 15-19 years is 4,03,675. This means there is a big gap in the number of seats available for children to pursue secondary and higher secondary education. To bridge this gap, the Government is in the process of setting up Ekalavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in all blocks of the State. Each of these residential schools will be constructed at an approximate cost of ₹ 24 crore and will cater to 480 students when fully operational. This initiative will transform the landscape of secondary education in our State. We already got sanction for 11 EMRS from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It is expected that 25 more EMRS will be sanctioned for the State in the next two years. The government is registering a society to ensure that the EMRS schools are managed efficiently. 4 8. Even in Higher Education, there is a large demand supply gap. The number of colleges in our State is 71 with an enrolment number of 67,352, while the number of individuals in the age bracket of college goers is 3,85,878. To deal with this issue we are establishing some new degree colleges. For instance, two new model degree colleges have been sanctioned at Patharkhmah, Ribhoi and Rongjeng, East Garo Hills. However, we also realise that Government alone cannot cater to this huge need. Hence, we decided to set up nine brown field community colleges, which will be run by the local communities. Government will provide a one-time infrastructure grant and the recurring expenditure. My Government wants to expand the participation of communities, civil society and the private sector in the provision of quality education. I encourage and invite the different actors to participate in this critical endeavour. 9. In the Health Sector, we are all aware that our performance on key Maternal and Child Health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality rate is not satisfactory. Our Infant Mortality Rate is 39 deaths per 1000 livebirths and our Maternal Mortality rate is 197 deaths per 100,000 livebirths. My goal is to reduce these numbers dramatically in the next 2-3 years. To achieve this, we have successfully piloted a new initiative that uses real time data on the pregnant women to monitor their health status on a continuous basis. Under this data driven model, primary data on pregnant women is collected by the Medical Officers and Health functionaries through a mobile app. This data is updated regularly and can be seen in 5 Shillong by me and other health officials. Each pregnant woman can be tracked and on any given day, the number of women due for delivery can be seen on the Chief Minister’s Dash Board. In South West Garo Hills District, where this initiative was piloted, institutional deliveries improved by 30 percent in just 3 months. Now we are expanding this project to all the districts of the State and to cover not only health and institutional deliveries, but also the sectors of Nutrition, Education and Rural Development. I am naming this initiative Meghalaya’s Outcomes oriented Transformation in Health, nutrition, Education and Rural development Program or the MOTHER program. This name signifies the centrality of mothers in achieving development goals in Health, Nutrition and Education. The MOTHER program is my Government’s tribute to all the women (mei’s and magipa’s) of the State. 10. Once the program is launched across the State, all grass root development functionaries will have the MOTHER app on their phones. They will collect key data on Health, Nutrition, Education and Rural Development and the same data will be seen in the CMs dash board in real time. This micro data will be used to make policies and to drive transformational development. 11. A second key constraint in health care provision is lack of adequate infrastructure and human resources. We only have 436 government doctors in the entire State. Like in the education sector, we need more private sector and civil society participation to improve this State of affairs. Currently about 22 health institutions are being managed in a 6 PPP mode. The government intends to expand this engagement. In addition, we are also trying to leverage external resources for improving the sector. The “Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project” has been recently proposed for World Bank funding. 12. Another crucial aspect in health care is availability of free medicines at all health facilities. ₹ 66 crore has been allocated in this year for the procurement of medicines. We are developing an on line system for collating medicine demand in a bottom-up manner. The online system will have a dashboard that will enable me and other Health functionaries to monitor the disbursement of medicines regularly. We are also constructing warehousing for the storage of medicines in all the district headquarters and at CHCs with an investment of about ₹ 20 crore. 13. Another key component of Human development strategy is poverty alleviation. The State government has placed special emphasis on the effective implementation of poverty alleviation programmes. Meghalaya is today one of the top implementers of MGNREGS in the country. We have spent about ₹ 1000 crore on MGNREGS in the last financial year generating an average of 72 person days of wage employment for all registered job-card holders in the State. We are also prioritizing the construction of pucca houses to all eligible households. In 2018-19, about 4900 houses were constructed at an expenditure of ₹ 113 crore. This year, the government targets to construct about 17,200 houses. 7 14. Another area which the government is deeply concerned about is providing timely pension benefits to all eligible beneficiaries.