New Delhi: As much as Rs 38455.57 crore has been spent under the 10 per cent gross budget support (GBS) norm in the north-eastern states including Assam till December 31, 2021. This information was given by Union Minister for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

He said the government of India is giving a special thrust to development of the North Eastern Region (NER) including Assam. As per NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) India Index, which measures the development status of States and UTs of India in social, economic and environmental sectors, the composite score of Assam which was 49 in 2018-19 has improved to 55 in 2019-20 and further to 57 in 2020-21.

He said the Government of India is also implementing various flagship and other schemes for the development of the states including Assam through the respective administrative Ministries/Departments within the approved financial outlays as per scheme design. As per extant policy, each non-exempted Central Ministries/Departments are mandated to spend at least 10 per cent of their GBS to central sector and centrally sponsored schemes for NER. /BI/