DIMAPUR, March 21 - The 12th Nagaland Legislative Assembly began this morning with Governor PB Acharya highlighting the achievements and policies of the government.
Addressing the session, he said the year gone by has been an eventful one for the State. While progress was made on several fronts on one hand, the State government faced various problems on the other hand in conducting elections to the Urban Local Bodies in the State, leading to violence and the elections being ultimately declared null and void on February 2, the Governor said.
He informed the House that a judicial inquiry has been ordered into the matter and the government will hold consultations with all stakeholders, civil societies and tribal bodies for arriving at a consensual approach towards Urban Local Bodies elections and related matters at the right time.
Acharya said he is happy to announce that through the collective efforts of the civil society organisations, the State government and the Government of India, it has been possible to impress upon the Myanmar government to stop the border fencing work. He added that the State government will continue to make efforts to ensure that no such fencing works are carried out in the international border areas in Nagaland.
He said the government will support the ongoing political dialogue between the Government of India and the NSCN(IM) and would continue to strive to work for a final solution to the decades-old Naga political issue in a peaceful, inclusive and honourable manner. The State government has also recently constituted the �Political Affairs Mission� to spearhead the Government�s efforts and has replaced the Political Affairs Committee of the State government, he added.
The Governor also informed the House that the IT infrastructure has been created at customary courts in all the 11 districts of the State.
The State government took a major step towards charting a clear road map for development by bringing out the Nagaland Vision 2030 last year, adding that the government would strive to align its various programmes accordingly so as to accelerate the development activities in the State with focus on creating employment for the educated unemployed youth and ensure that the fruits of development percolate equitably to all parts of the State.
On agriculture and allied sectors, the Governor said the Nagaland Vision 2030 will emphasize on growth of the sectors. The Jhum Land Survey of the State has already been published and the State Waters Policy is under active consideration of the government, he added.
On the activities of the Department of Land Resources he said the department has taken up spring shed development in 11 springs as a pilot project of the watershed programme with technical support from the Peoples� Science Institute, Dehradun targeting one village in each district during 2016-17. Around 300 hectares of land have been developed under rubber plantation and 13.40 lakh coffee seedlings have been distributed to farmers, with coffee plantation covering 670 hectares during 2016-17.
The Governor said because of global warming and climate change the Department of Environment, Forests & Climate Change has taken several steps to successfully face the multidimensional challenges not only in biodiversity and wildlife conservation but also the climate change.
The Governor also announced that the State government has decided to implement revision of pay for State government employees following implementation of recommendation of the 7th Central Pay Commission by the Central government. He further added that transparency, efficiency and accountability with promotion of cashless transaction and direct benefits transfer will help in achieving the objectives.
