Nagaland chief minister T.R. Zeliang has made a strong plea against any unilateral abrogation by the government of India of the ‘Special Category’ status of Nagaland guaranteed under the constitution at present, when the Naga political issue was yet to be resolved.
Making the plea at the 3rd meeting (NITI Aayog) of the sub-group of chief ministers, at Bhopal on Thursday, Zeliang reminded, that Nagaland was created through a political agreement between the government of India and the Naga People’s Convention under the terms of the 16-Point Agreement of 1960.
He highlighted the impact of the 13th Finance Commission’s normative approach on Nagaland and other states which had to pass through difficulty during the period of the 13th FC.
The Nagaland chief minister said that if the first full-fledged budget of the NDA would lead to removal of ‘Special Category’ status for north eastern states along with financial benefits and concessions earlier provide by the previous regime, then it would lead to a great deal of disappointment among the north east people.
Zeliang proposed that all CSS Schemes be funded 100% by the Centre with respect to Nagaland and all other north east states, if the Central Government planned to discontinue Normal Central Plan Assistance to states, including all schemes funded under NLCPR and NEC.
He also strongly pleaded for continuation of Police Modernisation scheme and BRGF with central funding.
He urged NITI Aayog to do some serious thinking and come up with positive suggestions so that the north east would also be full partakers of the “good days ahead under our able and visionary prime minister”.
Zeliang, in his presentation, mentioned poor state of infrastructural facilities in the north east region and pleaded for larger central investments for creating infrastructure so that “ache din’ as promised by the prime minister would become a reality for the people of the region.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is also the convenor of NITI Aayog’s sub-group of chief ministers, said his counterparts wanted central government sponsored schemes to be rationalised according to the needs of states.
He said that chief ministers agreed that important central government sponsored schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and mid-day meals should be put in a single slot for their implementation.
Talking to reporters immediately after the meeting, Chouhan said that it has been decided that the funding pattern of some schemes in which the states and Centre share the cost of implementation would need to be changed.
He said that the meeting also decided that states should be given the liberty to choose schemes which they wish to implement according to their needs and priorities as well as drop those which are irrelevant to them.
The last meeting of the sub-group is scheduled to take place in Delhi on June 13 after which final recommendations would be forwarded to NITI Aayog Chairman Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, he said.
The sub-group meeting was attended by chief ministers-T.R. Zeliang (Nagaland), Ommen Chandy (Kerala), Nabam Tuki (Arunachal Pradesh), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana), Raghubar Das (Jharkhand) and Andaman and Nicobar Lieutanant Governor A K Singh.
The chief minister was accompanied by parliamentary secretary Youth Resources and Sports, Lotteries Khriehu Liezietsu and Lalthara, adviser and Sr. principal secretary to CM including officials of planning department.
Removal of Spl. category status, not technical but a political decision: NPCC
Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) through its media cell, said removal of special category status to states on the basis of recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission, which union finance minister Arun Jaitley had defended, could not be on technical decision but was a political decision which the BJP cannot not shift the blame on the 14th Finance Commission (FC).
NPCC pointed out that removal of the special category status would leave the north east states in the lurch; particularly Nagaland, which has been demanding 100% assistance since it was unable even to give 10% matching grant towards the 90-10 funding ratio. The removal would mean that a ratio of 25-70 % matching grant and spell the “death knell” for resource-starved states, it said.
In addition, NPCC said with infrastructure development still at a nascent stage and with multiple insurgency problems, investments by corporate and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) remain far-fetched dreams in the N.E.States.
Taking a dig at the NPF-led DAN government as the only NE State supporting the BJP government, NPCC said if chief minister T.R. Zeliang was serious about the conditions in the state, the DAN should withdraw support to the BJP government and extend solidarity with all NE states in demanding continuation of special category status, till insurgency problems were resolved and infrastructures brought at par with other mainland states.
NPCC said restoration of special category status was not only the objective but also a need to revise and enhance the provisions to cater for economic growth and empowerment of youth with more investments through employment-oriented projects and industries.
Stating that the discriminatory attitude of the BJP government towards the North Eastern states was plainly evident, despite its “rhetoric and jumlas at every given opportunity”, NPCC said the “brazen talks about majority sentiments” was nothing but an imposition on minorities of what the “majority thins and acts”.
NPCC said this was an attempt to divide society with disastrous consequences and so, Nagas have no future with “the communal BJP”.
Saturday, May 9, 2026