Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha MP, S. Supongmeren Jamir demanded that the Centre usher in an era of permanent and sustainable peace and development, emphasizing the need for the early implementation of the Framework Agreement and Agreed Position to achieve this goal.
Participating in the discussion on Budget 2024-25 in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Supongmeren criticized the Centre for lying to the people of Nagaland. He accused the government of falsely claiming to have resolved the Naga political issue nine years ago through the Framework Agreement with the NSCN (I-M) on August 3, 2015, and the Agreed Position with the Working Committee of NNPGs on November 17, 2017. He highlighted that, contrary to these claims, the situation in the state had only worsened.
Supongmeren, who is also the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee president, pointed out that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) remains in force, with incidents of daylight killings, the rise of anti-social elements, and common people suffering under the burden of rampant illegal taxation.
He also accused the Central government of once again resorting to headline-grabbing rhetoric instead of offering targeted and pragmatic solutions to address the twin scourges of inflation and unemployment faced by the common people of the country.
The MP objected to the Central government’s projections of a 6.7% and 6.3% unemployment rates in the urban and rural areas respectively, citing the latest Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data that pegged the urban and rural unemployment rates at 9.2% and 9.3% respectively.
To buttress his disappointing take on the budget and to draw attention to the misplaced priorities of the government, Jamir cited the historic low budgetary allocations of 1.78% and 3.5% of the total budget to MGNREGA and the agri and allied sectors respectively.
In terms of infrastructure and connectivity, he questioned the sincerity of the Union government’s much-touted Act East Policy, when improvement of road connectivity in the North Eastern region did not even get a mention in the budget.
Delving into issues closer to home, he reminded the house about the fact that Nagaland was the only state in the country with its capital devoid of air connectivity, and drew attention to the false promise of the Union Government when it had announced the development of an Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Nagaland in the 2015-16 Union Budget. He urged the Centre to honour its promises and implement the two projects on a priority basis, this was stated in a press release issued by the NPCC communications department.