The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the inclusion of North-East Indian states for the establishment of food processing units within the sub-scheme of the Horticulture Mission for North-East and Himalayan States (HMNEH) of the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH).
Post the implementation of this decision, states from North East India will be able to undertake food processing projects, thus enabling a longer shelf life and value addition of produce. The programme for the establishment of food processing units would cover all the North-Eastern and Himalayan states.
When MIDH was launched earlier this fiscal. the food processing component was limited tothe Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, within HMNEH. This was on the presumption that the funds earmarked by the ministry of food processing industries (MoFPI) for setting up food processing units in the North-Eastern states would be available for the purpose.
However, MoFPI’s technology upgrade scheme, under which funds were released to the North-Eastern states for setting up food processing units, has been discontinued with effect from current fiscal. It was, therefore, decided that they would be included in it, so that they could avail assistance for setting up food processing units within the ambit of MIDH.
A total expenditure of Rs 16,840 crore has been envisaged for the implementation of MIDH during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. This includes the Centre’s share of Rs 15,794 crore, out of which Rs 3,000 crore is the HMNEH sub-scheme’s share. The expenditure on setting up food processing units in the North-Eastern states would be met within this provision.
