India News | Centre to Focus on Health, Edu Projects in Mizoram's Mara Autonomous District Council

Aizawl, May 2 (PTI) The Centre will focus on projects to improve education, healthcare and livelihood opportunities in the Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) in the southern part of Mizoram, Union minister John Barla said on Monday.

Barla, the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, is currently campaigning for the MADC polls, which are scheduled for May 5.

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"There are a lot of schemes and projects under the Ministry of Minority Affairs for the development and welfare of people. Among those, I want to focus on education, healthcare, livelihood, and skill development training for educated unemployed youths.

“My ministry will make projects for the development of Mara people in this regard," Barla said while addressing a political rally at Siaha town, the headquarters of the MADC.

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MADC was constituted in 1972 for the Mara people living in the state. In the 25-member council, the BJP now has 17 members, MNF(6) and the Congress (2).

The Union minister said that the NDA government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will amend the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to strengthen and give more powers to the autonomous district councils in the country.

The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution allows for greater political autonomy in some tribal areas in the North-East.

Besides the MADC, there are two ADCs in Mizoram- Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) and Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC)- all of them located in the southern part of the state.

Hitting out at the Mizo National Front (MNF) government in Mizoram, Barla accused it of neglecting the minorities and failing to execute development policy owing to “rampant corruption”.

"At a time when the government at the Centre and other states are following good governance, the Mizoram government is still unable to carry out development policy owing to rampant corruption," he claimed.

He also accused the Mizoram government of “snatching away” funds sanctioned by the Minority Affairs Ministry for minority areas in the state.

The MNF is a member of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), and a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. However, the two parties do not work together in the northeastern state.

Barla also said that the state government could not implement the state's flagship programme Socio-Economic Development Policy (SEDP) till now despite allocating crores in the state budget.

Senior ministers and MNF leaders could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)