Mizoram Minister hints at austerity measures

AIZAWL, Nov 21 – Mizoram Finance Minister Lalsawta yesterday said that he expected to announce proposals for introduction of new taxes and imposition of austerity measures during the current fiscal.

Lalsawta, during discussion on the budget, expressed the hope that the government employees and the general public would understand the proposal for austerity measures and new taxes.

Outlining the serious fiscal problems being faced by Mizoram, he said that tough measures were required to solve the financial crunch by mobilisation of additional resources and pushing fiscal reforms.

Simplifying mode of payment of taxes and online payment would be one of his priorities, he said, adding that the government has received several proposals for mobilisation of additional resources.

Downsizing government work force while enhancing the efficiency of the government would be one of the most important agenda of the government, he said.

READ MORE - Mizoram Minister hints at austerity measures

Mizoram to announce new taxes and austerity measures: Lalsawta

Mizoram Finance Minister Lalsawta today said that he expected to announce proposals for introduction of new taxes and imposition of austerity measures during the current fiscal.

Lalsawta, during discussion on the budget, expressed the hope that the government employees and the general public would understand the proposal for austerity measures and new taxes.

Outlining the serious fiscal problems being faced by Mizoram, he said that tough measures were required to solve the financial crunch by mobilisation of additional resources and pushing fiscal reforms.

Simplifying mode of payment of taxes and online payment would be one of his priorities, he said, adding that the government has received several proposals for mobilisation of additional resources.

Downsizing government work force while enhancing the efficiency of the government would be one of the most important agenda of the government, he said.

READ MORE - Mizoram to announce new taxes and austerity measures: Lalsawta

663 committed suicide in nine years in Mizoram

At least 663 people have committed suicide over the past nine years in Mizoram, with depression identified as the main cause, a report said Wednesday.

An Aizawl-based NGO, New Life Charity Society (NeLICS), recorded and analysed these deaths between September 2005 and October 2014.

"The main cause of suicide in Mizoram is depression and the majority of the people who commit such acts belong to the youth category," Zawmsanga Sailo, NeLICS chairman, told reporters Wednesday.

NeLICS records show most victims were between 15 and 45 years.

Zawmsanga said: "Seventy-five percent of the suicides in the nine years were committed by males."

The oldest person who committed suicide was a 86-year-old man while the youngest was an eight-year-old boy.

Zawmsanga said the misuse of technological advancement in the form of mobile phones among the young had largely attributed to suicides.

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Mizoram govt to ask Centre to set up border haat at Thingsai

Aizawl, Nov 18 : Mizoram government will ask the Centre to include Mizoram-Myanmar border village of Thingsai in Lunglei district for establishment of a Border Haat for the economic development of the area, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla told the assembly.

Intervening in a discussion on the issue during question hour today, Lal Thanhawla said that a road has been constructed by the state government in Myanmar to facilitate communication between people of the two neighbouring countries.

Replying to a question from John Siamkunga of the ruling Congress, Trade and Commerce Minister H Rohluna said that while the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the 12th Five-year plan basket list had included Thingsai as a border trade centre, the village was not included in the agreement signed between India and Myanmar on the selection of villages for establishment of border haats.

Rohluna also said that formal inauguration of an Indo-Myanmar border trade centre at Zokhawthar village in Champhai district was yet to be undertaken even as all the infrastructure have been completed.

He added that informal border trade was going on at the trade centre.

READ MORE - Mizoram govt to ask Centre to set up border haat at Thingsai

Four men, including a Myanmar national, arrested for heroin possession

Mizoram’s main anti-narcotics agency has arrested a Myanmar national and three others in four separate seizures of heroin in Aizawl over the past day and a half, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Excise and Narcotics Department investigators on Tuesday afternoon arrested 62-year-old Runliana of Myanmar’s Tahan township for possession 38 grams of heroin in the Tuikual North area of Aizawl.

Later that same day around midnight, officials arrested 25-year-old Lalrinmuana of Zokhawthar, an Indo-Myanmar border town, with 13.5 grams of heroin at the Chanmari West area of the state capital.

Then around 2 am on Wednesday, officials also arrested 26-year-old Laljoela of Rangvamual neighbourhood with 15.5 grams 500 of heroin.

Less than an hour afterward, anti-narcotics investigators also arrested 26-year-old Lalramnghaka, also from the Rangvamual area, for possessing 15 grams of heroin.

All four men have been booked under the NDPS Act.

READ MORE - Four men, including a Myanmar national, arrested for heroin possession

Tax-free deficit Budget in Mizoram

AIZAWL, Nov 12 : Mizoram Finance Minister Lalsawta today presented a tax-free deficit Budget amounting to Rs 6,770.79 crore for the current fiscal.

Lalsawta explained that he could not present the full Budget during the Budget Session in March and was compelled to seek vote-on-account for two times for a period of eight months due to late finalisation of the State Annual Plan Outlay for 2014-15.

The Budget, presented in the State Assembly, has provisioned Rs 3,140 crore under Plan outlay and Rs 3,630.79 crore under Non-Plan expenditure.

The fund is expected to be received under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) and North Eastern Council (NEC), now allocated in the Plan fund since the past one year.

The closing deficit for the current financial year was estimated at Rs 608.39 crore as against the opening deficit of Rs 357.18 crore. He did not announce any new tax.

In his Budget speech, Lalsawta spoke about the acute financial difficulties being faced by the State and stressed on the importance of following strict austerity measures.

READ MORE - Tax-free deficit Budget in Mizoram

Twelve-day Mizoram assembly session to start Tuesday, delayed budget and four bills to be tabled

Four bills and a delayed budget is set to be tabled before the house as the Mizoram Legislative Assembly begins its 12-day winter session starting Tuesday.

The session will finally see a full-fledged budget presented before legislators by Finance Minister Lalsawta after two vote-on-accounts of state finances in earlier sessions were necessitated by a delayed release of funds by the Centre. Mizoram depends on more than 90 percent of it’s finances on New Delhi.

Debates about the budget is likely to be stormy since the opposition parties have been raising the issue of the government’s “financial mismanagement” even as it has been reported that the salary component of the plan-fund has been axed to just half of last year’s, a much-discussed issue since the government is the largest employer in the state which has half it’s working population in the tertiary sector.

The Finance Minister has of late also spoken several times on the need to raise taxes to meet government expenses.

The upcoming session will also see the tabling of four important state bills, including one to regulate marriages, divorce and inheritances among residents and another for the setting up of a Lokayukta.

Various bodies including the powerful Mizo Students’ Association, also known as MZP, have been pressing for the setting up of a Lokayukta for years.

As many as 244 starred questions and 49 unstarred questions and two resolutions, including one for the ratification of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2014, have also been submitted.

Four bills and a delayed budget is set to be tabled before the house as the Mizoram Legislative Assembly begins its 12-day winter session starting Tuesday.
The session will finally see a full-fledged budget presented before legislators by Finance Minister Lalsawta after two vote-on-accounts of state finances in earlier sessions were necessitated by a delayed release of funds by the Centre. Mizoram depends on more than 90 percent of it’s finances on New Delhi.
Debates about the budget is likely to be stormy since the opposition parties have been raising the issue of the government’s “financial mismanagement” even as it has been reported that the salary component of the plan-fund has been axed to just half of last year’s, a much-discussed issue since the government is the largest employer in the state which has half it’s working population in the tertiary sector.
The Finance Minister has of late also spoken several times on the need to raise taxes to meet government expenses.
The upcoming session will also see the tabling of four important state bills, including one to regulate marriages, divorce and inheritances among residents and another for the setting up of a Lokayukta.
Various bodies including the powerful Mizo Students’ Association, also known as MZP, have been pressing for the setting up of a Lokayukta for years.
As many as 244 starred questions and 49 unstarred questions and two resolutions, including one for the ratification of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2014, have also been submitted.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/twelve-day-mizoram-assembly-session-to-start-tuesday-delayed-budget-and-four-bills-to-be-tabled/#sthash.v6B9AB91.dpuf

READ MORE - Twelve-day Mizoram assembly session to start Tuesday, delayed budget and four bills to be tabled