Cabinet Amends PM-DevINE Guidelines to Enforce PM GatiShakti Alignment and Project Sustainability in Northeast
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure | SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
Institutions: Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) | North Eastern Council (NEC)
The Union Cabinet approved key amendments to the guidelines for the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North Eastern Region (PM-DevINE), a Central Sector Scheme designed to accelerate holistic development across all eight Northeast states. The scheme has a total financial outlay of ₹6,600 crore for the four-year period from 2022-23 to 2025-26. The amendments are primarily aimed at strengthening governance, financial flow, and project sustainability.
The four broad objectives of PM-DevINE remain consistent:
Funding infrastructure convergently, in the spirit of PM GatiShakti.
Supporting social development projects based on the felt needs of the North Eastern Region (NER).
Enabling livelihood activities for youth and women.
Filling developmental gaps in various sectors.
Key Governance and Implementation Directives:
GatiShakti Mandate: To receive new project sanctions from 2023-24 onwards, North Eastern States must establish GatiShakti implementation mechanisms (like the Empowered Group of Secretaries and a Technical Support Unit) and notify a State Logistics Policy.
Project Approval: An Empowered Inter-Ministerial Committee (EIMC), chaired by the Secretary of MDoNER, screens and recommends projects, while State Level Empowered Committees (SLEC) at the state level approve initial proposals.
Project Size and Type: Projects must range from a minimum of ₹20 crore to a maximum of ₹500 crore. Projects providing Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), long-term individual benefits, or those for administrative buildings are ineligible.
Sustainability: Project cost estimates must now include Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs for the first four years, requiring the proposing authority to define how the asset will be maintained sustainably beyond that initial period.
The formal embedding of PM GatiShakti and mandatory O&M planning in the PM-DevINE guidelines signals a critical shift in the development paradigm for the North East: accountability and asset longevity are now preconditions for central funding. This places the onus on State-level Chief Secretaries to urgently upgrade their project management and administrative capacities to meet stringent technological and execution standards, ensuring the ₹6,600 crore outlay delivers sustainable, high-quality public assets.
What is the “spirit of PM GatiShakti?”→ It is a whole-of-government, mission-mode approach to synchronized project planning. In the context of PM-DevINE, it means infrastructure projects must be mapped onto a digital master plan to ensure cohesive funding, avoid duplication, and guarantee seamless connectivity and multi-modal integration across the North East Region.
Follow the full news here: PM-DevINE: Cabinet approves Amendment in Scheme Guidelines