Shillong: The BJP government continued with its religion-centric politics with the Budget 2026-27 announcing a Scheme for Development of Buddhist Circuits, which will cover preservation of temples and monasteries, pilgrimage interpretation centres, connectivity and pilgrim amenities.
The scheme will develop Buddhist circuits in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there would be a focus on the Purvodaya States and the North-East Region to accelerate development and employment opportunities, nothing much was announced to do so.
She announced the development of an integrated East Coast Industrial Corridor with a well-connected node at Durgapur, the creation of five tourism destinations in five states and the provision of 4,000 e-buses.
Assam and Tripura are going to polls this year.
Under agriculture, the minister proposed diversifying farm outputs, increasing productivity, enhancing farmers’ incomes, and creating new employment opportunities. For this, she announced support to high-value crops such as agar trees in North East and nuts such as, almonds, walnuts and pine nuts in our hilly regions.
