ITANAGAR : The Arunachal Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved a slew of proposals, including promulgation of an MSME ordinance, a Rs 2,000-crore rural road connectivity programme, simplification of land-use conversion rules, and a one-year age relaxation for eligible APPSC aspirants.
The proposed Arunachal Pradesh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Facilitation of Establishment and Operation) Ordinance, 2026, which will be placed before the assembly, seeks to reduce regulatory burden by allowing eligible enterprises to start operations through a self-declaration mechanism, subject to existing laws.
The move would improve ease-of-doing business, encourage entrepreneurship, attract investment and generate employment, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
The cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu also reviewed the progress of the flagship ‘Shikshit Bharat to Shikshit Arunachal’ Mission.
It observed that Rs 3,612.50 crore has been invested during phase-I (2023-26) to improve school infrastructure, teacher deployment, digital education and learning outcomes, with another Rs 1,500 crore proposed for phase-II, taking the total outlay beyond Rs 5,100 crore by 2029, the release said.
The mission has rationalised the school network from 2,890 to 1,885 schools through 538 host schools, enabled over 2,600 merit-based teacher transfers through a digital registry portal, and improved CBSE Class X and XII pass percentages by 21.7 per cent and 22.8 per cent, respectively, officials said.
Infrastructure development under the mission includes 50 golden jubilee schools, 90 PM Shri schools, over 120 hostels, 152 science laboratories, 159 libraries, more than 400 sanitation facilities, 300 PM Poshan kitchens and 180 staff quarters, they said.
The government has also recruited 150 “special education teachers” and distributed 75,100 textbooks in 10 tribal languages, the officials said.
The cabinet was also apprised of the implementation framework for the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive State Rural Road Development Programme (CM-CSRRDP), under which 1,129 unconnected habitations with populations below 250 will be linked by all-weather roads by 2029.
The programme will cover around 6,567 km through phased investments of Rs 2,000 crore over the next three financial years, the statement said.
To facilitate planned urban growth, the cabinet approved amendments to the Arunachal Pradesh Land Settlement and Records Rules, 2012.
Agricultural land within notified master plan areas will automatically be deemed converted to the prescribed land use without requiring separate permissions, while the record of rights format will be modernised for digital integration and transparency, it said.
Besides, the cabinet approved the Arunachal Pradesh Cooperation Policy, 2026, aligned with the National Cooperation Policy, to strengthen cooperative institutions, improve digital governance and enhance market access for agriculture and allied sectors.
In a relief for job aspirants, it granted a further one-year extension of the one-time upper age relaxation for candidates who had applied for the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) recruitment examinations advertised in 2022, but became ineligible due to delays in conducting the tests.
The cabinet also approved amendments to the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) Rules, 2018, allowing serving or retired organised service officers “with at least 20 years of regular service and super time scale (level-14) status” to be appointed as chairman.
Retired officers, if appointed, will serve for five years or until attaining 65 years of age, whichever is earlier.
It also approved relaxation of recruitment rules for regularisation of contractual services of erstwhile RMSA-trained graduate teachers against 74 existing vacancies through a departmental promotion committee.
Among governance reforms, the cabinet extended the tenure of the Arunachal Pradesh Administrative Reforms Commission by six months till February 27, 2027, included divisional commissioners as ex-officio members, upgraded the member secretary post and approved amendments to recruitment rules for the post of junior analyst.
It also approved changes in recruitment rules for the posts of aviation officer and various horticulture department posts, besides creating the Aalo west division of the Public Works Department without additional financial burden.
The cabinet further approved amendments to state labour laws and rules to align them with the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, and reiterated its commitment to economic growth, better governance, employment generation, rural connectivity and improved public service delivery across the state. (Source: PTI)
