Key focus areas of the Indian government’s assistance include agriculture, irrigation, ICT, media, health, education and capacity development

India has offered an assistance of Rs 4500 crores towards the 12th five-year plan of Bhutan, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.

In response to a member’s question, he said India’s assistance also includes Rs 2800 crore for infrastructure development and Rs 850 crore for High Impact Community Development projects.

He said the key focus areas of the Indian government’s assistance are agriculture, irrigation, ICT, media, health, education, scholarships, capacity development, human resources development, roads, energy, urban development, and media.

Under the 12th five-year plan (November 2018 to October 2023), various cultural projects of importance such as construction of Dzongs (housing important administrative and monastic institutions) have been undertaken.

The launch of RuPay Card (Phase-II launched in November 2020) and the BHIM App (in July 2021) in Bhutan are among the recent initiatives to deepen financial connectivity between India and Bhutan, the Minister said.

The integration of Bhutan’s DrukRen with India’s National Knowledge Network (NKN) has created an information highway between the universities, research institutions, libraries, health-care and agricultural institutions of the two nations, he said.

Apart from this, the Minister said, the Indian government is also assisting the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) in the hydro power sector and till date has constructed four major Hydroelectric Projects (HEPs) having total installed capacity of 2136 MW, including 336 MW Chukha HEP, 60 MW Kurichhu HEP, 1020 MW Tala HEP, and 720 MW Mangdechhu HEP, while two HEPs like 1200 MW Punatsangchhu I (PHEP-I) and 1020 MW Punatsangchhu II (PHEP-II) are under various stages of development.