Andaman & Nicobar Admin aggressively striving to woo investors

Interview of Chief Secretary Anindo Majumdar, Andaman & Nicobar Administration

Q. The Central Government had been paying great emphasis on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ by states and union territories. What are the initiatives taken by the Andaman & Nicobar Administration in this regard?

Ans :  A two-day workshop on implementation of business reform action points was conducted by DIPP and World Bank during August 2017. Representatives of DIPP and Work Bank suggested to categorize the reform areas according to the ability to resolve it beginning with 'Not Applicable' ones first followed by areas where only information is required to be made online. Accordingly, all the reform areas were classified under A, B, C, D, & E.

During the workshop separate sessions were held for each Department so as to get first hand information on the process and the steps needed to speed up work. After the workshop, the progress was reviewed for business reform action .

Q. Is A&N Administration working on any mechanism to ensure timely-delivery of services?

A. A draft Act titled 'Andaman & Nicobar Islands Right to Time Bound Delivery of Services Act 2018' has been drafted and mooted for enactment.

Q. DIPP has developed a portal for states and UTs to upload the progress made in implementing the BRAP points. Has progress made been uploaded by the A&N Administration in this regard?

A. Out of 180 reform points 154 were uploaded in the DIPP portal, 26 Points were not uploaded as they were related to commercial taxes that had become redundant with rollout of GST.