“I feel the most important agenda for us is to ensure that the North Eastern region of the country, which has distinct and unique challenges ranging from difficult terrain to long and sustained insurgency problems, are cared for in a manner that facilitates its integration with the mainstream not only physically but also on the parameters of development indicators” Governor said.
The governor reminded that most North Eastern states need investments in infrastructure and policies from Government of India that can help them to catch up with the growth and development being seen in other parts of the country. “Without this, our economic growth will not be truly inclusive.
I am sure North Eastern Council will be able to address these issues in a holistic manner” the governor said. He expressed hope that together, ‘we will be able to translate into action our plans and ideas that have been comprehensively documented in the Vision 2020’.
He said “we all have been talking of the increase in budget outlays and the potential of north eastern region”.
However, he lamented, “somehow we have missed out on a holistic development plan for the north eastern states”. For this reason, Sankaranarayanan said, the NEC needs to evolve a strategy where it plays the role of ensuring results and outcome alongside devolving funds to the states.
“The broad perspective plan for individual states should be defined clearly and then funds devolved in a timely manner with proper supervision and monitoring to ensure we achieve our goals and objectives. This will require strengthening of the capacity of the NEC Secretariat for evolving appropriate perspective plans for the region” the governor said.
One area he pointed out should be a focus, in the North East, is infrastructure. “A state like Nagaland depends only on roads for transportation of people, goods and services. A robust road network can help the economy to grow and help entrepreneurs in agro-based industries to access markets outside Nagaland. Air connectivity for Nagaland has been discussed earlier at NEC forums” the governor said. Today, he said citing an instance, because of ‘lack of proper flights from Dimapur to Delhi or Kolkata or Guwahati’, it takes “almost one full day to reach Delhi from Nagaland”.
What’s In: Air, Rail, Music, Youths
Further, rail facilities in the north east needs expansion so that the people of Nagaland and north east also benefit from the progress made by the Railways in the last few years. “So far the focus of railways has been only Assam” he lamented. While appreciating the role of the railways for Assam, he requested the NEC to take up with the railways, to expand rail services in other states, “in particular, Nagaland”.
Aside from infrastructure, Governor Sankaranarayanan said a key area of strength of the north eastern region is ecology and environment. The forest cover in the NE is much higher than the national average. “With issues like Global Warming becoming an agenda for the future, the role of north eastern region in meeting our national commitments regarding carbon emissions becomes very important” he said.
The governor also suggested to the NEC to consider supporting artistes and musicians of the region who have made a mark in the entertainment world, in particular in western music. States like Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland have produced many musicians and singers who have made a mark at the national and even international level. “If we can support them, we can create an entertainment industry that can provide employment to many talented youth of the region” Governor Sankaranarayanan said.
On related matter, the governor told the NEC that almost all the NE states have a very youthful population. However, he lamented, due to poor industrialization, there are very few job opportunities for the youth. “We need to undertake capacity-building and skill upgradation of youth in a way that we improve employability of our youth’ he said. Saying that the skill-development mission announced by the Prime Minister is a step the right direction, Sankaranarayanan urged the council to also undertake skill development programmes in the NE states. He informed the council that the Government of Nagaland has already undertaken several schemes under ‘Year of Capacity Building’.
“North Eastern Council can study the Nagaland initiative and consider supporting it as also extending it to other states of the region” he suggested.
Further, he said, along with schemes of skill-building, NE also needs to support professional education in the north eastern states. In the backdrop of this need, the governor highlighted some of Nagaland’s lack in the professional sector: “Nagaland does not have any medical college. I would urge NEC to take a proactive role and ensure that the proposed medical college at the Referral Hospital in Dimapur is set up at the earliest.
Similarly we need to take follow up action on the proposed Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and National Institute of Technology (NIT) that are included in the plans of the Ministry of Higher Education for the region. We also need nursing schools and training institutions to train youth in hospitality sector which can create jobs for the youth”.