Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
Dear friends
April 2013
I am extremely happy to write this letter to all my readers, well wishers, authors and advertisers. We have completed 21 years of uninterrupted publication this month and I cannot go without thanking each and every one of you for making this feat a possibility.
Starting this year, our organization has decided to honour the achievers from the North East. These people who have achieved greatness through their institutions or individually – are the people who bring positive values to life. The Achievers Award which we are presenting is towards honouring these people, a kind of recognition aimed to acknowkedge the contributions of these people to their respective field. Acknowledging the contributions of these great people is something that is often overlooked and truth be told, achievers such as these need to be highlighted and encouraged to carry on the good work they are doing. It is in this perspective that we believe that our Achievers Award will ultimately result in the betterment of the society at large. Creating employment opportunities and responsibility for the society were the two benchmarks while deciding on the recipients of the Award. It is a well known fact that the level of unemployment in the north - eastern region is very high which has resulted in a lot of misery and frustration among the youth of the region. Frustration only destabilizes the families of the persons and reduces the level of happiness of the society. Unfortunately, in India there are no methods or mechanism to look for the happiness index of the society while our close neighbour - the small country of Bhutan has such a thing in place.
The theme for our cover story this time is ‘Beyond Boundaries’. Under this theme, we explore the notion of improved relations with our neighbours and the possibility of this kind of relationship becoming a financial boon to the people of the North East. An example of this can be seen by way of our improved relations with our immediate neighbour Bangladesh which has resulted in peace and prosperity in the north – eastern region of India.
We need to explore trade and commerce possibilities with the other Asian countries, many of which are a stone’s throw away from the North East region. For example in Myanmar, the Government of India has recently taken initiatives to develop physical infrastructure even as China had already grabbed the opportunity a decade ago by investing in power generation in Myanmar.
Many of our bordering villages are without connectivity. It is my strong belief that better connectivity and relations between India and its neighbours through the North East region of the country augurs well for all parties involved and will result in better national integration. It is in this perspective that we brought out this issue and I hope you will enjoy reading it.