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The constitution of the Council has marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned endeavor for the rapid development of the region. Over the last thirty-five years, NEC has been instrumental in setting in motion a new economic endeavor aimed at removing the basic handicaps that stood in the way of normal development of the region and has ushered in an era of new hope in this backward area full of great potentialities.
The 67th plenary meeting of North Eastern Council (NEC) was held in Shillong Meghalaya. It was chaired by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of Development of NER and Governors and Chief Minister of North-Eastern States. The major issues discussed in the two days session includes finding ways and means to complete long-pending projects of the NEC in a specific time frame, transformation of the 14 aspirational districts/Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA- 1 & 2) in NER, Strengthening Livelihood Programmes in NE Region, Water Resources Management in NER, Catchment Area Treatment in NER through afforestation, Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022, Road Connectivity, ‘POSHAN ABHIYAAN’, ‘AYUSHMAN BHARAT’, Security related matters pertaining to North Eastern States and continuation of NEC Schemes till March 2020 as approved by the cabinet in March 2018.
Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has asked the North-Eastern states to expedite work on long pending projects of the North Eastern Council (NEC) and ensure maximum utilization of funds. Addressing the 67th Plenary Session of the NEC in Shillong, he said NEC and the eight North-Eastern States would have to ensure that all the ongoing projects are completed in a time bound manner. The Home Minister urged the states for effective implementation of the recently approved financial package of Rs 4,500 crore by the Centre and directed them to focus on specific areas and better convergence of the government’s sponsored schemes. He added that “The Union Cabinet, in March 2018, approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017 with an outlay of Rs.3, 000 crores up to March 2020.
Mr. Rajnath Singh also informed that this Government is taking a keen interest in developing the region not only for it to self-sustain but also to act as a link with the South East Asian countries. The Act East Policy has placed emphasis on India-ASEAN cooperation on our domestic agenda in sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, skills, urban renewal, smart cities and ‘Make in India’. Connectivity projects, cooperation in space, S&T and people-to-people exchanges could become a springboard for regional integration and prosperity.
He also added that, in order to provide a platform to identify various constraints on the way of accelerated, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the North East region of the country and to recommend suitable interventions for addressing identified constraints, the Government has set up the NITI Forum for the North East. The first round of the discussion of the Forum was held on the 10th April 2018. The suggestions of this Forum have been made available to all concerned departments for examinations and considerations.
EP Desk
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