Government has worked consistently to overcome challenges in the Northeast: Jitendra Singh

GUWAHATI: Union Minister of DoNER Dr. Jitendra Singh on Friday said that over the past six years there has been a very conscious and consistent effort to overcome the challenges that were coming in the way of the progress of the Northeast India region.
The APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research & Analysis under the aegis of IIM Shillong inaugurated the e-Symposia Series on Emergent North-East India: Strategic and Developmental Imperatives.

Speaking in the programme, Singh fondly recollected his last meeting with the late President a week before his demise and acknowledged Dr. Kalam’s life as a “privilege which God does not grant everybody”. “It was the very next day that the Ministry of DoNER decided to step in to contribute and enrich his memory, and therefore that is how the APJ Abdul Kalam Centre at IIM Shillong was subsequently established. I am glad that over the years it has established itself as a full-fledged centre for policy research.”

Singh recalled one of the earliest statements made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wanting to raise the northeastern region at par in levels with some of the other developed states and regions of the country and stressed on the on-going prioritisation of the region by the Government. “Northeast has both a huge potential of economy as well as attributes that have either not been explored, or are not known by the rest of the country and the world at large. I am glad that over the past six years there has been a very conscious and consistent effort to overcome the challenges that were coming in the way of the progress of the region.”

He further elaborated on the successful implementation of roads and railways in the region apart from other palpable development initiatives which are sincere attempts to make up for the lack of connectivity that was adversely affecting the progress of the region including development of the economy and welfare of the youth.

Further urging the Centre at IIM Shillong to develop its own unique identity specializing in the management avenues in the context of Northeast while taking advantage of shared borders with countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the envisaged objective of the government through its promotion of Act East policy, he hoped that the Centre would be an enabling catalyst to create learning and understanding on how best to manage the prospects and potentiality which can pave the way for creating Northeastern region (NE) as the upcoming economic hub, and India’s newest business destination.

Member of the Board of Governors (BOG) Atul Kulkarni pointed out relevant growth facts which have changed NER from being considered only as a consumption centre to now becoming a manufacturing region which means that Northeastern states are now emerging as manufacturing hubs creating business opportunities for transporters, and logistics firms. “The thrust by India towards creating a transnational and multi border connectivity framework in the region will bring about a paradigm change in the supply chain dynamics of the region,” he added.

Citing the minimal intra-regional trade, he opined that projects like Kaladan, and Mekong-Ganga project can boost cooperation with ASEAN, can boost Indo-ASEAN trade which currently stands at only about 10 percent of India’s global trade valued at 70 billion.

He hoped that the recent development announcements such as the Northeast Economic Corridor and signing of MoU between India and Bangladesh for developing multi model trade routes will strengthen the growth of NER.