Our Spl Correspondent
 New Delhi: The two-day conference of state Governors beginning here on Saturday bears significance for the Northeastern states as it will be focusing on issues like inter-state law and order problem, border security, role of Governors in context of Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, will preside over the conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Meghalaya Governor Ranjit Sekhar Mooshahary has already arrived here to attend the conference.
“The focus of the deliberations will be on law and order issues having inter-State dimension, with special focus on Left Wing extremism and border security in States sharing international frontiers,” an official statement from Rashtrapati Bhawan said.
Among others issues that are going to be discussed include crop productivity, improvement in rain-fed farming, role of Governors in the context of Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution, tackling the menace of ragging in educational institutions.
This is the 43rd conference and the second such one to be presided over by Mrs Patil. Twenty-eight Governors and three Lieutenant Governors of the States and Union Territories will be attending the conference that will also be addressed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
Union Ministers of Finance, Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Defence, Home Affairs, Law and Justice and Minority Affairs, Tribal Affairs, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence shall also participate in the two-day deliberations.