By Our Special Correspondent
SHILLONG: Members of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) headed by its Chairman, and former Cabinet Secretary, Mr Naresh Chandra are in Shillong for a two-day consultation with government officials and NGOs from the seven North Eastern States.
The NSAB Task Force for the North East is in the process of preparing a paper relating to a comprehensive security scenario in the region. Security today is no longer military centric but includes a broad range of issues from food, water, energy health, climate, development and all other aspects that relate to the over-all human security.
According to Chairman, Mr Naresh Chandra, the Board is here to get a first hand account of the different issues listed and more, from government officials who are directly involved in project planning, designing and implementation. “The Board will also listen to civil society members from all the seven states who have been invited to Shillong for the consultation,” Mr Chandra said.
After a day long consultation with government officials on Monday, Mr Chandra observed that some specific issues relating to communication backlogs need to be taken up on a priority basis as they are directly linked to security of the region.
Besides Chandra, who is the former Cabinet Secretary, other members who were present in the meeting include, former IB chief PC Haldar, former Director General of Police (J&K) Ashok Bhan, Air Chief Marshal (Rtd) SP Tyagi and Journalists Patricia Mukhim and Wasbir Hussain.
Government officials from Meghalaya pointed to the delay in setting up the Instruments Landing Systems (ILS) at Umroi airport which prevented flights from landing on a regular basis. Mr Chandra assured that this would be taken up immediately.
Across the seven states the general opinion was that the wings of the North Eastern Council have been severely clipped after the setting up of the Ministry for the Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER). Mr Alemtemshi Jamir, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt of Nagaland said, “There is no clarity today about the roles of the NEC and DoNER. Before the advent of DoNER the NEC acted as a regional planning body and the state chief ministers met regularly to discuss inter-state issues. Today that no longer happens.”
Mr PB Warjri, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt of Meghalaya said that the budget of the NEC is only one-fifth of the budget of Meghalaya and therefore its activities have been greatly curtailed. At the same time DoNER has become just the disbursing agency for the non-lapsable central pool of resources (NLCPR). “We submit a project to DoNER and it takes three years to be approved by which time the entire costing and profile has changed.”
The attention of the Board was also drawn to the National Institute of Technologies (NITs) being set up in the region. Mizoram officials pointed out that the admission criteria put up by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) prevented the youth of the home state from getting admission, although 50% of seats are reserved for candidates from the home state. To this Mr Chandra said it is important to set up coaching centres for students wishing to sit for entrance tests rather than lower the admission bar for that would produce a generation of incompetent technicians.
Manipur officials raised the issue of resettling of surrendered militants and suggested that they be recruited in different uniformed posts. Mr PC Haldar, member NSAB, however suggested that some innovative thinking is required on this issue as militancy cannot be incentivised at any cost. There was a general agreement that access to Bangladesh through Chittagong port is vital for the growth of trade and commerce in the region. Officials from Mizoram pointed out to the high cost in transportation of finished products from the region such as bamboo and timber products. Chairman NSAB said this matter would be taken with the Railway Ministry as rail link is vital to the export of products from the region.
Later the NSAB members called on the Chief Minister, Dr Mukul Sangma and also discussed security related issues with him. On Tuesday the NSAB will meet with NGOs and civil society representatives from the region.