New Delhi: People from the northeast may enjoy exclusive transit accommodation in metropolitan and other major cities in the near future with the government mulling such a proposal.
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju shared the idea while presiding over an inter-ministerial meeting convened here on Thursday to review the implementation of the Bezbaruah Committee report on safety and other concerns of people from the northeast living in Delhi and other cities. Rijiju directed Secretary, Ministry for Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) R Vijaykumar to initiate a proposal for provision of separate budget allocation for this specific purpose.
“It was informed in the meeting that the setting up of exclusive hostels for NER-origin students has been fast- tracked in JNU and Ramanujan College in Delhi and that other Delhi University colleges including Hindu, Khalsa and Dayal Singh College have already identified land for such hostels,” an official release said. Rijiju asked DoNER Ministry to coordinate with the Urban Development Ministry to expedite the process. The minister expressed satisfaction that the NCERT has already initiated a review of CBSE textbooks for Classes VI – XII to include chapters on the NER geography, history and cultural diversity. He asked HRD Ministry officials to explore and suggest similar revision in textbooks to various state governments for their inclusion in the state boards’ curriculum.
UGC officials said 10,000 fellowships have been introduced for students of northeast states and that can be availed for study anywhere in India. UGC has also taken a decision to institute a chair in different universities in the region. Rijiju expressed concern that recruitment of NER people in Delhi Police had not really taken off. Delhi Police officers explained that the rigorous physical and educational qualifications have become a hurdle and a review is underway to relax the criteria for northeast-origin people.
Sports Ministry officials said about Rs 100 crore has already been allocated for upgrading sports facilities in Imphal and another Rs 25 crore will be provided by March. The draft bill for setting up a National Sports University is ready while the Manipur government has already acquired bulk of land at Thoubal district and the university is likely to start admissions for the next academic session, 2015-16.
Rijiju directed that a short compendium of all initiatives undertaken by various ministries be compiled soon and circulated to all northeast state governments and the media for wider publicity so that more and more people can be apprised of the various welfare schemes to avail of the benefits. Senior officers of the Union ministries of HRD, Culture, I&B and Sports & Youth Affairs. (PTI)
