SHILLONG: The North Eastern Council (NEC), which was meant to be the region’s think tank, has been reduced to a mere funding agency, said Tura MP Conrad Sangma on Thursday.
Addressing a gathering at the inaugural function of the two-day international seminar on ‘Cross-border connectivity and inclusive growth: Possibilities and challenges with special reference to North Eastern region’ at Shillong College, Sangma said, “The budget for NEC has remained Rs 700 crore since the time it was conceptualized. It is very less for an agency which looks after the development activities of the northeastern states.”
Stating that NEC is the think tank of the North East, he said, “What was NEC meant for in the beginning? It was meant to create a policy… a road map.”
He also stressed on the need for policy makers to interact with the youth. India has 25 million of its youth studying in universities and has set a target to increase the number to 45 million by 2030, he observed.
Sangma also turned the audiences’ attention to climate change which has led to rise in temperatures, floods and other natural calamities. Pointing to the flood situation as seen in some parts of the North East, he said, “Are we ready to deal with water-borne diseases?”
Meanwhile, Mahendra P. Lama of Jawaharlal Nehru University, while speaking on ‘Border to Borderland: Relocating connectivity in North East’, said border interaction is becoming critical and that the character and contents of border regime are changing.
Pointing out that out of the 29 states, 17 provincial states have international borders; he said India has 15106.7 km of land border and a coastline of 7516.6 km.
Stating that North Eastern Region (NER) has open, natural fenced, porous, barbed wire and concrete built border, Lama said, “In a place like Daoki (Dawki) in Meghalaya, the chanawalas and jhalmuriwalas who stand in no-man’s land in Bangladesh are the political borders.” As for NER, he said, “Eight states of NER constitute 7.9 per cent of India’s total geographical area, 3.76 per cent of total national population and hardly 2.8 per cent of the national income.”
