SHILLONG: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday asked the North Eastern Council (NEC) to act as a forum to deal with internal security and other critical inter-state issues, besides taking up development initiatives.
Chairing the two-day plenary meeting of the NEC in the city on Monday, Singh said NEC forum should deliberate on pressing security related issues of the northeastern states.
He said after the creation of council under the NEC Act, 1971, there is no zonal council for northeastern states. Though Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya were once part of the Eastern Zonal Council, currently there are no such bodies.
Earlier, issues related to boundary dispute, drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition were discussed in the zonal councils. “But unfortunately, there is no forum to discuss these issues and in this context, we need a forum to address the internal security issues, including boundary disputes, narcotics and arms trafficking, approaches for tackling terrorism, militancy and others,” Singh said.
According to Singh, while the Ministry of DoNER is focusing on its coordination role in development matters, the Ministry of Home Affairs primarily focuses on security related issues.
“The NEC, having the governors and chief ministers of the northeastern states as its members, can provide a common forum for discussing the two aspects in a comprehensive manner in the presence of the top functionaries of two Union ministers,” Singh said.
The Cabinet has given its approval on the proposal of the Ministry of DoNER and made Union home minister, ex-officio chairman of NEC and DoNER minister as vice chairman of the council, Singh said.
He added that the pressing issues of internal security related to the region may also be deliberated as per the mandate of NEC.
He said India cannot be happy if the brothers and sisters of the North East are unhappy and India cannot be great unless the brothers and sisters residing in the North East share this sense of greatness.
Decline in insurgency
Singh pointed out that there is substantial improvement in security situation in the North East Region in last four years.
“Insurgency incidents have come down by 85 per cent from its peak in late 1990s, security forces’ causalities and civilian deaths have come down by as much as 96 per cent,” he said.
He added that compared to 2013, insurgency incidents have registered a decline of 58 per cent in 2017 and in the last five years, security forces’ casualties have come down by 34 per cent and civilian deaths by 67 per cent.
However, Singh said 2017 had the lowest insurgency incidents, security forces’ casualties and civilian deaths since 1997 and there is a marked improvement in security situation in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur while Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim are completely free from insurgency. “Because of improvement in security situation, Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been removed completely from Meghalaya and its application has been reduced in Arunachal Pradesh. We will discuss this subject tomorrow in detail,” he added.
Act East initiative
Singh said the Centre is taking keen interest to act as a link with the South East Asian countries so as to push economic development in the North East region.
He added that the government is trying to ensure that sectors such as infrastructure strengthening, manufacturing, trade, tourism, skill development, urban renewal, smart cities, and ‘Make in India’ are emphasized in all eight states.
Industrial boost
According to Singh, the region suffers from lack of adequate private investment and keeping in mind the low industrial base of the region, the Union cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has, in March 2018, approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme, 2017, with a financial outlay of Rs 3,000 crore up to March 2020.
“I urge the state governments, especially the chief ministers to avail of this opportunity and create a conducive environment for industrialisation so that new industrial units are set up and the much needed employment is generated and also new avenues are created,” he added.
Focus on 14 districts
Singh said the Prime Minister in January this year launched the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme, which aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
The broad contours of the programme are convergence and empowering of district administration, in addition to developing healthy competitive spirit among the field officers and districts, Singh asserted.
“I want this forum to deliberate on strategies to transform the 14 identified districts of the North East as leading examples for other districts of North East region to emulate,” he added.
Utilisation of funds
The Union home minister said NEC will have to ensure maximum utilisation of the existing funds for completion of the ongoing schemes to enable the council to approach the Ministry of Finance for additional funds during 2018-19.
The financial package of Rs 4,500 crore for three years from 2017-18 till 2019-20 was approved with a window to NEC to receive additional funds during 2018-19 depending on availability of resources, performance of the scheme and utilisation of funds.
Singh said the third party evaluation of NEC carried out by IIM Shillong had indicated that large amount of funds are lying in the states in the form of unspent balances. He wanted NEC to expedite the implementation of pending projects.
DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, governors and chief ministers of all the northeastern states are taking part in the meeting, being held for the first time after the Union cabinet brought NEC under direct control of the Home Ministry.
