NEW DELHI: Resident commissioners of all the northeastern states here have come out with the novel idea of asking corporate houses to earmark a portion of their corporate social responsibility budget for the region since only central funding and internal generation of resources is limited in the region.
In a recent meeting here, the top officials felt that corporate houses can also be asked to take up developmental projects in the landlocked region. Even funds from foreign countries can be tapped, they felt.
They suggested creation of special laws and bylaws under which all corporate houses will be mandated to spend their CSR funds on developmental activities.
“This will also provide a gateway and vision to the corporate sector about exploring various avenues of development and nation building in northeastern states,” they said.
The meeting was convened by DK Bhalla, chief resident commissioner of Nagaland, as a brainstorming and intellectual session, which was called to plan and activate different policies and frameworks for the development of the region.
The commissioners pointed out that the states in the North East are deficient in generating monetary resources and there is a need for making them more self-sufficient. Citing the example of the tourism sector, the high rank officials said projects can be developed on PPP mode under which the state government can put in their share by providing land and other natural resources and private players in collaboration with the Centre can invest in the projects. The meeting suggested that the 15th Finance Commission should keep in view that NE states bear the brunt of the pollution caused by rest of the nation and hence this region should be given higher devolution of funds to keep it greener. There was a call for separate defined economic entities like NE bank, special loan assistance agencies and a dedicated insurance agency for business development and the people of the North East.
“NE has all the natural ingredients to develop various smart cities. What we lack are financial assistance and skilled human resource. The Government of India should consider for developing at least one or two smart cities in every NE state again under PPP model,” said Bhalla. On job creation, the commissioners agreed on bringing mega projects from India and abroad to the region and various strategies to fund small projects on farming and horticulture.
