Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 14: Addressing a congregation of North-Eastern people on the occasion of presentation of “Karmayogi” award to octogenarian freedom fighter and Northeast based social activist, Natwarbhai Thakkar, popularly known as “Gandhi of Nagaland” , BJP National President, Amit Shah said that whenever there is a BJP-led government at the Centre, it always gives highest priority to Northeast. This is evident from the fact that a separate exclusive Ministry for Develop-ment of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) was created when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, but subsequently, DoNER went “dormant” for next 10 years of UPA rule, before it was once again actively revived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.
Amit Shah, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that highest priority and highest budget from Government of India is being allocated to Northeast. He lauded Dr Jitendra Singh’s “DoNER at Doorstep” experiment which he described as one of unique innovative initiatives enabling the union Ministry of DoNER to rotate through all the eight States of the region.
Appreciating the contribution of “My Home India” organization for bringing Northeast and the rest of India closer to each other, Amit Shah congratulated its convener Sunil Deodhar for having decided to honour Natwarbhai Thakkar who is an embodiment of selfless service to the cause of unattended sections of society living in remote corners of the country.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union DoNER Minister and MoS PMO, who was the guest of honour, said that Northeast is an essential part of PM Modi’s India vision. This is the reason that within the first few months of taking over as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi paid historic visits to Northeast wherein he inaugurated the first ever rail link to Meghalaya and announced the setting up of first ever Sports University in Manipur.
Referring to a number of new initiatives undertaken in Northeast during a brief period of last few months,Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned the landmark “DoNER at doorstep” experiment wherein, every month, by rotation, a Camp Secretariat of DoNER is held by turn in each State of Northeast. He also mentioned another initiative undertaken recently as a result of which eight Union Ministers visit Northeast in every given fortnight which, in other words, means that there is one Union Minister in each of the eight States in every 15 days. All this, he said, has been possible because the Prime Minister is personally taking keen interest and supporting, encouraging and promoting new ideas and new initiatives with relation to Northeast.
Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that the work to bring up a Film Institute at Arunachal Pradesh is planned to begin in January next year. He also announced the beginning of the first ever formal Postgraduate Masters course in Northeastern Studies from next academic year in Jamia Millia Islamia Central University and informed that the work to bring up two exclusive hostels for students of Northeast in Union Capital of Delhi has already begun while the process is going on for identifying more of such resident homes. With the successful execution of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and with full targets achieved in Jan Dhan Yojana, he said, for the first time after several years, the Government of India’s schemes have become visible at ground level in the region.
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