Excelsior Correspondent
New Delhi, Apr 10: On the second day of 64th Plenary Meeting of North-Eastern Council (NEC) here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, and Chairman NEC, Dr Jitendra Singh, while addressing Governors and Chief Ministers of the eight States, said that this was one of the best times for India, particularly for the peripheral States of Jammu & Kashmir and Northeast which were part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “India vision”.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, it is a golden opportunity when on the one hand, the entire world is looking up to India as a place of happening and on the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has emerged as a world leader of international reckoning, inspires a renewed feeling of national esteem through his concept of “Make in India” which is envisaged to be achieved through “Make in Northeast”. In this context, he referred to Modi’s original description of eight States of Northeast as “Ashta Lakshmi”, which not only symbolizes a historic but also a perspective connotation for growth, development and economy. Nothing can be more significant than the fact that during his very first visit to Northeast as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced, the setting up of six Agricultural Colleges and laid emphasis on developing Northeast as a hub of organic farming.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, besides poor connectivity and accessibility, another major problem faced by Northeast is youth exodus because of poor opportunities of higher education and meager avenues of employment. Keeping this in mind, Government of India has announced setting up of Sports University in Manipur and launched two ambitious schemes, “Ishaan Uday” – special scholarship scheme for students of the region and “Ishaan Vikas” – a scheme to provide apprenticeship facility to students of the region in IITs, NIITs and NIFTs of other parts of the country. Besides this, hostels for youth and students of Northeast are being brought up in different cities and the work on two such hostels in Delhi and one exclusive girls’ hostel in Bengaluru has already started, he added.
Describing the Governors and Chief Ministers as the guardians and torch-bearers of development plans envisaged by Government of India for Northeast, Dr. Jitendra Singh called upon them to render their kind inputs and suggestions in order to enable the DoNER Ministry to function in close coordination with them and to live up to the diverse expectations of the various sections of society in the eight different States of Northeast. He said, he has been personally in touch individually with each of the Governors and Chief Ministers of Northeast and will always be open to their inputs for fulfilling the dream of bringing the eight North-Eastern States at par with the other States of India.
Present on the occasion were Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt. General Nirbhay Sharma, Assam, Nagaland and Tripura Governor P. B. Acharya, Manipur Governor K. K. Paul, Sikkim Governor Shriniwas Patil, Meghalaya and Mizoram Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi as well as CM Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki, CM Assam Tarun Gogoi, CM Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh, CM Meghalaya Mukul Sanghma, CM Mizoram Pu Lalthanhawla, CM Nagaland T R Zeliang, CM Sikkim Pawan Chamling, CM Tripura Manik Sarkar.
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