Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 29: Government is seriously contemplating to reorient the North Eastern Council (NEC) to meet the current requirements and to address the new emerging issues in the North Eastern region.
This was disclosed here today by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in his address as Chairman, NEC, at the plenary meeting attended, among others, by the Governors and Chief Ministers of all the North Eastern States, Union Secretary DoNER and Secretary NEC.
Arunachal Pradesh & Nagaland Governor P.B. Acharya, Assam & Meghalaya Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Manipur Governor Dr Najma Heptulla, Mizoram Governor Lt. Gen. (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma, Sikkim Governor Shriniwas D. Patil, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, along with Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, Mizoram Chief Minister P. Lal Thanhawla, Nagaland Chief Minister Dr S. Liezietsu, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar offered their inputs during the day-long marathon meeting.
Dr Jitendra Singh recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address during the plenary session of NEC meeting at Shillong on 27th May last year where he had emphasized the need to re-orientate and upgrade NEC. He said, it was after 40 years that a Prime Minister of India had personally participated in an NEC meet at Shillong, which only reflects Narendra Modi’s priority, concern and vision for this region.
When the NEC was constituted in early 1970s, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the scenario was quite different whereas today, not only the level of expectation of the people has increased but there is also an extended spectrum of work undertaken by Council.
Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that the Ministry of DoNER and the NEC are working together to prepare a possible roadmap to meet the new aspirations of the region. He said, he would personally like to see the NEC headquarters at Shillong as a hub of research-cum-resource centre for the entire Northeast where specialists from different fields could formulate future plans for the entire region. This could be a nodal centre and a central resource pool which, each of the eight states of Northeast could look up to for direction and support, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh also highlighted some the recent achievements of NEC during the intervening period between the last NEC plenary meeting and the present one. For example, he said, these included setting up of APJ Abdul Kalam Study Chair at Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management at Shillong where Dr Kalam had breathed his last in 2015. In addition, he referred to upgradation of Borooah Cancer Institute through an MoU between the NEC and Department of Atomic Energy wherein the Tata Memorial Cancer Institute Mumbai will provide faculty teaching services as well as super-specialty cancer courses for the medicos, he said.
Secretary DoNER Naveen Verma gave a brief about some of the recent initiatives of the Ministry, while Ram Muivah presented the action taken report and follow up of the minutes of the last Plenary Meeting.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
