Golden Jubilee of North Eastern Council

What’s in today’s article?

• North Eastern Council (NEC)
• News Summary
• PM-DevINE scheme

 

Why in News?

• Recently, PM Modi attended the Golden Jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council (NEC) at Shillong.
• He also addressed an official meeting of the NEC as well as a public meeting on this occasion.
• The Prime Minister also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple projects worth over ₹2,450 crore.
  • These include an integrated beekeeping development centre and 21 Hindi libraries for Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Assam.

 

What is the North Eastern Council (NEC)?

• North Eastern Council (NEC) was established by an Act of the Parliament in 1971.
  • It was formally inaugurated on 7th November, 1972 at Shillong, and has completed 50 years in November 2022.
• This Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region (NER)
  • NER consists of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
• Since its establishment, NEC has been instrumental in setting in motion a new economic endeavour aimed at removing the basic handicaps that stood in the way of normal development of the region.

 

News Summary: Key highlights of PM’s Speech

• Red card to challenges in the Northeast region
  • The government has shown the red card to challenges in the Northeast region, including corruption, political nepotism and unrest.
    • In football, a red card is shown by a referee to signify that a player must be sent off.
  • Border areas in Northeast India are not the last miles of the country. Instead, they are India’s main pillars.
  • Northeast is the peace and development gateway for trade and other ties with Southeast Asian countries.
  • The government is working on developing the border villages, like the Vibrant Border Village project.
• Act fast for northeast’ and ‘Act first for northeast”
  • The Centre has been investing heavily in the north-east with the government’s motto being ‘Act fast for northeast’ and ‘Act first for northeast’.
    • The Centre is spending ₹7 lakh crore in the region compared to ₹2 lakh crore after India’s independence.
• Infrastructural development
  • The number of airports in the region increased from nine to 16 and the number of flights increased from 900 to 1,900 in the last eight years.
  • Work is now under way to connect all the State capitals of the region by railway.
  • PM underscored the 50% increase in the length of national highways in the region since 2014.
    • The infrastructure projects in the north-east gained momentum after the launch of the PM-DevINE scheme.
• Improved digital connectivity
  • The government has been working on improving digital connectivity in the north-east by increasing the optical fibre network with 6,000 mobile towers being set up at a cost of ₹5,000 crore.
  • The Atmanirbhar 5G infrastructure will help develop the start-up ecosystem and service sector in the region.
• Peace and security
  • Several peace initiatives in the north-east include peace agreements with extremist groups and resolving decades old interstate boundary disputes.
  • The north-east has moved from violence and conflicts in the last eight years to an era of peace and progress.
    • Since 2014, extremism in the region has decreased by 74% while attacks on security forces have come down by 60% and civilian deaths decreased by 89%.

 

What is PM-DevINE scheme?

• The Union Cabinet, in October 2022, approved a new Scheme, Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) for the remaining four years of the 15th Finance Commission from 2022-23 to 2025-26.
  • It was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 to address development gaps in the North Eastern Region (NER).
• It is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% Central funding and will be implemented by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
• It will provide support to infrastructure (in the spirit of PM Gati Shakti), support industries and social development projects which may be larger in size and will also provide an end-to-end development solution instead of isolated projects.
• It will create livelihood activities for youth and women, thus leading to employment generation.

 

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Q1) Is North Eastern Council a statutory body?

Yes. North Eastern Council (NEC) was constituted as a statutory advisory body under the NEC Act 1971 (84 of 1971) and came into being on the 7th November, 1972 at Shillong.

 

Q2) Which are the 7 sisters state of India?

The seven sisters of Northeast India include - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.  Sikkim is not counted among the Seven Sister States of India because it does not share borders with any of them. 

 

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Source: On World Cup final day, PM Modi uses football as a metaphor for progress in the Northeast