NEW DELHI, Apr 9: The first meeting of the NITI Forum for Northeast will be held in Agartala on Tuesday, aiming to give a boost to the development projects in the region by identifying constraints and streamlining resources.
DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, chief ministers of the Northeast states and leading lights from the region will attend the deliberations.
The meeting, to be chaired by NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Rajeev Kumar, will focus on improving road, rail and air connectivity in the Northeast, how to realize the hydel dream by utilizing existing potential for hydropower and exploit the agriculture and allied sectors, a statement issued by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) said.
The other areas that will come up for discussion include organic farming, cultivation of vegetables, fruits, spices, medicinal plants, soil health card for the farmers, minimizing post-harvest losses, increased coverage under crop insurance, how to boost milk production, and early completion of ongoing irrigation projects.
Promotion of ecotourism, rural tourism and adventure tourism, strengthening of the North East Tourism Development Council (NETDC), how to encourage states to go for organically-themed home-stay tourism similar to Sikkim and identifying and targeting early bird projects in areas of connectivity, agricultural productivity and industrial development will also be discussed.
The NITI Forum for North East was constituted in February 2018 with an aim to ensure sustainable economic growth of the north east and periodically review the development status in the region.
The secretariat for the forum has been established in the DoNER ministry. The forum includes representation from all NE states, their chief secretaries and secretaries of relevant central ministries/departments, directors of reputed institutions (IIT, IIM, etc), experts and journalists as members. (PTI)
