NEC plenary session
SHILLONG (Meghalaya), Jul 10: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday assured the Centre’s support to the Northeastern states in improving police infrastructure.
The government is giving special attention to the internal security in the region, Singh said, addressing the 67th plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) here.
The home minister had said on Monday that the security situation in the Northeast had “improved drastically” during the four years of the NDA government, with insurgency-related incidents coming down by 85 percent as compared to the 90s.
“The Northeastern states should capitalize on the prevailing peaceful scenario to improve the law and order situation and strengthen policing in the region,” he said.
Singh said impetus to employment and income generation would help contain problems like insurgency in the region.
He also said the Northeastern states need highways as well as “I-ways” (referring to information technology) for development.
“The Northeast needs better road connectivity, and it has recently made some progress in this area. The economic potential of the region will be realized with better connectivity,” he said.
“If we can provide quality broadband services in the region, the youth of the Northeast will find employment opportunities closer to their homes. It would also stop the migration of local youth to distant areas of the country,” he added.
The union home minister said each of the Northeastern states is blessed with unique development potential.
“We need to identify those specific development areas and chalk out a plan with effective implementation. The implementation should be in a time bound manner,” said Singh.
“We need to prevent leakages in the system and ensure total transparency and accountability. I urge the chief ministers of all Northeastern states to work towards this end with missionary zeal,” he added.
The union home minister also stressed on accelerating the growth of agriculture to achieve the prime minister’s dream of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022.
“We should focus on growing low volume-high-value crops for export. The railway ministry can help in exporting the perishable commodities and horticulture produce like kiwis and flowers through superfast AC wagons,” he said.
He suggested reviving the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited for marketing of agriculture produce.
“The North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project with the self-help groups can extend help in this effort to increase the income and employment generation in the region,” he said.
