Context: Northeast has the potential to become India’s growth engine, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 23 while asserting that peace has now been established in the region.Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the Manipur Water Supply Project , through video conferencing, the Prime Minister highlighted that modern infrastructure is being built to improve connectivity. India’s Northeast, in a way, is the gateway to our ancient cultural relationships with East Asia and the future of trade, travel and tourism. 

Key Points

• India’s North Eastern Region is a rainbow country, known for its diversity. It stretches from the foothills of the Himalayas in the eastern range and is surrounded by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Myanmar.
• The region is rich in natural resources, covered with dense forests, has the highest rainfall in the country, with large and small river systems nesting the land and is a treasure house of flora and fauna. Marked by diversity in customs, cultures, traditions and languages, it is home to multifarious social, ethnic and linguistic groups.

Issues hindering the growth of Northeast India

• Poor infrastructure and governance are combined with low productivity and market access.
• Inability of governments to control floods and river bank erosion causes unmitigated damage to properties and lives of millions of people every year in the region.
• If the quest for ethnic and cultural identities has sowed the seeds, frustration and dissatisfaction from seclusion, backwardness, remoteness and problems of governance have provided fertile ground for breeding armed insurgencies.
• There is overwhelming dependence for resources on the Central Government, public investment in the region has sub-optimal productivity due to weak of forward and backward linkages.

Potential to become a growth engine
Geographic Potential

• North East India is the region situated in the eastern-most part of India comprising of the eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.
• It is linked with Indian heartland through the 21 km. wide Siliguri Corridor, which is commonly known as the chicken neck, created by the Radcliffe line. The corridor is flanked by Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• The Northeast borders on four countries, namely, China and Bhutan on its North; Myanmar on its East; and Bangladesh on its South and West. It has an area of 2.6 lakh sq. km. (7.6% of India’s land area) while its population is 39 million plus (3.6% of India’s population). It has 475 ethnic groups and 400 languages/ dialects are spoken here.
• The River system in North East, other than the Brahmaputra, can be classied as the Barak River system and minor Rivers owing to Bangladesh and Burma. The Barak River, Gumti River, Myntdu River etc are some of the major Rivers owing to Bangladesh, while the Kaladan River, the Manipur River, Tizu River etc owing  in the States of Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. We need a proper river management in this fregion.

Economic Potential

• Nodal agency for development: The North-Eastern Council (NEC) is a nodal agency for economic and social development of the north-east. Its key members include governors and chief ministers of these eight states.
• Aviation sector: The NEC is funding upgradation of infrastructure in 12 operational airports. The Pakyong Airport in Sikkim is the first greenfield airport in Northeast India. It is situated around 30 kilometres from Gangtok.
• Road and infrastructure: The NEC is focusing on building roads spanning 10,500 kilometers, which will include inter-state and roads of economic importance.
• Despite being the largest state in the country, Arunachal Pradesh has the least road density.
• The Union Ministry of Road and Transport is planning to expedite the Trans-Arunachal Highway project.
• An express highway project along the Brahmaputra River, spanning 1,300 km, will come up and that is expected to resolve connectivity issues in Assam.

Tourism Sector 

• International Tourism Mart (ITM) is organized annually with the objective of showcasing the largely untapped tourism potential of the North East region in the domestic and international markets.
• 10% of the plan allocation of the Ministry of Tourism is marked for the North East region.
• There are plans to hold an NER Tourism Mart where tour operators from all over the country can meet and the regional tourism can be showcased.
• Bamboo sector: The National Bamboo Mission envisages promoting holistic growth of the bamboo sector by adopting the area-based, regionally differentiated strategy. It aims to increase the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing.
• MSME’s: In order to promote employment in the North East States, Government is incentivizing primarily the MSME Sector through North-East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS).
• Multimodal project and trade: The Kaladan project connects Sittwe Port in Myanmar to the India-Myanmar border.
• It is expected to open up sea routes and promote economic development in the North-eastern states, and also add value to the economic, commercial and strategic ties between India and Myanmar.
• This project will reduce distance from Kolkata to Sittwe by approximately 1328 km and will reduce the need to transport good through the narrow Siliguri corridor, also known as Chicken’s Neck.

Political development

• 6th schedule status: In January 2019, Cabinet approved amendment to Article 280 and Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to increase autonomy, financial resources and powers of the autonomous district councils in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.
• Bodo peace accord: The 3rd Bodo Peace Accord as tripartite agreement between the Centre, Assam Government and the banned Assam-based insurgent group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) was signed on 27th January 2020, for bringing a lasting peace in Bodo-dominated areas in Assam.
• Bru refugee settlement: Around 34,000 Internally Displaced Brus will be settled in Tripura and would be given aid from the Centre to help with their rehabilitation and all-round development, through a package of around Rs 600 crores.

Suggestion

• Empowerment of the people by maximizing self-governance and participatory development through grass-roots planning. Such planning will help to evolve development strategy based on the resources, needs and aspirations of the people.
• Rural development with a focus on improving agricultural productivity and the creation of non-farm avocations and employment.
• Development of sectors with comparative advantage agro-processing industries, modernization and development of sericulture, investment in manufacturing units based on the resources available in the region, harnessing the large hydroelectric power generation potential and focus on developing services such as tourism that will help to accelerate development and create productive employment opportunities.
• Capacity development will have to address the issue of imparting skills among the people to enhance their productivity, generating a class of entrepreneurs within the region willing to take risks.
• Augmenting infrastructure, including rail, road, inland water and air transportation to facilitate a two-way movement of people and goods within the region and outside, communication networks including broadband and wireless connectivity, and harnessing of the vast power generation potential, all of which will open up markets for produce from the region, attract private investment, create greater employment opportunities and expand choices for people of the region.
• Making the Look East and Act East Policy meaningful for the region by connecting it with Southeast Asian markets. Connectivity of NER with ASEAN would require opening up the sea route through the Chittagong port and the land routes through Myanmar and China.
• In addition, opening up the land route through Bangladesh could enormously benefit both countries and diplomatic efforts should focus on improving relations with the neighbours.
• Ensuring adequate flow of resources for public investments in infrastructure, implementing a framework for private participation in augmenting infrastructure and creating an enabling environment for the flow of investments to harness the physical resources of the region for the welfare of the people.

Road Ahead

• The road from the current anarchic situation to progress and prosperity is long and arduous, but it has to be trekked. This is a necessity, an imperative, for peace and prosperity in the region not only determines the future of 39 million people of the region but also the unity and integrity of the country