Manthan TopicSunrise States: Realizing the growth

potential of North-East

Skills ShortageNeed of a proper usage of the

geographical heritage

• More than geographical separation, sections of people in the north-east have for long felt “alienated” from India’s political, social and economic mainstream.

• The North East has around four percent of India’s population living in eight percent of the country’s geographical area.

Present statistics show that communication infra-structure is already developed.The area served by a Post Office is twice larger than that in the country, largely dueto sparse location of settlements and low density of population. A telephoneexchange serves 59 thousand persons in the region while this figure is 141 thousandfor the Nation. In the region telephone connections are relatively more perpopulation than that in the country.The Department of Telecommunications has plans to connect all the villages of the

NER by telecommunication link.

Hills and Heavy rain-fall

Terrace farming can be done so

that we can utilize the hill-

slope in a proper way.

Tea, rice, wheat, etc.

General Economy problem of the farmers due to which they are

unable to expand.

Government/ Private sector can

provide funds.

Modernized methods of cultivation should be introduced in the

north-east in order to increase the

employment potential of agriculture. Spread

of new farm technology will help the economy of the

north-eastern region by raising their

agricultural productivity.

No proper transportation

system.

Improvisation of Good and efficient

transport system can be arranged

by individual governments.

Plantation

• The development of plantation crops has been given a special placein the development strategy for the north-eastern region, particularlythe hill areas. This is because this area offers great promise for cropslike tea, coffee and rubber and also because these tree crops are anecological sound alternative to jhum(slash and burn) cultivation.

Horticulture

• Horticulture Development projects: A more aggressive programme of horticulturaldevelopment is required. This will involve not merely paying attention to existingorchards but new developments.

Bare areas in forest may also be suitable for intensive horticulturedevelopment. Besides new fruits grown in similar conditions elsewhere can also bepromoted e.g., chickoo, durain, mangousten .

• The extension of horticulture in some parts of the North East will meet with somedifficulties of transportation. In remote areas which are difficult of access, it may bepossible to pursue the cultivation of nut trees, since in these the problem ofdeterioration of the fruit in transit does not arise.

The development of handlooms in the North Eastern Region will have toconcentrate on commercialization of local skills and designs. This would involveidentification of a number of products which would have market potential within theregion, in the rest of the country and also in the export markets.

Lack of demand of Hand-made products from these areas.

Un-employment

People shift to metropolitan cities.

The rich heritage of this art and crafts is on the verge of extinction.

Make

online

shopping

stores of

these

products.

Advertisement

over social

networking

sites,

televisions,

radio, etc.

Encourage

people to buy HANDLOOM

And

ART and CRAFT from these

people instead

of buying

from abroad.

Increase in demand of

these products.

Good job opportunities

and

generation

will

continue this profession.

The point of view of medium and large industry the most promising resources are the forest wealth of the region and the substantial deposits of oil, coal and limestone. The growth of sericulture and the demand for yarn in the handloom sector provide a base for the development of textile industries.

Agro-based industries: It includes tea industry, sugar industry, grain mill products industry (rice, oil and flour mills), food processing industry and the

textile industry.

Mineral-based industries: Mineral-based industries include railway workshops, engineering industry, and re-Rolling Mills, steelworks, motor-vehicle workshops,

galvanized wire units, cycle factories, etc. Moreover, the non-metal based industries include petroleum oil industry and natural gas-based industry .

Forest-based industries: It includes plywood industry, saw-mill industry, paper and paper pulp industry, match industry, letter industry, hard board

industry etc.

Other industries: It includes power generation industry, fertilizer industry, brick and tiles industry, etc .

North East is a compact region: Transport planning has to be done at three levels – intra-regional, with the rest of India and connectivity with the international neighbours and beyond for South Asia, South East Asia and China.

Multi-modal hubs : Two locations in the North East, one in the south –Badarpur (District Karimganj, Assam) and one in the north – Jogighopa (District Bongaingaon, Assam) can be made multi-modal hubs for their locational advantages and the existing transport facilities that they enjoy.

Multi-utility Tunnels: Explore the possibilities to provide at least 3-4 alternate linkages between all the State Capitals (Intra-Region Connectivity) and rest of the country (Inter-Region Connectivity) with National Highway standard road as well as Rail Linkages through multi-utility tunneling for reducing travel distances and time, like one build in Jammu & Kashmir.

150-200 km/yr of Railway lines: In 2011-12, the railways have added 150 km in the NER. Construction capacity and Planning should be strengthened so that the Railways are able to construct 150 to 200 km per year. Of course, financial support for strategic important lines should be provided by the Finance Ministry and from Railway resources regularly.

Strict monitoring: There is a need to ensure that funds allotted to Rail Projects in the North Eastern Region are spent in a timely manner. Timely completion of the projects needs to be ensured through monitoring mechanism.

Inland Water Transport (IWT)

Investment on waterways can provide alternative routes for movement of bulk cargo for Nagaland and Manipur which would be a cheaper option and will not face blockages and similar exigencies.

However, any serious development of IWT requires active and positive participation by Bangladesh. India’s relationship with Bangladesh is dependent upon the party in power in that country. Therefore, IWT arrangements should be devised in such a manner that stakeholders, both in India and Bangladesh, derive value from developing and using IWT.

Promote public awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of IWT in NE region .

Promote containerized traffic movement on the Brahmaputra and Barak with appropriately designed barges.

Roadways

• It is necessary to form a separate body under the aegis of M/o DONER to monitor the construction activities in the sector.

• Rubber-roads can be made so as to improve the life of the roads in these areas.

• There is a need to have training institutions to develop skills in the local population for good maintenance of roads constructed both with the present technology and the superior technology whenever adopted.

• There is a need for foot suspension bridges in abundance.

Due to lack of knowledge and of poverty prevailing in this region, it’s a hotspot for human traffickers.

How to STOP it ??

By educating the masses and conducting workshops by the NGO’s/Govt.

Strict checking of trespassers across the international-borders.

Involving local people in anti-trafficking moments and keeping the records of the family members.

By providing families with a handsome amount of money and educate them to have small families and about birth control methods.

State and National police force should take strict action against these criminals.

Social evils like Child Marriage, dowry and down-grading of daughters should be stopped by making and implementing strict laws.

• There was a recent survey showing 87% girls and 91%boys opting for primary education but it reduces to 11%girls and 27% boys in secondary education by openingnew government colleges in these states so thatsecondary education becomes easy.

• There should be one teacher for every 20 student sothat learning can be more communicative.

• Mid-day meals are a good attempt to improveeducation so that villagers can send their children tostudy instead of sending for work.

• Workshops can be conducted for the people so thatthey can know the importance of education.

• SUPERSTITION: This can be a very important tool inflourishing education in these remote parts. People canbe given a frightening feeling of their Gods, that theGod wants them to learn this art otherwise they will bepunished, and afterwards when they will start learning,they will slowly come to know the importance oflearning.

Currently none of the North East states do not make into the top ten recipients of domestic and foreign tourists.

• Centre government should push for promoting tourism in north-eastIndia by increasing it's fund for the tourism industry.

• The government should focus organizing any huge event which wouldattract not only the Indians but also the foreign people to take part into.Keeping into account the contour of the region, the government couldorganize a cycle racing, keeping into account the huge popularity of the‘Tour de France’, also some adventure sports on a large scale, etc.

• Marketing and publicity in and around India should be done by the touroperators because it is they who establish tourist routes and make theseavailable through packages and to visitors.

• Apart from all these, security of the tourists should be of primeimportance. Then only tourism could flourish in these regions.

References

• North-East Region: Vision 2020.

• Nat-geo documentaries “Taboo India”.

• Times of India- August 2013 edition

• TerraGreen Magazine, May-June 2013 edition.

• TEHELKA News: Northeast and its ceaseless struggle with human trafficking, 29th August 2012 edition.

• BOOK: Che in Paona Bazaar, by Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Publication: Pan Macmillan.

• Report on development of North Eastern Region.

• India’s North-East diversifying growth opportunities by Indian Chamber of commerce.

• Rural Marketing System in the North-Eastern States: Problems, diagnosis and Strategy perspective by ASCI Consultancy.