Blooming North East Blossoms Bharat
A concerted, joint and inclusive effort by all North Eastern States for agricultural, industrial, tourism, energy, hydro power and all traditional industries of the Region will certainly bloom the North east and blossom the nation with economic growth of our country. —Vinod Johri
The North-Eastern states of India comprising Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, cover an area of about 260,000 square kilometres and are well-known for their abundance in natural resources, cultural diversity, flora, and fauna. Their location is also highly geopolitical with its proximity to international lands of Tibet, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. An intimate connection with the environment and an understanding of nature is more visible in this part than in the rest of the country. North-East India has its own development of a vernacular architecture that has evolved through the ages and is sensitive to its local climate, inhabitants, and materials as the environment has been an integral part of their lifestyles. Sustainability and its development have always remained an issue of utmost importance.
The north-east region, by way of its location, enjoys key advantages as much as it throws up challenges for businesses. Being close to international borders opens up market access, although difficult geographical terrain and uneven infrastructure development have until recently discouraged the scope for investments. The rapid urbanization of North-Eastern India is one of the most impactful transformations of the region and has given rise to nine cities embracing a smart city development plan. An inclusive governance was established to transform these traditional cities into smart cities through infrastructure and services to all sections of the population.
The important sectors in the region with huge scope of development are as under - l Agro-based industry; l Tea; l Food processing; l Crude oil and natural gas; l Spices; l Petrochemicals; l IT/ITeS; l Forest and mineral based industries; l Chemicals; l Handicrafts and textile; l Tourism and hospitality industries; and, l Horticulture.
Whereas tourism industry provides immediate massive growth to the region and the people, the untapped spice crops and spice industry can add the flavour to the growth for farmers and micro level entrepreneurship at local level. Textile is yet another industry which has great scope of growth on national level.
In the last two decades, economic growth in the Northeast has been satisfactory with an annual growth rate in excess of 8 percent. A spectacular rise in the service sector has helped in the sustenance of high growth in the region. Over the decades, however, agriculture has suffered very badly due to unpredictable monsoons and faulty mechanisation offers. As early efforts of unsystematic heavy industrialisation mostly failed in the region, manufacturing became dominated by SMEs in due course of time.
Assam is better in terms of entrepreneurship development when compared to the other states in the Northeast. With an upscale market and good road/rail connectivity, Guwahati is naturally placed to lead the entrepreneurial activities and attract large-scale investments. But it is also true that the rest six states also present favourable atmospheres for SMEs, as the concern for environmental degradation is quite high among the local population. The local residents prefer light industries, as opposed to heavy and polluting industries that create big tussles among the different stakeholders of the industries concerned and harm the ecosystem.
For decades, states in North East region (NER) had suffered, because of what an editor in New Delhi once described as “the tyranny of distance” syndrome. Our region was not only cut off from the rest of our nation geographically, but also at an emotional and psychological levels. Most of these stemmed from the lack of empathy and understanding on the part of former governments towards the unique socio-cultural, aspirational and developmental challenges and needs of the North East region.
Once Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge of our nation in 2014, he declared the development of NE Indian states as one of the key priority areas for his government
Funding commitments
Fifty four Ministries/Departments under the Central government are today required to spend at least 10 per cent of their budget in the North Eastern Region.
In 2014-15 the yearly budget allocation for the development of NE states was Rs 24,819.18 crores, in 2021-22 it rose to 70,874.32 crores, marking an increase of over 285% in the past eight years alone.
The government has not only outlined a development vision for the North East, but our government has also provided adequate financial resources towards realising this vision. In the past eight years, our government has allocated over Rs 336,640.97 crores for the development of NE Region, which is tremendously helping boost the regional economy and connectivity.
The six pillars of connectivity
The Union Government is focusing on the six pillars of connectivity for the North East : -
1. Air connectivity: The development of the North East region is of strategic importance and our nation is bound to grow only when all regions are performing at their best. The government has worked persistently towards improving air connectivity and developing aviation infrastructure in the region, through the ‘UdeDesh Ka Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN) scheme. From the financial years 2016-17 to 2021-22 a total of 28 air connectivity projects have been completed in the region at a cost of Rs 979.07 crore, and 15 more projects worth Rs 2212.30 crores are currently under the process of completion. This is helping boost regional connectivity and tourism sector in the region.
2. Rail connectivity: Since 2014, our government has embarked on an ambitious project to connect all the states in NE region with the national rail grid. Towards this, our government sanctioned 19 projects for a total length of 1,909 kilometres, with a budget allocation of Rs 77,930 crores, which are at different stages of implementation – planning, approval, execution. Up to March 2022, a total of 409-kilometre-length has been commissioned at an expenditure of Rs 30,312 crores. These include, 14 New Line Projects of 361-kilometre-length at an expenditure of Rs 27,458 crore; and five Doubling/Multitracking Projects covering a length of 48 kilometre at an expenditure of Rs 2,854 crore.
3. Road connectivity: A total of 3,099.50-kilometre road at a cost of Rs 15,570.44 crore have been constructed since 2014, and projects connecting 4,016.48 km costing Rs. 58,385 crore are currently ongoing in the region.The major ongoing Capital Road Connectivity projects in NER include an alternate two-lane highway from Bagrakote to Pakyong (NH-717A) (152 km) in the Sikkim-Kalimpong-Darjeeling region, four laning of Imphal – Moreh section of NH-39 (20 km) and 2-laning of 75.4 km in Manipur; the 4 Laning of Dimapur- Kohima Road (62.9 km) in Nagaland; 4 laning of Nagaon bypass to Holongi (167 km) in Arunachal Pradesh; and 2 laning of Aizawl – Tuipang NH-54 (351 km) in Mizoram.All these roads when completed will help provide tremendous boost to regional and national connectivity of NE states to the rest of India.
4. Power connectivity: Since 2014, the Ministry of Power has undertaken many hydro/thermal power generation projects, developed and modernized transmission and distribution networks. The Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) is executing two major Intra State power transmission and distribution schemes viz. (i) North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) for the six states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland at an estimated cost of Rs 6,700 crore; and (ii) Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission and Distribution System in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 9,129.32 crore.
5. Telecom connectivity: Telecom connectivity or lack of it has been a major issue in the entire North East region. To address this the Department of Telecommunications has undertaken several projects in the North Eastern States for strengthening telecom connectivity in the region Bharat Net and Wi-Fi Connectivity for Village Panchayats in North Eastern Region.A total of 1,358 towers covering 1,246 villages have been installed and are providing services in the region.
6. Water connectivity: The 6 March, 2022 marked a historic day when MV Lal Bahadur Shastri docked at Guwahati’s Pandu port on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra, carrying 200 metric tonnes of food grains for the Food Corporation of India (FCI) from Patna. This was made possible due to the tireless efforts of our government towards opening up and making use of the inland water transport system.
Our government is developing River Brahmaputra from Dhubri (Bangladesh border) to Sadiya (891 km) as National Waterway-2 at a cost of Rs 461 crore in five years (2020-2025). River Barak has been declared as National Waterway-16, and it connects Silchar, Karimganj and Badarpur in Cachar valley of Assam with Haldia and Kolkata ports through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) Route. The facilities created and planned would cost Rs.145 crore in 5 years (2020-2025).This will help with faster transportation of goods to and from the national and international markets to the region.
Other Development schemes: In addition to the six pillars of connectivity, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) is implementing various schemes such as the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (SIDS), Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Scheme, Special Packages of Assam Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC), Hill Area Development Programme (HADP), Social and Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF), Schemes of NEC (North Eastern Council) and North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS), for the development of North Eastern Region. Under these developmental schemes/packages, 1,350 projects worth Rs.15,867.01crore, including connectivity projects, have been sanctioned during the financial years 2014-15 to 2021-22.
As the world’s largest democracy and one of the most significant economies of the world, India is a zone of hope. Its Northeast region must be viewed from the same prism and should be supported and projected as the major growth corridor with close proximity to nature. In fact, the Northeast region has all the reasons to be a zone of sustainable industrial development. A concerted, joint and inclusive effort by all North Eastern States for agricultural, industrial, tourism, energy, hydro power and all traditional industries of the Region will certainly bloom the North east and blossom the nation with economic growth of our country.
Vinod Johri: Retd Additional Commissioner of Income Tax
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