INDIA’S North-Eastern States, with their tremendous untapped resources and large pool of skilled manpower, could become a bridgehead for tapping a market of 400 million people in South East Asia, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said at the North-East Business Summit at Delhi. The Prime Minister observed that several steps put in motion by India to forge stronger linkages with South East Asia could propel the development of the North-East, a region plagued for long by extremism and lack of development. “When I look at North-East, I also naturally look at India’s extended neighbourhood in South East Asia,’’ he said, adding, “New Delhi had taken steps to strengthen economic cooperation with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China. Trade between India and ASEAN countries has grown by 25 per cent in the last year. The decision to forge a free trade pact with Thailand was expected to push trade with ASEAN to 30 billion dollars by 2007 and lead to a free trade area within a decade. The North-Eastern states made a strong pitch during the summit to woo investors in areas like tourism, bamboo cultivation, food processing and other industries.

Ranging from natural resources like bamboo and fruits to minerals and even oil and gas in Assam, Nagaland and Tripura, there is a tremendous scope for tapping not just national but also overseas markets, particularly in Bangladesh and Myanmar. Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, said, “There is a visible mood for peace and development. Together with the peace process, the state government has been taking steps for economic reforms.’’ The Chief Ministers and the Assam governor and North Eastern Council (NEC) chairman Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh sought to nullify fears of risk to investment or people. Urgging entreprenuers to look at various opportunities, Gen Singh said lack of infrastructure should not be a deterrent.

To give a boost to the tourism sector, the NEC has planned to connect all the North-Eastern states with a 2,443 km express highway, he said. In addition, the Centre is offereing various incentives to the industries in the region. Between 1998-99 and 2002-03, the Centre has released Rs 440 billion for all the eight North-Eastern states. This includes Rs 57 billion for projects inlcuded in a special socio-economic package announced by the Prime Minister in January 2000. The development of power sector, border trade, horticulture, roads and air links, health services, border fencing and upgrading police forces are covered by the package. During his visit to Nagaland in last October, the Prime Minister announced a 1053-crore economic package.

Chief Ministers of eight North-Eastern states, had also submitted a joint memorandum to the Prime Minister during the summit, urging him to take immediate steps to expand trade and transit facilities with the South-East Asian countries for the speedy economic growth of the region. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar stressed the need to improve linkages with these countries through major improvements in infrastructure. ‘’This should include rail, road, air and water connectivity with these countries as well as reliable and modern telecom linkages,’’ he said. Mr. Sarkar said there should be connectivity with the seaports of

Bangladesh and Myanmar. Access to the seaport at Chittagong in should be sought to facilitate export and transhipment facilities through the neighbouring countries. The construction of a trans-Asian highway and railway network covering Thailand, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh should also be pursued for the development of NE states.

This connectivity and improvement in infrastructure in not only India, but also in the neighbouring countries, should be achieved with persistent diplomatic efforts from the Government within a short period. Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang stressed the need for strengthening the North-Eastern Council (NEC), saying these developments have to be implemented with the council’s help. While NEC should be allowed to engage adequate number of professionals, there should also be a review to ensure that NEC sanctioned the projects within a short period, he said.

He said during 2003-04, the Planning Commission had approved a budget of Rs 750 crore for NEC. However, it was pruned down to Rs 500 crore by the Finance Ministry. It was now learnt that this had been further curtailed to Rs 386 crore. Such pruning would have an adverse impact on the development process in the region. Besides, it went against the spirit of the package for the region announced by Mr Vajpayee, he said.

The memorandum submitted by the Chief Ministers urged the Prime Minister to fully restore the budget allocation of Rs 750 crore as approved by the Planning Commission. The Chief Ministers further urged Mr Vajpayee to ensure that there should be a substantial step-up in the NEC’s budget in future. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi pointed out that some of the

Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) were shared in the ratio of 50:50, which placed unbearable strain on the poor resource base of the states. As a result, the states were sometimes deprived of the flow of funds under the scheme. The Chief Ministers also requested that all Central Schemes be implemented in the North-Eastern states on the uniform pattern of 90:10 with the Central share at 90 per cent. They said, ‘’We further urge that assistance under the non-lapsable

Central Pool Resources (NLCPR) should be provided as 100 per cent grant as this is in lieu of the 10 per cent of the Central Ministries’ budget that they are required to spend in the North Eastern Region (NER).’’ The CMs requested the PM to ensure that the Central Ministries’ contribute their share in time and were not allowed to opt for exemption from the contribution. Pointing out that the NE states have been facing the insurgency problem for the past many years which has affected development programmes in the region, Mr Gogoi said the problem of militancy in the region needed to be recognised as a national problem and tackled accordingly.

The Central Government must take the responsibility, in consultation with the State Governments, to arrive at settlement packages with the militants. He said the delegation had sought according highest priority to border management in view of militants’ camps in neighbouring countries. The Border Security Force (BSF) should be provided with latest equipment/electronic gadgets to check border infiltration.

The states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram shared a 1,880 km-long border with Bangladesh, which must be fenced immediately. The strength of BSF was inadequate and needed to be substantially increased to cater to the needs of the long and difficult border, he added.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang said that many of the region’s burning problems, including the problem of militancy, could be traced to the high rate of unemployment prevailing in these states.

The Chief Ministers also stressed the need to have a special package for self-employment tailored to meet the requirements of the states. While formulating the package, the high literacy of the North-East states, traditional skills of local artisans, and availability of natural resources like water, gas, oil, lime, coal, rubber, bamboo and cane and horticulture products should be kept in view, Mr Apang said.

Investment was needed not only for manufacturing the products, but also for a wide range of support activities like skill upgradation, credit links, and an incentive package for marketing the products, he added. To encourage the cultivators to grow more, it was necessary that they be assured of remunerative prices through an appropriate package, which may be developed and fully funded by the Central Government.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphu Rio said cost of protecting the vast forest cover in the region required huge resources which should be borne by the Centre. .

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