The North Eastern Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region, which consists of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The North Eastern Council was constituted in 1971 by an Act of Parliament. The constitution of the Council has marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned endeavour for the rapid development of the Region. Over the last thirty-five years, NEC has been instrumental in setting in motion a new economic endeavour aimed at removing the basic handicaps that stood in the way of normal development of the region and has ushered in an era of new hope in this backward area full of great potentialities.
The North Eastern Council (NEC) is not a constitutional body but a statutory organization established under the North Eastern Council Act, 1971, as amended in 2002. Initially, NEC was an Advisory Body for North Eastern Region (NER). Now NEC is mandated to function as a Regional Planning Body for the North Eastern Region. The Council comprises Governors and Chief Ministers of constituent States and three members nominated by the President. While formulating the regional plans for the North Eastern Region, it is mandated to give priority to schemes and projects, benefitting two or more States, provided that in case of Sikkim, the Council shall formulate specific projects and schemes for that State including the review of the implementation of such project and schemes. To fulfil its mandate, the NEC has been implementing various projects in different sectors.
Since the slow pace of development of the transport and communication and power sector has been the major cause of the region's backwardness, the NEC concentrated on these sectors in the successive plan periods. In the case of states, the importance attached to sectors other than social and community services was witnessed in the plans in the post NEC period. This indicates the involvement of NEC in addressing the development needs of the identified thrust areas. NEC has been involved in the development of roads and waterways since its inception. Due to demand and urgent need for improvement of air connectivity, the Council has taken up up-gradation and improvement of airports and road and waterway transport based on the recommendations of a Committee of Secretaries of the Government of India.
In the case of agriculture, constraints like non-availability of the high-quality seed of improved variety, lack of irrigation facilities, transport bottleneck in the movement of fertilizer, etc., hampered increase in the production. To overcome these constraints, the NEC took several steps through its Agriculture and Allied sector. In the health sector, the thrust of NEC has been in the area of healthcare facilities and health manpower development. This has been done by way of promoting medical colleges (including allopathy, homoeopathy and ayurvedic). Also, NEC’s effort in these areas is by way of infrastructure development, assisting in technological up-gradation, providing training for health manpower development. Furthermore, over the years, NEC has contributed in various ways towards health manpower development for all constituent states by reserving seats for students in various health institutions of the region.
NEC has also been contributing to the growth of industrial activities in the NE region by conducting various resource investigations and surveys. This has helped in creating a knowledge base about resource availability and documentation. The schemes and projects identified and taken up by NEC aim to benefit the entire region in terms of employment generation, utilization of locally available resources and proper marketing of these products. NEC’s effort towards the industrial development of the Northeast also has been in developing first-generation entrepreneurs. This has resulted in the setting up of various small units in the region. In addition, NEC has also taken up various schemes to promote tourism in the northeastern region, including Sikkim.
The North Eastern Council (NEC) is not a constitutional body but a statutory organization established under the North Eastern Council Act, 1971, as amended in 2002. Initially, NEC was an Advisory Body for North Eastern Region (NER). Now NEC is mandated to function as a Regional Planning Body for the North Eastern Region. The Council comprises Governors and Chief Ministers of constituent States and three members nominated by the President. While formulating the regional plans for the North Eastern Region, it is mandated to give priority to schemes and projects, benefitting two or more States, provided that in case of Sikkim, the Council shall formulate specific projects and schemes for that State including the review of the implementation of such project and schemes. To fulfil its mandate, the NEC has been implementing various projects in different sectors.
Role and Functions:
Initially, the role of NEC is mainly of an advisory in nature with limited scope for taking up projects and programmes of interstate nature or of economic importance. However, its role widened over time, not confining within the limitation of functioning as an advisory body, and NEC evolved as a key player in the region's development efforts. Keeping in view the basic objectives of the formation of NEC as regional cooperation for removal of the basic constraints and development of the region, the Council could identify priority sectors for the development of the region. In addition, it could identify priority sectors for development intervention to remove regional disparity and exploitation of resources for sustainable development.Since the slow pace of development of the transport and communication and power sector has been the major cause of the region's backwardness, the NEC concentrated on these sectors in the successive plan periods. In the case of states, the importance attached to sectors other than social and community services was witnessed in the plans in the post NEC period. This indicates the involvement of NEC in addressing the development needs of the identified thrust areas. NEC has been involved in the development of roads and waterways since its inception. Due to demand and urgent need for improvement of air connectivity, the Council has taken up up-gradation and improvement of airports and road and waterway transport based on the recommendations of a Committee of Secretaries of the Government of India.
In the case of agriculture, constraints like non-availability of the high-quality seed of improved variety, lack of irrigation facilities, transport bottleneck in the movement of fertilizer, etc., hampered increase in the production. To overcome these constraints, the NEC took several steps through its Agriculture and Allied sector. In the health sector, the thrust of NEC has been in the area of healthcare facilities and health manpower development. This has been done by way of promoting medical colleges (including allopathy, homoeopathy and ayurvedic). Also, NEC’s effort in these areas is by way of infrastructure development, assisting in technological up-gradation, providing training for health manpower development. Furthermore, over the years, NEC has contributed in various ways towards health manpower development for all constituent states by reserving seats for students in various health institutions of the region.
NEC has also been contributing to the growth of industrial activities in the NE region by conducting various resource investigations and surveys. This has helped in creating a knowledge base about resource availability and documentation. The schemes and projects identified and taken up by NEC aim to benefit the entire region in terms of employment generation, utilization of locally available resources and proper marketing of these products. NEC’s effort towards the industrial development of the Northeast also has been in developing first-generation entrepreneurs. This has resulted in the setting up of various small units in the region. In addition, NEC has also taken up various schemes to promote tourism in the northeastern region, including Sikkim.
No comments:
Post a Comment