Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Meghalaya where he attended the golden jubilee celebration of the North East Council (NEC) and inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple projects at a public function in Shillong.
Addressing the Golden Jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council (NEC), the PM said, “the government has now evolved from ‘look east’ and ‘act east’, to ‘act fast for Northeast’ and ‘act first for Northeast’.”
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Lauding the effort put in by the NEC throughout its 50 years of existence, he referred to the eight states of the region as ‘Asht Lakshmi’ and called upon all to strive towards achieving eight pivotal foundation pillars for its development, namely peace, power, tourism, 5G connectivity, culture, natural farming, sports, potential.
“The Northeast is our gateway to Southeast Asia and can become a centre for the development of the entire region,” Modi said, adding, “Work is going on the projects like Indian-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and Agartala-Akhaura rail project,” in the Northeast.
He said many peace agreements are signed, inter-state boundary agreements are done and there has been a mass reduction in instances of extremism to further peace initiatives in the region.
Underscoring that the northeast can truly be a powerhouse of the nation, PM Modi reasoned that this will help the region to be power surplus, aid in the expansion of industries and generate a large number of jobs.
The gathering was attended by all chief ministers of the eight northeast states, besides a large number of top government officials and identified key stakeholders.
Addressing leaders and officials, Modi said connectivity was the key ingredient towards making the northeast achieve its near full potential. “Iconic bridge projects which were pending for several decades have now been completed. The number of airports in the region has jumped from nine to 16, and the number of flights has increased from 900 before 2014 to around 1900 at present,” Modi said, adding, “many northeastern states have come to the railway map for the first time and efforts are being done to expand the waterways also. The length of national highways has increased by 50% since 2014 in the region.”
The Prime Minister also emphasized that with the launch of the PM-DevINE scheme, infrastructure projects in the region have gained more momentum. “A budget of ₹6,000 crore has been fixed for the next 3-4 years under PM-Divine,” he informed.
Dwelling on improving digital connectivity in the region by increasing the optical fibre network, Modi said furtherance of 5G infrastructure will help further the development of startup ecosystems and the service sector among others in the northeast.
“The government is committed to making the northeast not only a centre of economic growth but also of cultural growth,” the PM emphasized.
He went on to draw attention to the vast tourism potential that the region has to offer both in culture and nature which he said is attracting scores of tourists from across the world.
To promote the region further, the PM revealed that a plan is afoot to send students from 100 universities to the northeast, which will be a catalyst to bring people from different regions closer. “These students can then become ambassadors of the region,” he said.
Turning towards the driving populace of the country, PM Modi said that the northeast region is an agricultural hotbed of the nation, and with added impetus will prove to be second to none. “Through Krishi UDAN, farmers of the region are able to send their products across the country and different parts of the world as well,” he said while underlining how drones can help farmers overcome geographical challenges and help their produce reach the market effectively and timely. He also urged the northeastern states to actively participate in the ongoing National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm.
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Lauding the vast contribution of the region towards the field of sports, he said that the government is working towards providing support to sportspersons of the region through the development of “India’s first” sports university. He added that over 200 Khelo India centres have been approved in the eight states of the region and that many athletes of the region are getting benefits under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) scheme.
Highlighting the benefits of India’s G20 Presidency to the region, PM Modi said that its meetings would definitely witness people from all across the world coming to the region. “This will be an apt opportunity to showcase the nature, culture and potential of the region,” he reasoned.
Thereafter, PM Modi addressed a gathering at Polo ground wherein he digitally inaugurated and dedicated projects worth over Rs. 2,450 crores to the nation.
The inauguration included 320 completed and 890 under construction 4G mobile towers, new campus of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Shillong, at Umsawli, the Shillong – Diengpasoh Road aimed at providing better connectivity to the new Shillong satellite township and four other road projects across the three states of Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
The PM also inaugurated Spawn Laboratory at Mushroom Development Center and Integrated Beekeeping Development Centre in Meghalaya and 21 Hindi libraries in Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Assam. The PM also laid the foundation stone of six road projects across the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, and the foundation stone of the Integrated Hospitality and Convention Centre at Tura and Shillong Technology Park Phase -II.
Seeking to engage the gathering, Modi pointed to the coincidence that the public function was happening on a football field on the very day when the football world cup is culminating. “On one hand, there is football competition going on, while here we are leading the competition of development in the football field. Even though the football world cup is taking place in Qatar, the enthusiasm of the people here is no less”, he remarked.
He expressed hope that even though the country is looking at international teams playing in Qatar, the power of the Indian youth will spearhead India to successfully organise such a momentous tournament where every Indian will wave the tri-colour to cheer our ambassadors participating in it.
Drawing an analogy to the red card shown in football to a person who goes against the sportsman spirit, PM Modi asserted that the government has shown the red card to all the obstacles that come in the way of the development of northeast.
“Be it corruption, discrimination, nepotism, violence or vote-bank politics to disrupt the development in the region, we are working with dedication and honesty to uproot all these evils”, he remarked, while pointing out that even though such evils are deeply rooted, everyone has to work towards eliminating each one of them.
“Development is not limited to budget, tenders, laying foundation stones and inaugurations,” PM Modi emphasized while stating, “the transformation that we witness today is a result of the change in our intentions, resolutions, priorities and our work culture. The results can be seen in our processes.”
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He said, “The resolution is to build a developed India with modern infrastructure, modern connectivity. The intention is to connect every region and section of India with the objective of rapid development through Sabka Prayas (everyone’s efforts). The priority is to remove deprivation, reduce distances, engage in capacity building, and give more opportunities to the youth and the change in work culture signifies that every project and programme be completed within the time limit.”
The PM revealed that the central government is spending ₹7 lakh crore only on infrastructure this year, while 8 years ago this expenditure was less than ₹2 lakh crore. He pointed out that states are competing within themselves when it comes to boosting infrastructure.
He elaborated that the central government’s politics of peace and development succeeded in making the tribal populace the biggest beneficiary of all. He said the development of tribal areas is the priority of the government while maintaining the tradition, language and culture of the tribal society.
Citing the ban on bamboo harvesting, PM Modi informed that it gave impetus to the manufacture of tribal products associated with bamboo. “850 Van Dhan Kendras have been established in the northeast for value addition in the produce obtained from forests. Many self-help groups are associated with them, many of which belong to our sisters”, he informed.
Both meetings were attended by the top officials including, Meghalaya governor Brig (Dr.) B D Mishra (Retd), union home minister Amit Shah, union ministers G Kishan Reddy, Kiren Rijiju and Sarbanada Sonowal, union minister of states B L Verma, along with Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma, Manipur CM N Biren Singh, Mizoram CM Zoramthanga, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang, Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu and Tripura CM Manik Saha.
