North-East marching towards a new era with the efforts of the Center
Looking at the background of the last 70 years, eastern India seemed to have lagged behind. But in the last 7 years the winds of change can be seen in the eastern region. You will remember when PM Modi said in the Parliament House that the North-East has become a leading partner in India's development journey today with unprecedented peace. Violent movements were going on in the North-East for 40-50 years, everyone knows how much concern these movements were, but today these movements have ended and the entire North East is moving forward on the path of peace.
Successful efforts of the central government to maintain peace in the North-East
Northeast is the jewel of our country which, until it is not connected with the whole of India, looks like incompleteness. Therefore it is important to link it with the rest of India in every respect. The central government under the leadership of PM Modi understood this and started a new era of empowering the North East. Since the coming of PM Modi's government in the year 2014, the development of Northeast has been carried forward in a phased manner.
What is the importance of Northeast for India?
Very important for Northeast India. If we understand it in terms of geography, then the area of the total area of Northeast India is about 8 percent. About 3.8 percent of the population of this region and about 5 thousand kilometer long international border is connected with five countries. India's northeast is one of the world's 18 biodiversity hotspots. 25% of the country's forest cover lies in the Northeast and about 30 percent of the dense forest cover is in the Northeast. Perhaps this is the reason why the Northeast is called the lungs of India. The Northeast is also a heterogeneous region and has more than 270 social groups and more than 185 dialects. But using this some people had made the Northeast a very complicated area. Before 2014, there was a huge mind-gap between the rest of India and the Northeast.
After the formation of PM Modi's government in the year 2014, PM Modi did the first thing to bridge this gap of mind i.e. focused on the Northeast. Started sending a central minister there every 15 days. For the last seven years, PM Modi himself has gone to the Northeast several times and has stayed overnight in the Northeast. Now slowly the Northeast has become a mind-set with India. There was a time when there were problems like violence, extremism, disputes, floods, corruption and drugs. Manipur was named only for bandhs, blockades and strikes, while Assam was named for terrorism and conflicts of ethnic groups.
But today there has been an improvement in the condition and direction of the Northeast. Today the Northeast remains in the discussion for increasing connectivity, development, tourism, employment, electricity and forest as well as ending floods. If industrial investment is to be made in any region, then it is very important to have peace, end disputes there, create an environment of political stability and create a good environment for economic development. The work of creating such an environment has been done by the Central Government in the last 7 years. Today the Northeast is ready to become a big contributor to the development of the country.
The problem of connectivity in the Northeast has been resolved
The connectivity problem that existed in the Northeast is being resolved by signing a land border agreement with Bangladesh. The Northeast will be connected to the ports of Bangladesh in two years and will open up a huge avenue for setting up industries in the Northeast and going around the world.
Northeast marching towards peace
Due to the popularity and organizational efforts of PM Modi, instability in the Northeast has now become history, after political stability, now the Northeast is moving towards peace. In the last 7 years, all the states of the Northeast have been successful in forming the governments of 'NEDA' i.e. 'North East Democratic Alliance' under the leadership of PM Modi. Today all the governments here are working stably with absolute majority, elections are also being held peacefully. People of Northeast have accepted PM Modi. Out of 498 MLAs, 350 MLAs are from NEDA and where Delhi was earlier considered a foreigner, now there is no hesitation in taking its help for development considering Delhi as its elder brother. PM Modi's vision in bringing political stability has been grounded and it will be of great benefit to the development of the Northeast.
The Central Government made these efforts to establish peace in the Northeast
For the establishment of peace in the Northeast by the Central Government, after 2014 and 2019, work has been done on a very extensive level. The central government has overcome the biggest shortcoming of the Northeast by entering into a land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, how to go to the east. In an important policy decision, the Union Government has declared the Ministry of Home Affairs as "Appropriate Government" to facilitate land acquisition for border projects. There was a time when agitations, disputes were going on in the Northeast. PM Modi set a narrative that development requires cooperation and hard work, not agitation or controversy. Manipur blockade has been ended, NLFT is in agreement and they have laid down their arms. 40 years of Bru refugees The same problem has also been settled and now they are being rehabilitated. After the Bodo and Karbi Anglong peace agreements, many militants have laid down their arms. About 385 civilians were killed every year in incidents of violence from 2007 to 2014 and now from 2019 to 2021, an average of two civilians have died. The central government says that the death of two civilians is also very unfortunate, so it is trying hard to make it zero. Would like to tell that in the last two years, around 3922 militants have surrendered and 4000 weapons have been deposited before the police. The State Governments and the Central Government have given 12 thousand crore rupees for their development and rehabilitation.
Infrastructure Development of the Northeast
In the last seven years, there has been a radical change in enhancing the infrastructure of the Northeast. The central government has decided that all the capitals of the Northeast will be connected to the airport before 2024. At the same time, 7 out of 8 states of Northeast will be connected by rail. The central government is working fast in this direction. On the other hand, work has also been done to build several national highways for Northeast India. 32 roads of National Highway have been constructed with an expenditure of Rs 12,000 crore. For the all-round development of the Northeast, from 2014 to 2021, Rs 2 lakh 65 thousand 513 crore has been spent only on infrastructure. At the same time, the 15th Finance Commission increased the expenditure of the Northeast by 251 percent as compared to the 14th Finance Commission. It should be known that in the year 2021-22, the budget of the Northeast was made at Rs 63,000 crore and the Modi government has done the work of doubling this budget in seven years. He said that many institutes like AIIMS, IITs, IIMs have been opened so that the children here are available as a good working force.
Northeast can become a big spot for organic food all over the world
The demand and market for organic food is increasing all over the world and North East can become a big spot for this too. There is also a lot of potential in the sports sector in the North East. Flood is a major problem of Northeast, many natural ponds will be created and flood water will be diverted to these ponds through ISRO using the heterogeneous geographical location for flood control. There is immense potential in the IT sector and the country has also done a lot for IT connectivity. The natural beauty of attracting tourists from all over the world is in the Northeast. For organic food also, three states have been declared as complete organic states and organic agriculture is being promoted in the rest of the states.
Huge potential for bamboo and paper industry
There is immense potential for bamboo and paper industry. About 60% of India's total bamboo production is in the Northeast and now the PM Modi government has given the status of cultivation to bamboo. In a year or two, the North East region will be connected with Bangladesh by rail and road and after that there will be a lot of possibilities to go east. The investment policies of different states in the east are quite attractive. The biggest thing is that peace has been established there, political stability has come and many institutes have been set up for education, which will prepare children as trained human resources.
Assam-Meghalaya Boundary Dispute Settlement on '29 March 2022'
At the same time, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma signed a landmark agreement between the states of Assam and Meghalaya to settle the dispute over six out of the total twelve areas of inter-state boundary dispute. This is another milestone in the fulfillment of PM Modi's vision of a peaceful and prosperous Northeast. In this way, for the last seven years, the central government is continuously working for the development of Northeast India.
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