Development of Northeast India

Various Central Sector Schemes/ Centrally Sponsored Schemes are implemented by Central Ministries/Departments under 10% Gross Budgetary Support (GBS).

Besides, the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region in coordination with Central Ministries/Departments is focusing on the development of physical and social infrastructure in order to improve connectivity and socio economic development in North Eastern Region.

Some of the new infrastructure schemes/projects approved during the last five years for the development of North Eastern States under the Central Sector Scheme of Government inter-alia include

• Greenfield Airports: new Greenfield Airport at Holongi, Arunachal Pradesh; Dibrugarh Airport in Assam; Imphal Airport in Manipur; Barapani Airport in Meghalaya;
• Rail connectivity: New Rail line in Assam such as Sibsagar – Jorhat (62 Km); Salona- Khumtai (99Km); Tezpur- Silghat (25 Km); Mahisasan (India)- Zero Point (Bangladesh) New Line (3 Km); Doubling Rail line in Assam such as Saraighat Bridge doubling line (7 Km); Kamakhya-New Guwahati Quadruppling (21 Km); Doubling of Lumding- Tinsukia Jn-Dibrugarh (381 Km);
• Connectivity: Bharat Net and Wi-Fi Connectivity for Village Panchayats in North Eastern Region;
• Development of National Waterway-2 (River Brahmaputra, 891 Km) Sadia to Bangladesh Border and National Waterway-16 (River Barak, 121 Km) Bhanga-Lakhipur Stretch Including Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route;
• Indradhanush Gas Grid Project covering all North Eastern Region States; https://www.aspireias.com/daily-news-analysis-current-affairs/Northeast-Gas-Grid
• Bio-Refinery Plant, Numaligarh, Assam;
• AIIMS at Guwahati;
• North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) in six North Eastern Region States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura and Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening Transmission and Distribution System in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
• Ministry of DoNER has commissioned the Sector Specific, State-specific holistic development plans in sectors like (a) Bamboo (b) Oil Palm (c) Horticulture (d) Handicrafts and Handlooms.
• The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, through its schemes of Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), schemes of North Eastern Council (NEC), North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) has also taken steps to bridge the social and physical infrastructure gaps in North Eastern Region (NER).
• North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFi) under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) set up the North East Venture Fund (NEVF) in September 2017, with a view to encouraging entrepreneurs and Start-ups in North Eastern Region. The prime focus of the fund is to act as an enabler to stimulate enterprise building in the North Eastern Region and thereby contributing towards creation of the ecosystem required for nurturing and developing enterprises in the North Eastern Region.

Protection of Culture and Tradition of North-East

• To protect and promote the rich and diverse traditions and culture of NE Region, the Government of India has set up North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) at Dimapur and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) at Kolkata (autonomous organizations under the Ministry of Culture).
• In addition, there is one autonomous organization namely the Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies, Dahung (Arunachal Pradesh) and the following three grantee bodies located in the North Eastern States which are engaged in preserving and promoting folk art and culture of the NE Region:
• Centre for Buddhist Studies, Tawang Monastery, Arunachal Pradesh;
• Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok; and
• GRL Monastic School, Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh.
• As per North Eastern Council (NEC) General Guidelines 2020, the promotion of the North Eastern Region (NER) is one of the focus sectors under ‘Schemes of NEC’. Projects relating to the art and culture of the region are supported under the scheme. During the last five years, 10 projects costing Rs.36.40 crore and three tribal festivals costing Rs.0.34 crore were sanctioned under the scheme.
• NEC has been supporting various festivals organised by State Governments of NER and NGOs including state festivals like Sangai Festival (Manipur), Behdienkhlam Festival (Meghalaya), Hornbill Festival (Nagaland) etc. across the region to ensure greater participation of the people from various parts of the country, promote tourism as well as enhance cultural connection with other parts of the country.
• OCTAVE is a festival of the North East that is organized by all Zonal Cultural Centres to promote a folk culture of the North Eastern States and connect these States with the rest of India.