All India Radio
OPPORTUNITIES of NORTH EAST- DESTINATION NORTHEAST
Recently Destination Northeast was organised by the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) and Ministry of Culture, the festival showcased the inherent economic, social and cultural strength of the North East Region (NER) at the national level. The three-day mega event included theme specific Business Summit consisting of sectors like Tourism, Agriculture, Food Processing, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, IT, Handloom & Handicrafts, Livelihood, Micro-Finance and Start ups. Destination North East aims to bring the rest of India closer to North East states.
The programme has come at a right time to highlight the culture and tradition of Northeast as each north eastern state are unique in nature, it is necessary to highlight these traditions at national level as most of the people in India do not know about these cultures.
Northeast has been hit by insurgency due to Economic deprivation of people who are in the region; there is a need for greater economic cooperation between GOI and north-eastern states in ensuring that there is an effective implementation of government programmes and schemes. It is also necessary to have cordial economic relations with neighbouring states as 98% of northeast has borders with neighbouring countries like china Bangladesh and Myanmar.
On the connectivity front government is taking active steps to ensure last mile connectivity via rail, road, and also through inland water ways, for example an effort is being made to connect Mizoram from Chittagong side through waterways, Manipur through establishment of railways etc
A comprehensive Telecom connectivity plan to cover 2G network across highways in north eastern states is being implemented at the cost of 5000 crores. With proper connectivity northeast is poised to gain heavily in terms of tourism and other related economic activities for people in the region.
The summit also underlined the potential of northeast people in hospitality sector as North East region has one of the highest literacy rates in India. The fluency in English and their unique food tradition and culture definitely help the youth of the regions to have edge over other section of young population of India. The government should ensure effective measures are taken in this regard and bore fruits to north-eastern people
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