NITI Forum for Northeast outlines 5 development missions

The first meeting of the newly constituted NITI Forum for Northeast was held in Agartala, Tripura. It was was organised by NITI Aayog and Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER) and North Eastern Council (NEC). It was co-chaired by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajeev Kumar and Minister of State (Independent Charge), for DoNER, Jitendra Singh. Representatives of all eight member northeastern states Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura participated in it.

Key Highlights of meeting

5 development missions: They were outlined for promoting sectors like horticulture, tourism and food processing in the region. Other missions will cover bamboo-based handicrafts and medium scale industries with focus on ‘Make in North-East’.
HIRA Development Concept: The focus of development projects in region will be based on the concept of “HIRA” which stands for Highways, Internet ways, Railways and Airways. There will be also emphasis on education, health and skill development in the region.

NITI Forum for North East

It was constituted in February 2018 with an aim to ensure sustainable economic growth of North Eastern Region (NER) and periodically review the development status in NER. It has its Secretariat in the Ministry of DoNER.
Representation: The forum is co-chaired by Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Minister of DoNER. It includes representation from all NER States, their Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of relevant Central Ministries and Departments, Directors of reputed institutions (IIT, IIM etc), experts and journalists are included as members.
Mandate: The forum is tasked to identify various constraints on way of accelerated, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in NER of country. It will also recommend suitable interventions for addressing identified constraints. It will also review development status in the NER.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2018