Introduction

Eastern and North Eastern Region council focuses on overall development of the economy of eastern and north eastern part of the India. The council regularly engages with the policy makers, makes relevant studies, recommendations, arrange conferences with the objective to bring the issues on the table, analyzes the performances of various facades of the government/industry and suggests the way forward. The objective of the council is to strengthen the economy of Eastern India through effective participation of the private sector in the development foray.

The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region is responsible for the matters relating to the planning, execution and monitoring of development schemes and projects in the North Eastern Region. Its vision is to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the Region so that it may enjoy growth parity with the rest of the country.

The Eastern and North Eastern Region Development Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region which consists of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The Eastern and North Eastern Region Development Council was constituted by an Act of Parliament.The constitution of the Council has marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned endeavour for the rapid development of the Region. Over the last few years, CCI India has been instrumental in setting in motion a new economic endeavour aimed at removing the basic handicaps that stood in the way of normal development of the region and has ushered in an era of new hope in this backward area full of great potentialities.

The North Eastern Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region which consists of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The North Eastern Council was constituted in 1971 by an Act of Parliament. The constitution of the Council has marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned Endeavour for the rapid development of the Region. Over the last thirty five years, NEC has been instrumental in setting in motion a new economic endeavor aimed at removing the basic handicaps that stood in the way of normal development of the region and has ushered in an era of new hope in this backward area full of great potentialities.

The North Eastern Council which was created to complement and supplement the developmental efforts of the States has already contributed immensely in terms of institution building, transport and communication, power generation and transmission and creation of different kinds of infrastructural facilities with a view to positioning the States to launch themselves into a self-sustaining growth trajectory. However, a lot remains to be done since the gap between the NE States and other States of the country keeps on getting widened. Through its Regional Plan, NEC has attempted to identify thrust areas as well as critical gaps for taking up as many development initiatives as possible within its given annual budgetary allocation. In the Regional Plan, a Sector-wise outline of development plans and projects along with requirement of resources has been made for the coming three years with a view to accelerating the pace of development in the Region.

Historically, the states of North East India had been organized mainly on linguistic basis and political exigency emanating from much diversity in ethnicity, culture and levels of development. Hence, they were not economically viable and had to depend heavily on the Central Government for financial assistance, especially Plan assistance, which continued to be given on a 90:10 basis, i.e. 90% central assistance while the States themselves raise only 10% of the budget. The States are thus known as Special Category States. Even after more than four decades of their existence, these States continue to be in the backwaters of economic development and still need a great deal of concerted effort to bring them at par with the more developed States of the country.

The North Eastern Council which was created to complement and supplement the developmental efforts of the States has already contributed immensely in terms of institution building, transport and communication, power generation and transmission and creation of different kinds of infrastructural facilities with a view to positioning the States to launch themselves into a self-sustaining growth trajectory. However, a lot remains to be done since the gap between the NE States and other States of the country keeps on getting widened. Hence, the NEC Secretariat has been trying to identify thrust areas as well as critical gaps for taking up as many development initiatives as possible within its given annual budgetary allocation.