THE NORTH EAST TOWARDS A COORDINATED MARCH VIS-À-VIS VISION 2020 (I) By S. Kunjabihari Singh, IAS (Retd.) A conglomeration of over 470 ethnic groups and subgroups and speaking over 400 languages and dialects, the North eastern Region (NER), comprising the 8 constituent states remain a distinct frontier entity, distinct socio-culturally and economically. A tiny part of the country, the NER occupies just about 8% area of the mainland, with a population of less than 4% of total country’s population. Historical and geographical factors apart, the region has remained isolated, truncated from mainland and is at crossroads today despite having associated with mainstream after independence, for over 6 decades of planned development effort. Before partition, the region was a natural extension of the mainland; people naturally enjoyed uninterrupted free flow to parts of undivided Bengal for trade and commerce. The partition following independence, created a void in the process, with the region practically cut off from the mainland except for the narrow corridor of 27 km in Siliguri of West Bengal often nicknamed the chicken-neck-corridor. It is generally claimed that post Indo-Pak war of 1965 developments resulted to severe limitations to economic mobility in the region. B.G.Vergese, a noted politico-economic writer of the region, observes, “Partition put back the economy of the region by a quarter-century, as it lost its markets, transit routes and arteries of communication…”. It is through this portion that the NER has now compressed connectivity worth its name, be they, rail or road, with the rest of the country; waterways hitherto in use for trade and commerce had since vanished. With each passing day, the region felt deprived, alienated, used to be kind of more marginalized, the region often touching the borderline of discrimination and neglect. The NER Vision 2020, sums up, Ät Independence, the NER was among the most prosperous regions of India. 60 years on, the region as a whole, and the states that comprise it, are lagging far behind the rest of the country in most important parameters of growth”. Though, the attribute, “among the most prosperous regions”, could smell traces of over-patriotism and appeasement and perhaps require some soul searching, generally speaking, the basic point about the region has been aptly made. manipurtimes/news-article/the-peoples-chronicle-article/item/833
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:43:38 +0000
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