8th January 2009
57th Plenary Meeting of the North Eastern Council was held today which was presided by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region and Chairman, North Eastern Council. Shri. Aiyar welcomed the Members from eight States to the 57th Plenary Meeting of Council. The meeting began with confirmation of the proceeding of the 56th Meeting of the NEC and of the Action Taken Report of that meeting. Thereafter the Governors of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura spoke. This was followed by the Chief Ministers of these States giving their presentation excepting the Chief Minister of Manipur.
The Chief Minister, Dr. Pawan Chamling began his address by inviting one and all those present at the Plenary meeting of the Council to the Sikkim Festival being held on 10th and 11th January 2009 at the Garden of Five Senses, New Delhi. He reminded everyone that Sikkim through the latest entrant was firmly integrated in the NEC fraternity. The State with its socio- cultural diversity possessing rich nature with flora and fauna has much to offer in eco-tourism, adventure tourism, Hydel power generation, floriculture, hospitality service, agro-based industries and eco-friendly clean industrial sectors. Dr. Chamling spoke on the adoption of organic farming by State to become a totally organic state by 2015 and sought for support of NEC in this area as well as in big cardamom, mandarin orange, passion fruit, tea and ginger for marketing support so that the people of Sikkim could get competitive price for their produce. The Chief Minister spoke at length about the effort of the Government in the empowerment of women and that of the village people in the sustainable management of local resources for overall development of the State. Dr. Chamling drew the attention towards the locational disadvantage of the State with hundred percent dependency on the national Highway 31A wherein the support of the NEC for taking up Sikkim’s case for completing the upgradation of this only link with the Country, early completion of Airport at Pakyong and construction of an alternative road to NH 31A as well as upgradation of the road from Gangtok to Nathula vigorously with the Government of India on behalf of Sikkim. Sikkim would well become a model state in the Country with its objectives and targets fulfilled if viable communication links are always assured. Dr. Chamling aptly reflected on the observation of the Hon’ble Prime Minister that the sun must shine and that too shine brightly in the North East for realizing the Vision 2020.
In the area of capacity building, Sikkim had taken the lead not only in the North East but in the entire Country by setting up a Directorate of Capacity Building for sending the educated unemployed youths for pilot training, IT training, training in Mass Communication, in the hospitality sector etc. In fact, by the next year, an Institute on Capacity Building would be set up in the State for developing a highly skilled work forces as these are critical in the development of each Sikkimese individual for the overall success of the Sikkimese society. Unless our youth are skilled and smart, only then they would then be able to fulfill their aspiration in the modern world where there is cut-throat competition. Dr. Chamling made a specific request to the Chairman, NEC for early sanction and release of funds as the time frame of the working period in the Hills is limited. Finally, the Chief Minister thanked Hon’ble Shri Aiyar for his proactive role in developing the North Eastern States. As per report received from Principal Secretary to HCM.
IPR News Service
IPR No 194/IPR/08-09
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