Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) released a report titled ‘PURVODAYA: Fulfilling the Aspirations of the Ashtalakshmi States’ analyzing the Growth and Development of the Northeastern States in the last Nine years of the NDA government in Guwahati.
The report provided an overview of the remarkable progress and growth witnessed in various sectors in the north-east region.
Moreover, the report emphasized the NDA government's commitment to improving the quality of life for its residents by improving the connectivity, infrastructure, law & order and welfare schemes. Since 2014, the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government has been working on the principle of “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas aur sabka prayas” and ensuring that the development reaches the last person in the region.
The Law & Order situation has also improved in the region after 2014. The central government under the leadership of PM Modi has taken proactive measures to resolve the decades-long disputes between various groups and between the states in the north-east region. Many pending disputes have been permanently resolved because of the efforts of the Modi government which has given a push to integration and trust and has paved the way forward for long-term peace and progress. Many boundary agreements and peace accords have been signed such as the Assam-Meghalaya Inter-State Boundary Agreement, Karbi Anglong Agreement, Bodo Accord, Bru-Reang Agreement and National Liberation Front of Tripura Agreement. Because of the efforts by the Modi government, the cases of illegal incidents have also come down to 158 incidents in 2022 from 824 incidents in 2014, the report claimed.
It also stated that the Union Government led by PM Modi focused on rapid and holistic development of the north-east region and he has visited the region more than 50 times since 2014.
“Today, the connectivity and infrastructure development in the north-east region has been transformed in terms of Roads, Railways and Airways. There has been significant growth in the budget for infrastructure development in the region, for instance, the average annual budget allocation for the railway sector is Rs. 9,970 crores which is 370% higher than the allocation of Rs. 2122 crores between 2009-2014,” the report reads.
The report also analyzed how the Indian Government under PM Modi is also working with its neighbouring countries in the Southeast, commonly called ASEAN countries for the speeding up of regional connectivity projects, including the trilateral highway with Myanmar and Thailand which will connect Manipur to Thailand via road and the Kaladan multimodal transit transport project, linking Aizawl in Mizoram to Sittwe Port in Myanmar which was recently started on May 5, 2023.
“Today, because of the seamless connectivity to the north-east from the rest of India, the number of tourists has been on rising. Over 1.18 crore domestic and 1.04 lakh foreign travellers visited the region during the year 2022. The Modi government is providing all the necessary infrastructural and policy support to tap this leverage. The north-east region is a leader in organic farming as an area of 6.69% of the farming land is certified under organic farming. Under the Mission of Organic Value Chain Development for the north-east region as Sikkim is India’s first fully organic state. A total of 1.77 lakh hectares of land is now covered under Mission Organic Value Chain Development. A total of 170 Farm Producers Organisations (FPOs), Farm Producers Communities (FPCs) and Clusters have been created in the region and 1.53 lakh farmers and 1.5 lakh hectares of farm area have been covered. A total of 141 post-harvest handling and processing units have been created. The region witnessed an 85.34% growth in the export of agricultural products from 2016 as it increased from USD 2.52 million in 2016-17 to USD 17.2 million in 2021-22,” the report added.
It also highlighted that the major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe.
Over the past nine years, there has been a significant focus on enhancing the health infrastructure. The government has allocated a total of Rs. 31,793.86 crores since 2014-15 to improve the health sector in the region. Under Ayushman Bharat Mission, more than 5600 Healthcare and Wellness Centre has been opened in the region. Under PM Jan Arogya Yojana, more than 10.7 lakh hospital admissions have been authorized during the period of 2018-19 to 2021-22 in the north-east region playing a crucial role in providing financial support to the people. As of March 28, 2022, more than 27 lakh Health IDs (ABHA numbers) under the Ayushman Bharat-Digital Health Mission have been generated in the North-east region, the report stated.
Furthermore, from 2014 till now, the Modi government has spent Rs 14,009 crores to promote higher education in the north-east and 191 new institutes of higher education have been set up. There has been a 39% increase in the number of universities set up since 2014 and a 40% increase in central institutions of higher education set up since 2014-15.
