North East development plans on in full swing as RSS eyes 2016 assembly polls

GUWAHATI: The RSS-backed Northeast Policy Initiative (NPI) has started off in a whirlwind fashion. With an eye on the 2016 assembly polls in Assam, the NPI has already embarked on the process of implementing the economic agenda for all the eight states of the region and started interacting with different ministries.

That it is hell-bent on results is clear from the signal given that the NPI action plan will get ready in the next 10 days, identifying each work area and according them suitable priority.

Talking to ET, BJP’s national security cell convener and secretary general of NPI, P Chandrasekhar Rao said : "We have started meeting different ministers of the Modi council of ministers. Our intervention will be in three broad based areas, namely human resource development, law and order and infrastructure development." "We will engage domain experts and take their suggestions so that the policies can be framed suitably for the region" he said.

Sarbananda Sonowal is being given the charge as minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship and sports and youth affairs (Independent Charge), while Kiren Rijiju as MoS home, will take care of HRD and law&order in the region. Both ministers are from the northeast.

Rao said that retd Gen V.K Singh will unleash the development of the region through DONER. "We will seek the advise of the road transport and highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari’s to improve the connectivity woes of the northeast" he said.

The NPI also expects to start the process of drafting of a long term blueprint for the economic development of the economically backward regions of the northeast and integrate this region with the rest of southeast Asian countries.