NEW DELHI, Dec 7? The revamped North Eastern Council (NEC) is going to have the Minister, Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), as its chairman, even as the NEC is all set to activate its role as a security agency.
Divulging this in a statement on revitalisation of the NEC tabled in both the Houses of Parliament, Minister DoNER, PR Kyndiah said that his Ministry has examined the report of the expert committee in consultations with ministries and departments concerned. The Government of India, has by and large, accepted the recommendations of the committee.
The Government has accepted the recommendation relating to nomination of the minister, DoNER, as chairman, NEC. Similarly, the recommendation relating to nomination of three members of NEC, has also been accepted. It has also been decided to nominate Member (North-east), Planning Commission as one of the members of NEC, he disclosed. The nomination of the remaining two members would be based on experience of NER and expertise in socio-economic planning.
The nominated members would be given the same status, terms and emoluments as are being enjoyed by the members of Planning Commission, he further added. By accepting the recommendation to nominate the Minister of DoNER as the NEC chairman, the Centre has sought to limit the role of the Governors in the NEC. Until now Governors of the NE States were taking turns in chairing the NEC. The current chairman of the NEC is Assam Governor, Lt General (retd), Ajai Singh.
The expert committee?s recommendations relate to the organisational and functional restructuring of the NEC secretariat, setting up of sectoral empowered committee, measures for regional planning for sustainable growth and development, financing of regional plan from Gross Budgetary Support in place of the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), measures for implementation of the regional plan, monitoring and evaluation of development projects, role of NEC in border trade and operationalising NEC?s mandate relating to security and public order.
The Minister DoNER?s move in activating its role on the security front would be interesting to watch given the aversion of the north-eastern states to the council donning the mantle of a super cop in the region. The states have so far stalled such a move, as they feel that NEC mandate is to function as a regional planning agency concerned with development projects.
The fact that the NEC Act has mandated the council to review the measures taken by north-eastern states for the maintenance of security and public order and make necessary recommendations to the States, has not really gone down well with the state governments.
But Kyndiah today said that the decision taken by government would go a long way in restructuring and strengthening NEC to enable it to play its role more effectively as a catalyst in the process of sustained economic growth and development of the NER.
The NEC Act as amended in 2002 provided that NEC would function as the regional planning body for the region and would formulate specific projects and schemes, which would benefit two or more states. In addition, the NEC would review the implementation of projects and schemes and recommend measures for effecting coordination in the matter of implementation of such projects and schemes.
In July last year, the Union Cabinet listed revitalisation of NEC as a priority item for the year and directed Ministry, DoNER to draw up a time-bound Action Plan. An 11-member committee was constituted to recommend measures to operationalise the revised mandate and to revitalise it. The committee submitted its report to the government in July.