Economy / Northeast

GUWAHATI, March 6 ? US Ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill today said that for facilitating a condition for foreign investment in the North East region of India a political solution to the region?s insurgency problem is a must. Blackwill, who is on a hectic tour of the NE region, said that though the region has immense potential for economic development, particularly in the agriculture, handicrafts and tourism sectors, impediments like insurgency, remote location and lack of infrastructure, are standing on the way of its attaining prosperity. The factor of insurgency-related violence is...

NEW DELHI, March 4 ? In a development that may have an adverse impact on industrial development of the North East, the Union Finance Ministry has rejected the demand for removing the locational restrictions introduced in the special industrial policy drawn up for the region. The plea for removal of the locational restrictions was made by the Federation of Industries and Commerce of the North Eastern Region (FINER) in a memorandum to the Central Government.

According to Finance Ministry sources, the demand has not been accepted by the Ministry and the restrictions would continue. The apparent...

NEW DELHI, Feb 28 — The Union Budget is unlikely to bring immediate relief to the fund-starved north-eastern States despite an enhanced Central plan allocation of Rs 5,016 crore, even as Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha sought to bail out the oil and tea sectors by continuing with subsidies to North-east-based refineries and a hike in customs duty on tea. Although the Union Budget for the year held no new surprises for the region, the Union Finance Minister ensured adequate Central funds for pending projects. The total allocation for the Department of Development of North-Eastern Region...

GUWAHATI, Feb 28 — The Union Budget presented by the Union Finance Minister Sri Yashwant Sinha carries a few measures which are relevant to the North East. Some of these are directly relevant and the others are indirectly so. Take the directly relevant ones first. The budget provides for the continuation of subsidies to the refineries in the North East on a national basis. Now that the administered price mechanism (APM) for oil is going to be dismantled from April 1, 2002, making the oil prices market centric, this proposal should come as a relief measure to the refineries. Moreover, excise...

GUWAHATI, Feb 27 — All the airports in the north eastern region are suffering heavy losses as none of these is running in its full capacity and to aggravate matters, a number of airports remained closed for years. The Regional Executive Director of Airports Authority of India (AAI), Sri Srikrishan told The Assam Tribune that the revenue earned by AAI can be broadly divided into two heads – traffic revenue and non-traffic revenue. The traffic revenue includes the fees received from the airline companies on account of navigational aids, landing fees, parking charge etc, while the non-traffic...

SHILLONG, Feb 15 – While the most common refrain of the North Eastern Chief Ministers is that there is no fund for development, hundreds of crores of rupees earmarked for rural development go begging in the North East for want of utilisation. Take the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) of the Union Ministry of Rural Development. Against the All India average release of over 57 per cent, releases in the case of the NE States, with the exception of Sikkim and Tripura, are far below this average. While Sikkim tops in NE with 100 per cent release, Nagaland is at the bottom with barely 26 per cent.

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GUWAHATI, Feb 11 – Opening up of all the trade routes with the neighbouring countries, particularly reopening of the Stilwell Road was the main thrust of the presentation of the Minister of State for Home and Industries, Sri Pradyut Bordoloi in the South East Asia trade conference held at Dhaka recently under the Kunming Initiative. In his speech in the inaugural session of the conference, Sri Bordoloi said that along with the Moreh-Tamu-Kalmeyo road, stress should be given on reopening of the Stilwell Road connecting Ledo in Assam to Kunming in China, covering vast areas of Myanmar to boost...

SHILLONG, Feb 10 — For the first time in the past several years, the declining trend in the credit-deposit ratio in the North-eastern states appear to have been checked following the initiative launched by the Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in October last year. Sinha had promised at the North-eastern Chief Ministers conference here on October 19 last year that the CD ratio in the region would be improved from 30 per cent to the level of national average of 60 per cent in these years.

As part of the initiative, Sinha had announced that additional credit of Rs 1500 crore would be...

SHILLONG, Feb 9 — The Chief Ministers of the north-eastern States today strongly urged the Centre to open up the trade routes with neighbouring Bangla-desh and Myanmar to boost the sagging economies of the States. Speaking at the meeting of the Chief Ministers convened by the Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) here, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his Tripura and Nagaland counterparts Manik Sarkar and SC Jamir highlighted the acute funds crunch faced by the States in the region and the need for expanding trade with the neighbours as a solution to the problem...

NEW DELHI, Feb 6 — Even as the amended North Eastern Council (NEC) Bill is pending clearance in the Parliament, the agency has sought an enhanced role for itself in the region seeking stiff hike in allocation of Rs 6,075 crore for 10th Five Year Plan period. The revised allocation for the Ninth Five year plan was fixed at Rs 2,450 crore. The NEC’s plan projections for the 10th Five Year Plan would be finalised at the 46th meeting of the Council scheduled to be held in Shillong on February 8. The meeting would be followed by a conference of Chief Ministers of the North Eastern States including...