Economy / Northeast

ITANAGAR, March 1: Centre has given special attention for the development and promotion of tourism in Northeastern region to solve the unemployment problems, according to Director General of Tourism, Atul Sinha, reports UNI. Talking to newspersons at Roing, in Dibang valley district of Arunachal Pradesh recently, Sinha said "Brahmaputra Darshan festival" was organised for this purpose. "Tourism sector will not only generate employment opportunities to the educated youths of the region, it will also boost the economy of the region," he commented. Sinha said infrastructure was the real...

GUWAHATI, February 28: Although the Union budget 2001-2002 has been widely hailed by the industry and commerce sector in the State, the Federation of Indian Industries and Commerce of Northeastern Region (FINER) has expressed its disappointment that the budget has failed to address the demand of removing of locational restrictions existing in the Northeast industrial policy. The FINER, however, termed the budget as a whole as "positive and growth oriented" and a reflection of the Government's pro-active attitude towards economic reforms. The FINER president SK Jain said the Finance Minister...

NEW DELHI, February 28: The Union Budget has gone the Railway Budget's way with the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha also turning a cold eye towards the north eastern region. The general Budget 2001-02 may prove to be just as hard hitting on the region as Mamata Banerjee's Budget, as barring a few concessions here and there, Sinha took no extra care to bail out the financially-starved Northeastern States from the ongoing financial mess. The only redeeming feature was that almost all central ministries have separately earmarked 10 per cent of their budgetary allocations for the region, a rule...

SILCHAR, February 27: The Centre is often accused of neglecting the Northeast and even of being discriminatory in releasing of funds for development projects. But, according to a document of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Northeast States are themselves to blame for creating logjam on utilization of huge Central funds due mainly to their slipshod approach, non-submission of proposals and non-adherence to financial norms. During 1999-2000, Assam was granted Rs 3606.83 lakh for rural development schemes including three special muga, eri silk and mushroom projects. Assam could utilise a meagre 10...

GUWAHATI, February 22: Captains of the industry have underlined the need for the removal of ground-level obstacles and impediments in the Northeast before expecting huge investment in the region. Speaking at the international conference on "Business opportunities in Northeast India-Guwahati Initiative," president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Chirayu R. Amin said a number of ground-level realities like land use policies, labour mobility and lack of market integration have to be addressed in the region before expecting huge investment. The two-day...

GUWAHATI, February 22: Former Lok Sabha Speaker, PA Sangma today said the Central Government and the people from the industry should realise that development was the pre-condition for restoration of peace in insurgency-ravaged Northeast region. Speaking as a special guest at the inauguration on two-day 'Guwahati Initiative' - an international conference on business opportunities in the Northeastern region organised jointly by the FINER and the FICCI with support from the NEC and the State Government - here this afternoon, Sangma said large-scale unemployment in this under developed region had...

NEW DELHI, February 19: The Northeastern States were slammed by the President, KR Narayanan for leakage of development funds, even as he hinted at against any truce offer for the underground outfits by calling for firm action against the militants. The President's address may come as a major embarrassment to the Northeastern States as question marks were put on their track record of utilisation of public funds. The President's critical remarks were in fact a reflection of the Centre's hardboiled attitude towards the erring states on this score. "Substantial developmental resources flow into...

NEW DELHI, February 18: As economic and strategic factors take precedence over political consideration in the India-Myanmar relationship, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has mooted the idea of allowing trading in goods of third country across the border points in the Northeastern States with Myanmar. This along with the proposal to allow cross-border movement of people, besides gearing up infrastructure facilities like setting up banking and communication facilities are being suggested to revive the dwindling border trading through the Moreh-Tamu border. Suddenly, a lot appears to be at...

GUWAHATI, February 17: The Central Government should take up capital projects in developing infrastructures like roads, power generation and irrigation system, rather than concentrating on spoon-feeding through long term incentives, for the sustainable development of the NE region, said business economist Gautam Prasad Barua. Barua, a former Corporate Vice-President of Williamson Magor and at present the Banking Ombudsman for NE Region, while talking to The Assam Tribune, said, when asked as to what measures he would suggest for inclusion in the Central Budget being placed in the Parliament a...

YANGON, February 15: In keeping with the changing perception in their relationship, India and Myanmar have identified at least five points in the Northeastern states of Mizoram and Nagaland for opening of border trade with the neigh-bouring country. The issue of opening of more border trading points in the economically backward NE states and North Western Myanmar received the green signal at a meeting between visiting External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Senior General Than Shwe here this morning. Indian officials revealed that...