Economy / Northeast

GUWAHATI, Feb 4 ? Contrary to the ruling BJP?s ?India shining? slogan, the North Eastern region is left with no other option but to dim with the Central Government resorting to drastic cut of annual plan outlay of North Eastern Council (NEC) for the fiscal 2003-04 and 2004-05. With the annual plan of the NEC getting pruned all the NEC funded 10 th Plan period projects in the region will be severely affected.

Sensing the trouble ahead, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar have dashed protest letters to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urging him to use...

Guwahati, Feb. 4: Three chief ministers have sought an emergent meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) to discuss the adverse fallout of the finance ministry?s decision to prune the council?s budgetary allocation for 2003-04 by nearly Rs 420 crore.

The three chief ministers ? Tarun Gogoi of Assam, Manik Sarkar of Tripura and Zoramthanga of Mizoram ? have also dashed off letters to the Prime Minister for restoration of the outlay of Rs 750 crore, which was originally recommended by the planning commission.

Assam minister of state for planning and development Himanta Biswa Sarma today said...

NEW DELHI, Feb 3 ? The north-eastern region has little to cheer about the interim Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh here today, as the only concession aimed at benefitting the region was a package envisaged to bail out the ailing tea industry.

Assam and other States in the region have again been over-looked as far as setting up of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) pattern institutes are concerned. Extending the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), the Finance Minister announced that one medical college each in Andhra Pradesh, Jammu &...

Silchar, Jan. 28: Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga will inaugurate the region?s second border trade centre at Zokhawthar on the state?s border with Myanmar on Friday. Official sources at Aizawl said the centre would facilitate extensive trade in goods produced in India and Myanmar.

Minimum tariff would be slapped on the indigenous industrial and agricultural products to boost trade and curb cross-border smuggling, a source said.

The first trade centre at Moreh on the Manipur-Myanmar border was commissioned in 1995 following the signing of a protocol by the two countries.

Zokhawthar, a...

Guwahati, Jan. 18: India is shining ? at least the ads say so ? and the Northeast does not want to miss the opportunity to bask in its glow.

In a prelude to the second Northeast business summit at New Delhi?s Vigyan Bhavan from Tuesday, the region?s oldest chamber of commerce has suggested a slew of measures to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to remove the ?economic disparity? between the seven states and the rest of the country.

The Prime Minister will inaugurate the summit, which will be attended by the chief ministers of the Northeast and corporate leaders.

The summit has been...

SHILLONG, Dec 30 ? Barring Manipur (38.96 per cent) and Nagaland (30.59 per cent), in all other States of the north-eastern region, the proportion of gross irrigated area as percentage of gross cropped area various from nearly eight per cent to 18 per cent, which is much less than that of the national average. In light of this, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, has recently taken initiative to make ?Rainwater harvesting? a popular technology in the region.

The North East, in fact the entire country has a ?millennia tradition? of rainwater harvesting, this was pointed...

Guwahati, Dec. 13: The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi) has signed a memorandum of understanding with financial service provider Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Service Limited (IL&FS) for joint initiatives in project development, project financing and corporate financing in different sectors in the Northeast.

The MoU was signed last night in the city in presence of Assam governor Lt Gen. (retd) Ajai Singh. Chairman and managing director of NEDFi J.P. Saikia along with Ravi Parthasarthy, vice-chairman and managing director of IL&FS, executive director Hari...

GUWAHATI, Dec 12 ? North East Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Prabasi Asomiya Sanmilan is organising an interaction summit with the NRI?s from Assam at Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, here from January 17 to 18, stated a release.

The main objective of the summit is to provide a platform for an interaface between the residents of the State and the non-residents who either stay in any other part of the country or in foreign land.

Meanwhile, the non-resident has a very important role to play. His intervention may be either in the form of investible funds...

GUWAHATI, Dec 13 ? With an objective to pave way for private investment in infrastructure sector in this region the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi) has signed an MoU with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFS). Governor of Assam Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh attended the MoU signing ceremony between the NEDFi and ILFS which is expected to revolutionise development of infrastructure sectors like power, roads, telecom, water supply, sewerage, industrial estates etc in this investment-deficient region through ?private public partnership? mechanism.

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KOHIMA, May 19?The Centre has created an ?Export Development Fund (EPF)? with an aim to boost trade from the north-eastern region under the prime minister?s package of new initiative for the north-east, reports PTI. An official release received here said the development of trade and exports in the region, which borders countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar, has been given priority by the Centre after the announcement of the specific set of measures under the ?PM?s action plan for the north-east? in January 2000.

The Centre has so far sanctioned Rs 7.95 crore for 21 projects...