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 organised by the department for development of the northeastern region, headed by Union minister C.P. Thakur, in collaboration with the Indian Chamber of Commerce. The first Northeast business roadshow in Mumbai last year was touted as a ?grand success?.
Kamrup Chambers of Commerce (KCC) president Mahavir Jain said in a representation to Vajpayee that the gains from the first summit should not be frittered away.
Listing nine suggestions ?for consideration?, he said: ?In view of the forthcoming second Northeast business summit in New Delhi, we would like to suggest some measures. If implemented, these can bring about major changes in the industrial scenario of the region.?
Jain identified unemployment as the main reason for the growth of insurgency in the region.
?Unemployment has influenced the youth of the region into straying from the mainstream and picking up the gun to wage an unjustified war against the nation.?
The KCC chief said tourism and healthcare should be given ?industry status? and the tea industry bailed out of the worst crisis in its history. ?A special package should be worked out for the revival of the tea industry.?
He suggested that the interest liabilities of sick tea units be written off apart from being exempted from the purview of the compulsory 25 per cent expansion rule. ?Waiver of agriculture income tax, incentives for re-plantation and steps to increase productivity are the need of the hour.?
Jain said concessions given to other industries should be extended to the tea sector and foodgrain should be provided at subsidised rates to garden labourers.
The KCC president made a case for reimbursement of excise duty on raw material and extension of excise exemption to the whole of the Northeast instead of select areas.