Yojana - April 2018 - Northeast region of India

 THE GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING OF NORTH EAST INDIA

Though it has been repeatedly held up as the gateway for India's Look East policy, the country's growth story has left the region behind. While the Northeast itself aspires to take advantage of India's increasing ties with East Asia, it is hardly in a position to do so. The Northeast India faces several problems, which have prevented it from developing at par with the rest of the country. To understand those problems better it is essential to look at the Geographical aspects of the Northeast region.

• North East India consists of eight states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Or in other words the 'Seven Sisters' (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura) + Sikkim

• North East is connected to the rest of the country through a narrow corridor, generally called the chicken neck, near Siliguri region. This makes Northeast India vulnerable to being cut-off from the rest of the country due to any natural or human induced disturbance.
• Northeast shares more land frontier with the foreign countries namely China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar than it does share with the Indian mainland.
• Only about thirty to thirty five percent of the area of North East is plain land, mostly in three valleys namely the Brahmaputra, the Barak and the Imphal Valleys. The rest is hilly/mountainous region. Such a terrain makes it difficult to develop productive infrastructure like Transport networks, Industry etc. in the region.
• The average annual rainfall in North east is more than two thousand five hundred millimeters (250 cms)
• Compared to the size of the Brahmaputra river, the valley is very narrow. Very high rainfall, big size of the river basins (the Brahmaputra and the Barak) and narrow valleys are regularly causing severe floods, erosion, landslides and sand deposition in the North East causing loss of huge areas of valuable agricultural land and reduction of the average size of land holdings in the region.
• Since the great earthquake (of intensity of 8.5 in Richter Scale) of 1950 in Assam, flood and erosion have increased in the state and till date about five to six thousand square kilometers of land have been lost due to erosion by rivers.
•  This has led to thousands of people getting displaced and in want of rehabilitation. Also, since river erosion is not covered under Natural Calamity, the people displaced by it do not qualify for state compensation.
• Resource wise the region is deficient in industrially useful metals like iron, aluminum, copper, zinc, tin, lead and nickel etc; and substances like mica and sulfur etc.
• The Coal reserves are of poor grade with high content of Sulphur and low content of Carbon.
• Even though the first oil well of Asia was dug up in Digboi Assam, the production of oil from the region remains low forming about 20-30 % of total oil production of India.
• Due to continuous migration from outside (from within India as well as other countries), the population of Northeast has grown at twice the rate of national growth rate of population in the past century. This has created demographic issues and ethnic conflicts in the region.
• Being located close to the Golden Triangle, the Northeast India is vulnerable to the drug trade also.
•  Being close to China, the northeast India is also vulnerable to Chinese aggression as was witnessed during the Sino-Indian war of 1962.

Therefore, these few geographical aspects of the Northeast region are somewhat responsible for the backwardness of this region.

Northeast - An economic perspective

The Northeast region of India is economically and socially somewhat backward as compared to the mainland. There are several factors responsible for this underdevelopment like Historical, Geographical, Cultural, Social etc. We attempt to identify those factors and analyse how they have been responsible for the underdevelopment of the Northeast region.
It is true that compared to the several of the Indian states, the Northeast has witnesses a tardy progress but there are several fronts on which the Northeast states rank higher than rest of the states

• Tripura and Mizoram are two of the country’s most highly literate states
• The Assam tea industry is the second largest commercial producer of tea, next only to China.
• The first ever oil well of Asia, is in Digboi of Assam.
• The impressive growth rate of 9.7 per cent of Meghalaya is higher than that of the fastest-growing big state, Madhya Pradesh at 9.5 per cent

However, despite these positive aspects, the Northeast region has largely lagged behind the rest of the country in terms of growth and development. The factors responsible are -

• Historical Factors - For the British, the Northeast was a storehouse of raw materials like Coal, oil, timber, tea etc. and these resources were extracted and exported to other parts of the country for exporting or to Britain directly. This region, however, did not get benefit from this process as the British did not set up processing and manufacturing units here, nor did they pay any attention towards the development of transport and communication facilities in the region.

With the partition of India, trading routes with rest of the world were closed which seriously damaged the economic and growth potential of the region.

• Geographical factors - The hills account for about 70 per cent area of NER and accommodate about 30 per cent of the population and the plains accounting for 30% of area are home to 70% of population. This skewed distribution puts large strain on land resources.

The region’s accessibility and transport links with the rest of India has always remained weak due to uneven topography & limited access through the Chicken’s Neck Corridor.

In addition, landslides and river erosion put considerable strain on the economy of Northeast regions.

• Poor Basic Infrastructure - One of the reasons for the economic backwardness of the North-Eastern states is the poor state of basic infrastructural facilities like roadways, waterways, energy and so on as well as social infrastructure like Health Facilities, Education, Drinking water supply etc.
• Constraints on Industrial Growth – With partition, the industrial prospects of Northeast suffered a setback, as its trade routes were cut-off from the rest of the country. This in turn hindered economic integration with the rest of the country and reduced the attractiveness of the region for outside investors.

Dearth of local capital has also prevented the industry of Northeast from growing.
Infrastructural bottlenecks have also crippled the industrial growth
The tea industry is the major industry and it is suffering due to –
o Old age of plantations thereby leading to reduced productivity
o Competition from other countries like Sri Lanka
o Land erosion in plantations
o Conflicts between owners and labour over remuneration and welfare benefits

• Backward Agriculture – Despite engaging 70% of the Northeast Population, the agriculture sector is able to produce only 1.5% of the total food grains of the country.

Agriculture techniques are traditional, use of modern inputs like HYVs, fertilizers is minimal, and hence productivity is low.

Jhum cultivation is not just low in productivity but is also responsible for large scale deforestation and soil erosion.

• Weak Natural Resource Base – Though there is Coal in the region, most of it is of poor grade having high Sulphur content and low calorific value.

There is oil but the reserves are of less quantity accounting for a very small proportion of total domestic production

The region is deficient in industrially useful metals like iron, aluminum, copper, zinc, tin, lead and nickel etc.

Mining is indiscriminate and unregulated thereby leading to wastage of precious mineral resources and land degradation

• Social Disorganization – There have been Social factors that have been responsible for economic backwardness of the region

o Poor education infrastructure that has led to poor development of Human capital
o Poor education has led to affluent families sending their children outside the region to big cities of India or abroad thereby leading to brain drain
o Substance addiction is another issue that has almost 30% of region’s youth under its grip. The proximity to Golden Triangle is a factor behind this.
o The pandemic of HIV/AIDS spreading fats in Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram is a matter of concern.
o The inter-tribal issues, the issues over tribal identities & rights also have the recipe to unsettle the social order and peace in the Northeast region

• Internal Security Issues – The presence of militant groups and the insurgency related activities carried out by them not only stall the pace of development activities, but also makes Northeast an unattractive destination for investors thereby further deepening the economic underdevelopment.

Steps Taken

Given the series of Social, Economic, Geographic and security related problems the Northeast region faces; the government has taken a series of steps for the development of the region. These are -

North East Council - With a view to give an undivided attention to the development of the region, in 1971, the Government of India set up the North Eastern Council. All the eight states are its members. With headquarters in Shillong, it functions under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MD0NER). The council, initially set up as an advisory body, now has been sanctioned as a regional planning body since 2002. They now discuss any matter in which the North Eastern States have a common interest and decide the action to be taken on any such matter.

MoDONER - The Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region established in September 2001, which functions as the nodal Department of the Central Government to deal with matters related to the socio-economic development of the eight States of NE, act as a facilitator between the Central Ministries/ Departments and the State Governments of the North Eastern Region in the matters of economic development including removal of infrastructural bottlenecks, provision of basic minimum services, creating an environment for private investment and removing the impediments to lasting peace and security in the region.

Various organisations/agencies under MoDONER –

o NEDFCL - The North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFCL) is a Public Limited Company providing assistance to micro, small, medium and large enterprises within the NER.

o NERAMAC – NERAMAC (North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation) was set up to support farmers/producers of north east getting remunerative prices for their produce and thereby bridge the gap between the farmers and the market and to enhance the agricultural, procurement, processing and marketing infrastructure of the Northeastern Region of India.

o SMC – Sikkim Mining Corporation, a state controlled unit under MoDONER to oversee the mining activities in Sikkim

o NEHHDC - North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation Ltd (NEHHDC), is a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry Of Development of North Eastern Region mandated for development and promotion of North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms. The Corporation has been spearheading various activities which relate to development, production, promotion and marketing viz., training and design development, skill up gradation, capacity building, awareness generation amongst artisans and weavers, R&D activities, marketing and exports. It has its own chain of retail outlets by the Brand name “Purbashree”, which is a one stop shop for various handloom and handicraft products of Northeast India.

NLCPR - During the Atal Bihari Vajpayee rule, the union ministries were mandated to spend 10% of their budget allocations for the development of North-Eastern region. However, in case the ministries failed to spend the said amount for north-east development purpose, those unspent funds would be diverted to a Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR).

The Ministry for Development of Northeastern Region allocates funds from the NLCPR to various Northeast states for infrastructure projects. Ministry of DoNER allocates funds under two schemes viz. NLCPR (State) and NLCPR-Central for which annual budgetary allocations are provided in the normal budgetary process.

Recent Steps taken –

o NLCPR has been extended till 2020

o For filling the gaps in physical and social infrastructure in the Northeast region, the Centre has approved North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme. The remarkable feature of this scheme is that this is a 100 per cent centrally funded scheme as against the NLCPR, where 10 per cent contribution had to come from the State Governments. The Government of India will be providing Rs 5300 crore to NE States under the Scheme over the next three years.

o Tuirial Hydro-power project is the first major Central Sector Project to be successfully commissioned in Mizoram. It will produce 251 Million Units of electrical energy every year and boost the socio-economic development of the State.

o With an objective to bring all the State Capitals of NE on the Rail Map, the union government will be investing another Rs 60,000 crore under Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in the North-East and Rs. 30,000 crore under Bharatmala in the next two to three years to build a network of high-ways and roads in the region.

o Proactively following the ‘Act East Policy', some of the major initiatives include the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project, the Rih-Tedim Road Project and Border Haats.

o The government is heavily investing in the development of eco-tourism in the region.

o Bamboo being an important resource of the region, the National Bamboo Mission has been launched in a restructured format to achieve following targets

? The scheme will benefit directly and indirectly the farmers as well as local artisans and associated personnels engaged in bamboo sector including associated industries.

? The Mission is expected to establish about 4000 treatment/ product development units and bring more than 100000 ha area under plantation.

? Bamboo plantation will contribute to optimizing farm productivity and income (doubling farmers’ income by 2022) thereby enhancing livelihood opportunities of small & marginal farmers including landless and women.

? It will provide quality material to industry.

? The mission will also be contributing towards climate resilience and environmental benefits.

? The Mission will also help in creating employment generation directly or indirectly in both skilled and unskilled segments.

o Under the UDAN scheme, the government is investing heavily to improve the aviation infrastructure and provide services to Northeast by reviving or constructing around 50 airports including the strategic ones like Pakyong in Sikkim, Tezu in Arunachal.

The latest event of Global Investors’ Summit in Guwahati held on February 3, 2018, displays the sincere approach of the Government towards bringing overall prosperity in the Northeast region by showcasing the investment potential of the region.

Way Ahead

Manjula Wadhwa, Asst. General Manager NABARD proposes a six-fold strategy for the comprehensive development of the Northeast Region –

• Empowering people by maximizing self-governance and participatory development through grass-root planning to promote inclusive development.
• Creation of development opportunities for the rural areas through enhancing productivity in agriculture and allied activities such as animal husbandry, horticulture, floriculture, fisheries and generation of livelihood options through rural non-farm employment.
• To develop sectors in the region having a comparative advantage such as agro-processing, hydropower generation.
• Enhancing the skills and competencies of the people and building the capacities for institutions within the Government and outside.
• Creating a hospitable investment climate to encourage investment by the private sector particularly for infrastructure.
• Harnessing the resources of the Government and the private sector to realize the objectives of the Vision.

Governance challenges in Northeast

North-East Region (NER) is one of the backward regions of India characterized by low per-capita income, lack of private investment, low capital formation, inadequate infrastructure facilities, geographical isolation, and inadequate exploitation of natural resources like minerals, hydro power potential, and forests. Its own tax collection and internal resources are quite meagre rendering the region dependent on central devolution.
Though government of India has to pay more attention to the north-east, one cannot escape from the harsh reality that the states too have to gear up their administration. Inclusive development must aim at economic growth with elimination of poverty, improvement in social indicators, and reduction in inequality as equally important goals, while ensuring at the same time that there is no damage to the environment.
However, translating these macro- policies into action in the northeast would need good governance and accountable administration, without which even the best policies and laws remain on paper only, or result in leakages. Unfortunately governance in the NER at the state and district levels is quite weak, manifesting itself in non- utilization of funds, lack of supervision, and poor outcomes. These are the key factors impinging on development and social indicators that need to be reckoned with.

Underutilization of Funds: Under NLCPR, all non-exempt Union Ministries are required to mandatorily earmark 10% of their Gross Budgetary Allocation (GBA) annually for the North Eastern Region. But there are certain governance related problems leading to underutilization of funds under NLCPR –

• Some projects do not receive funds on time
• Poor utilization capacity of states
• Short working season due to high rainfall
• States unable to expedite Land transfers and forest clearances
• Non submission of Fund utilisation certificates on time
• CAG highlighted that there is no community participation in the ‘Project Implementation Plan’
• Law and order situation

Poor Monitoring & Evaluation Systems - The data collected are not normally subjected to any regular checks. There is a failure of the departments in verification of their correctness and almost total absence of accountability procedures. For instance, according to the state governments the percentage of severely malnourished children in the north- eastern states is much less than I per cent, whereas independent verification by UNICEF in 2014 has reported a much higher figure varying from 3.5 per cent in Manipur to almost 16 per cent in Meghalaya and Tripura.

Absence of e-governance - A World Bank report on Assam observed in 2014 that there was absence of a comprehensive ICT Plan, and there was no common framework for service delivery, including a strong and supporting ICT infrastructure.
Similarly, the reviews on National Health Mission in Nagaland found that the state is yet to roll out any telemedicine or m-health initiatives.

So far, most of the states are yet to generate RCH (Reproductive and Child Health) registers and create a system of computerized record keeping and tracking of beneficiaries by ANMs.
Due to lack of computerization, there is backlog in payments of ASHAs.

Redundant Bureaucracy - The bureaucratic mix is highly skewed in favour of high number of group C and D staff and shortages continue in key sectors for frontline staff like doctors, teachers, judges, policemen etc. This not only distorts the functioning of government but also leads to high degree of Non-Plan expenditure.

Bandhs - The other problem peculiar to the NER is the culture of 'bandhs' (state closure) widely prevalent in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland that goes against the notion of individual rights (issued by armed groups who invariably represent only themselves). It is a stigma on the effectiveness of local governance structures, and is unconstitutional to say the least. 'Bandhs' in Assam have a rippling effect all over the Northeast as most basic commodities like rice, pulses, medicines, vegetables, poultry, etc., reach the other states via Assam either by road or by rail.

What needs to be done?

The Union Government should therefore reiterate its commitment to uphold the Constitutional provisions enshrined in Article 371 (Special Provisions with respect to certain states including the North-East States), expand the scope of the Sixth Schedule (concerning the tribal areas of the region), and empower the autonomous council institutions. Enhanced administrative and financial empowerment of these councils is likely to lead to a deeper sense of involvement of the people of these units, with their own socio-economic progress and programmes at the national level and improved overall developmental outcomes. The division or splitting up of the present Northeast states to satisfy local ethnic groups at the sub-state level is no solution. A solution, which satisfies some ethnic groups but leads to anxiety and apprehension among others who might be in harmony with the existing state structure, has to be avoided. History testifies to the fact that the sudden creation of a full-fledged, economically unviable, state like Nagaland in 1963, when Manipur with an earlier functioning princely state system was not simultaneously accorded full statehood, is perhaps the prime cause for Meitei groups in Manipur to turn towards insurgency.

Improvement in e-Governance is required to accomplish reform by fostering transparency, eliminating distance and other divides, and empowering people to participate. Good governance calls for probity, transparency and accountability.

Giving Momentum to skill development

In the past few years, North East has found much prominence in the governance paradigm of the country. The rebranding of North East as ‘New Engine in New India' is a testimony to the prominence that North East India holds today. The trajectory of Skill Development in the region does not betray this newfound focus in the region.

Skill development initiatives in Northeast India have received an impetus with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) giving thrust to several sectors to promote employment and entrepreneurship. The NSDC, a public-private partnership programme aimed at promoting skill development, has set a target of ensuring skill training of 2.46 lakh persons in the region for 2017-18.
The target and priority sectors is being decided on the basis of multiple economic indicators which include demographic factor of the working age population, skill-gap studies and the overall economic activities in the region.

The initiatives taken so far are –

• The Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has also announced the setting up of ‘Rural Skill Development Training Centres’ in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode across the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
• There is a target to build 4 new ITIs in Arunachal in the ongoing financial year
• A unique skill development university is being developed in the Arunachal Pradesh
• Country’s first ‘Home Stay Skill Development Program’ under PMKVY launched in Tawang. Homestay training has been launched for the first time in the country and about 200 women in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are being trained. The training will focus on developing entrepreneurial skills of women and provide a source of sustainable livelihood.
• A Skill Development department in Assam has also been set up recently to spearhead the success story of skill development in Assam. The Assam government has set itself an ambitious target of training 3 lakh new entrants in the next few years.
• Assam has been one of the first states in the country which has rolled out a unique 'Karaghor Pora Karighor Scheme' which is imparting skill development to jail inmates, for them to be able to contribute meaningfully when they return into mainstream society.
• Assam government has collaborated with companies like Cisco and Dabur to focus on sectoral skill development programmes.
• Vocational skill training courses have been initiated across 40 colleges in the state of Manipur. The government has also given special focus to imparting skill development to the tribal women as well as surrendered militants
• The Eduwork Japan Centre of Excellence opened its first Skill Development Centre in Sikkim.
• Sikkim has started livelihood schools to impart skill training to the youth in various sectors including arts and crafts.
• Way Ahead
• The North Eastern states should carry out their own skill mapping exercise in order to identify those niche areas where they can develop a strong foothold backed by a traditional knowledge ecosystem or advantages of history or geography. Some examples in this context are –

o Developing expertise in Pottery and Sital Patti Work in Cachar District of Assam which is traditionally known for expert craftsmanship in these works
o Sonitpur can be developed in a prominent rice milling centre
o Tripura can harness its immense potential of becoming a rubber giant. With the recent plans to connect North East by railways to the East Asian neighbours, such business models gain more trajectory. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop a strong skill development mechanism to train workers for the rubber industry.
o Nagaland can focus on tourism centered on the Hornbill Festival, which has become a nationwide phenomenon today.

• A second measure that can give further impetus to making skill development more meaningful is its integration with the international market by identifying new areas where traditional domain knowledge of these areas can be harnessed to create a market for certain products in neighbouring countries.
• The third measure that can be taken is shifting to outcomes-based approach by adopting the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) standards to regularly view the progress of each state and loopholes if any can be plugged as part of continuous exercises.
• To prevent a high dropout rate, vocationalisation of school education could be taken up
• There is need to train the trainers and for this the CSR activities must be leveraged by providing special incentives to companies taking up this activity in the Northeast region.

As Asian societies like Japan and Korea age faster, there will be a need for skilled workers in these countries. While India can fill this void, its NE region is best placed to fill the gap in these countries. In the light of the above, the status of skill development and subsequent placement of skilled youth in the North East only looks brighter in the future, if the momentum is maintained and newer policies are put in place to tackle new challenges.

Bamboo the green gold

Bamboo, rightly known as Green Gold, is a versatile group of plants that is capable of providing ecological, economic and livelihood security to the people. Until recently, it has remained confined to the forests (12.8% of forest cover); two third of the growing stock located in the North-Eastern States.

Bamboo is essentially a type of grass, but its classification as a tree for 90 years prevented the northeast, which grows 67% of India’s bamboo, from exploiting it commercially unlike China, the only country with richer bamboo genetic resources.
Though, India is the world’s second largest grower of bamboo with 136 species, 23 genera spreading over 13.96 million hectares, the country’s share in the global bamboo trade and commerce is only 4 percent in spite of having 45 percent of global bamboo growth.

With a view to harness the potential of bamboo crop, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is implementing a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme called Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) in which National Bamboo Mission (NBM) is being implemented as a sub scheme.
The Union Cabinet has approved the extension of the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) as restructured NBM until 2019-20 at an expenditure of 1,290 crore. Since it proposes to bring about one-lakh hectares under plantation, about one-lakh farmers are expected to directly benefit in terms of plantation.

Objectives of the restructured NBM

• To increase the area under bamboo plantation (with improved varieties to enhance yields) in non-forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change.
• To improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing units, treatment and seasoning plants, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation technologies and market infrastructure
• To promote product development at micro, small and medium levels and feed bigger industry
• To promote marketing of bamboo and bamboo based handicrafts
• To promote skill development, capacity building, awareness generation for development of bamboo sector
• To promote, develop and disseminate technologies through a seamless blend of traditional wisdom and modern scientific knowledge.
• To generate employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled persons, especially unemployed youths.
• Focus on R&D across all levels of the supply chain to improve efficiency and productivity

Bamboo takes four years to mature after it is planted before it can provide a steady stream of revenue for farmers. It is during this period that the government needs to hand-hold farmers so that they do not cut down the grass from the second year onwards before it reaches its full potential from the fourth year.

The restructured NBM needs to be more focused on value-chain management (from producer to consumer) and value-addition of bamboo at community level that will bring more income to the bamboo farmers and bamboo processors.

Other benefits of Bamboo

• Besides industrial benefits, the communities have been using bamboo shoots as nutritious food, which has medicinal values.
• Growing bamboo also facilitates soil quality improvements, improved water holding capacity, higher water capture and water recharge benefitting agriculture and food security.
• The state governments in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh agreed to supply bamboo to the Assam based Numaligarh Refinery's upcoming bio refinery that can be a game changer in the region.
• In states like Tripura, an official estimate suggests that bamboo sector can be developed as a major livelihood provider and provide dependable and respectable employment opportunities to a least 20,000 bamboo growers.
• Multiple products like Bamboo pickles, Bamboo vinegar, Flower vase, Furniture, Ornament etc. can be made from the "Green gold" and it will bring economic prosperity to the region.
   

By: Deepak Hooda