Headquarter : Shillong
Ministry : Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region
Chairman : Union Minister, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region
Constituted : By an Act of Parliament in 1971 i.e it is an statutory body. The NEC act has been amended in 2002 to add Sikkim and restructure it as the regional planning body for the North Eastern Region.
Consists of : Eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The chief ministers and governors represent them.
What it does?
- The North Eastern Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region.
- It is an apex level body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating coordination with states.
- The Council is an advisory body and may discuss any matter in which the north-eastern states have a common interest and advise the Central Government as to the action to be taken on any such matter.
- The funding of council mainly lies with the central government with small portions contributed by the state governments as well.
Recent Changes:
- The Union Cabinet has approved proposal of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for nomination of Union Home Minister as ex-officio Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC).
- It also approved that Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of DoNER will serve as Vice Chairman of NEC.
- New arrangement with Home Minister as Chairman and Minister of DoNER as Vice Chairman will provide forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future.
- NEC now can perform tasks undertaken by various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-State issues as smuggling of arms and ammunition, drug trafficking, boundary disputes etc.
- NEC will also have such powers as may be delegated to it by the Central Government.