Celebrating Northeast

There was a time when the Northeast was known more for violence, insurgency, backwardness, bandhs, and agitations. Thanks to the various initiatives of the present government and because of the changing mindset of the younger generations, those negative attributes of the Northeast have been gradually forgotten. Thus, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the Ashtalakshmi Mahotsav in New Delhi, he asserted that as India was undergoing an unprecedented growth, the Northeast is prominently featuring in it. Going a step further, Modi also said that in the times to come, India’s growth story will belong to Eastern India, and more particularly to the Northeast. The Prime Minister had, in the very beginning of his tenure in 2014, referred to the eight Northeastern states as ‘Ashtalakshmi’ or eight forms of prosperity, having the potential to contribute significantly to India’s cultural, social, and economic fabric. The three-day Ashtalakshmi Mahotsav, which began in New Delhi on Friday, is, as described by the Prime Minister, a celebration of the better future of the Northeast, one that focuses on the new dawn of development and would also give impetus to the mission of Viksit Bharat. With the changing overall scenario in the past decade, there has been great enthusiasm for investment in the region, which has created livelihood opportunities, helped generate more revenue, and focused on development. The Prime Minister is right when he pointed out that the previous governments at the centre had laid the least emphasis on the development of the Northeast for the simple reason that the region had a lesser number of seats and votes. It is, however, important to recall that while the non-Congress governments headed by VP Singh, HD Devegowda, and IK Gujral did take some significant steps to bring about development in the Northeastern region, those measures failed to produce the desired results because those governments did not last long. It was the BJP government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee that had, for the first time, created a separate ministry for the development of the Northeastern region. But, while the region has witnessed a drastic change in the past one decade or more, what is now imperative is that more livelihood opportunities are created for the local youth, increased focus is laid on making the youth of the Northeast more employable, a zero-tolerance stand is taken against corruption, and the culture of extortion in the name of donation is put down with a firm hand.