The ‘Sister State’ Idea

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has floated the idea of a “sister state” relationship among different States of the country so that a better relationship with other States is developed towards promoting the exchange of culture, business and trade relationship. During his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi the other day, he said that if all the States of the country were to have such a relationship, it would enable learning and exchange of different strengths and potentials so that growth and development initiatives in the country are further strengthened. He cited the example of his own State and Maharashtra that could have close association in the domains of Bollywood, music, cultural exchange programmes, research, entrepreneurship, and exploration of organic products potential from his State to Mumbai where the organic food demand is on the rise. There is no doubt that the idea of a sister-state relationship is an innovative one, focussed on association and collaboration among the States of the country in sync with their specific strengths and potentials. For instance, as Sangma informed Modi, Meghalaya is close to coming up with a water policy to ensure conservation, rain water harvesting, purification and rejuvenation. This can be emulated by those States that are running dry and where people are grappling with an acute water crisis; in fact, Shillong itself has had to grapple thus all along despite being the capital of the Abode of the Clouds. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen how enthusiastically the Conrad Sangma idea of collaboration and cooperation would be taken up by other States, especially those from the Northeast that have much to gain from such initiatives towards all-round development by harnessing their strengths and potentials and sharing them among themselves. At the same time, the NITI Aayog can be of great help if all the States have the scope of working with it, with the Aayog already working in tandem with the Centre for devising strategies and policies towards welfare and development initiatives across the country. Needless to say, such initiatives must be uniform and non-discriminatory if the country as a whole is to be witness to inclusive development, which is a must for the flourish of our democracy as a people’s system.