North East can become 'Engines of Growth': Experts

GUWAHATI: The diverse potential of North East can propel 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' by being the 'Engines of Growth', experts opined in a webinar organized by Press Information Bureau (PIB), Guwahati. Experts from Industry, Government sector along with academicians deliberated on the potential of North East from multi-sectoral-and-policy perspectives.

Mentioning about examples of North East and its challenges, LR Sailo, Regional Director, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Aizawl said that eco-tourism, medical tourism, and adventure tourism have provided the core competence of North East from the perspective of growth and development. Referring to the Sports and the Power sectors, Sailo said that both have tremendous potential in the Northeast region. He added that the development of North East has to be seen from a multi-dimensional perspective including better connectivity via various sectors like the roads, rails, telecom, power and waterways. He added that the initiatives of the Central government by various programmes and policies are a constant endeavour for the development and growth of the region. This has ushered a huge transformational change in the ease of living and accessibility of services to individuals, stated a release.

Prof. Anup Saikia, Department of Geography, Gauhati University said that the initiatives of the government for 'Swachh Bharat' go beyond health and hygiene. He said that by creating the environment, individual efforts can be initiated to propel the 'Swachh' environment. It will also lead to the healthy development of individual, which is the quintessential aspect of the 'Swachh Bharat' initiative.

Advocate Sanyuk Banerjee said, "Environment and 'Swachhta' have to work in tandem with the 'Sustainable Environmental Goals'", and added that environment is the pivotal aspect in attaining Mahatma Gandhi's vision of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' which means that the whole world constitutes a family. He said that 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' will help Indians become aware to become environment friendly and also of the efficacy of environment and its role.

Prof. (Dr) Kishor Goswami, Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, delved into the potential of Northeast from the perspective of its 'Aatma Nirbhar supply-chain management of diverse fruits, agriculture and agro-industry, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of the region. He further said that the silk and textile of the region are a competitive advantage in the global market arena. Prof. Goswami also said that leveraging diverse local talent and human resources (HR) of the region would provide the 'WIN-WIN' scenario in future for the emerging leadership role in the world, not only for the North East Region (NER) but also the entire country.

Senior officers of PIB Kohima including Assistant Director Sonikumar were present in webinar.

PIB Deputy Director Pallav Chakravorty welcomed the experts as the webinar delved into details on topics such as 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan', 'Poshan Abhiyaan', 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' and the essential awareness about 'Destination North East' such as the emerging delightful tourist destinations, centres of world tourism as emphasised by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister of State (in charge) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh. The webinar was planned and coordinated by Samrat Bandyopadhyay, Joint Director (M&C), PIB, Guwahati, the release added. 

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