President's visit

Newly-appointed President Droupadi Murmu's three-day visit to Tripura and Assam must be considered a very significant event not just for these two states, but for the entire Northeastern region. Her visit is not a routine ceremonial one. Rather, it was marked with a series of development initiatives for the region, which, among other things, covered railway and highway connectivity, healthcare, education and childcare. The inauguration of India's biggest super-computer at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati on the first day of her Guwahati visit on the other hand is a big step towards India's science and technology development. Likewise, flagging off a few trains connecting Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland, laying the foundation stone for a four-lane highway connecting Gohpur in Assam and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, the inauguration of a Medical College & Hospital in Dhubri – each of these projects will have a long-term impact on the overall development of the region. Mention must be made particularly of the foundation stone laying of 100 model secondary schools in the tea garden areas of Assam, as also those of 3,000 model Anganwadi centres. Other infrastructure projects also included a railway cargo-cum-coaching terminal at Agiathuri near Guwahati, a rail-fed depot of Indian Oil Corporation near Silchar, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma must be appreciated for having reiterated the socio-cultural and economic connections that Assam and Odisha (the President's home state) have enjoyed since the time of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva and Lakshminath Bezbaroa till the establishment of the tea industry. That the President, in the last event of her tour of Assam made the statement that Assam was poised to become the development engine for the entire North-eastern region has also come at a time when the various developmental and infrastructure projects outlined by the Prime Minister a few years ago are beginning to see the light of the day.