Jyotiraditya Scindia interview: ‘‘PM Modi believes Northeast can be country's fulcrum … It is growing at almost the twice national rate'
A year in, Scindia reflects on his tenure at DoNER, speaks of the investment push in the Northeast, and points out the challenges that remain. Excerpts:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes the Northeast has tremendous potential to become the growth fulcrum of this country, despite being neglected for 65 years. There are historical and cultural underpinnings to show that the Northeast has always been the setu (bridge) between Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. That belief has been acted upon in the last 11 years (under PM Modi) and will now see fruition.
There has been a lot of infusion of capital, and that has translated into huge social and physical infrastructure.
We are talking about an investment of close to Rs 5 lakh crore over the last 11 years. The world is growing at over 2.4%, India is at 7% … And my eight states (in the NE) are growing at 11%-13%, almost twice the national growth rate.
In contrast to the past, the region has witnessed the visits of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (ministers) multiple times. While the PM has visited the region 60 times, there have been more than 700 ministerial visits. So, there is a granular level of understanding of the requirements (in the region) and (the) articulation of that understanding into very detailed projects.
We held the first NE investment summit for all the states together (in May). That has brought in a promised investment of Rs 4.18 lakh crore … It took 10 months and nine roadshows. This (promised investment) would roughly be about Rs 50-60 crore per state. This is besides the Rs 27,000 crore promised in the Advantage Assam Summit.
There are tremendous capabilities (being built) …. Agartala-Mumbai flying time is the same as Agartala-Singapore, Guwahati-Chennai is the same as Guwahati-Bangkok. You will have to think of the NE as a launchpad to Southeast Asia.
No disturbances …
Manipur is a different case. Today, across the Northeast, you can go from one state to the other and travel freely by road, rail, or air. I think the (advisories against travelling) are more state-specific rather than a DONeR issue. I want to push for the (larger) NE region environment as opposed to a state-specific environment.
Those questions have to be taken to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). My mandate is social, infrastructure, and economic development. It is about becoming a bridge between the Centre and the (NE) states. I will not stray from my mandate. For instance, Sikkim had a problem with a national highway and they required a new alignment. I went to (Nitin) Gadkari and got that new alignment approved. So, I am their (NE's) soldier.
I have done a strategic review of the states, with every Chief Minister, assessing various social and infrastructure indicators and identifying areas of potential. Also, we have outlined a penetration of banking strategy to facilitate home-grown entrepreneurs and industries. I am now looking at a tourism circuit for each state,and will start pilots in two states in the coming months.
One USP has been identified for every state: king chillies for Nagaland, Queen pineapple for Tripura, organic produce for Sikkim, agarwood from Assam and Tripura. An entire value chain will be built around that USP.
All eight states have been asked to conduct a study on social and physical infrastructure in their border villages and tell us what they want to achieve as a priority. Some have indicated issues such as roads, some have asked for electrification.
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