North-East Region | Yojana and Kurukshetra

North East India (officially North Eastern Region, NER) is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political-administrative division of the country. It comprises eight states – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.

The North-eastern Region (NER) has several unique and unparalleled features: 

• Fertile land, 
• Abundant water resources, 
• Evergreen dense forests, 
• High and dependable rainfall, 
• Mega biodiversity, 
• Flora and fauna and 
• A mixture of socio-economic, political, ethnic and cultural diversity.

While the entire world is moving towards sustainability, it has been a way of life in the North East, innately linked to nature. 

• The North East does have a unique indigenous culture and this has to be protected yet made relevant to modern times today.

• Under the aegis of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, the government is committed to accelerating the pace of socio-economic development of the region so that it may achieve growth parity with the rest of the country.

Governance in NER

Blessed with abundant potential and opportunities, the North East Indian region is populated by a number of different communities, with diverse cultures, languages and customs. 

• Marked by difficult terrain, backward areas, and limited connectivity, this area was also known for the active presence of a number of militant groups. However, peace has been achieved to a large extent, with notable recent examples being the Nagaland Peace Accord and the Bodo Peace Accord. 

• The region is connected to mainland India only through a narrow stretch of land (about 22 km wide) in West Bengal called the ‘Siliguri Corridor’, sometimes known as the “Chicken Neck Corridor”, rest, the entire north-eastern part of the country is bound by international borders. 

• The strategic position of the land entails a number of advantages as well as challenges. It is against this backdrop that governance must be delivered, for the overall development of the region.

Institutional Support 

Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) 

• The Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) was established in the year 2001. 

• After becoming a full-fledged Ministry of the Government of India in 2004, the Ministry of DoNER functions as the nodal Department of the Central Government to deal with matters related to the socio-economic development of the eight states of Northeast India. 

• It handled the Non-Lapsable Control Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Scheme, which has been followed by the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS). 

 North Eastern Council (NEC)

• The North Eastern Council (NEC) is a statutory regional planning body for North East India constituted under the North Eastern Council Act 1971. 

• All the Governors and the Chief Ministers of the eight states in the North East are members of the NEC. 

• The Union Home Minister is the Chairman, and the DoNER Minister acts as the ViceChairman. 

Culture and Religion

Pre British period 

• The tribes were primarily animistic. 

• There was no written script. 

• There were a few tribal dances, such as cheraw (bamboo dance), sarlamkai chheihlam, khuallam, etc. 

• They observed three festivals called pawl kut, chapchar kut and mim kut. 

Post British annexation

• The arrival of Christian missionaries, who invented a script and an alphabet for the Mizo language. 

• All the ethnic Mizo population have converted to Christianity, making up around 87% of the total population of the State. 

• Around 8% of the population of Mizoram are Buddhists, primarily from the Chakma tribe along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Source: Kurukshetra and Yojana