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Northeast 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 Northeast region can be physiographically categorised into the Eastern Himalaya, the Patkai and the Brahmaputra and the Barak valley plains. Northeast India (at the confluence of Indo-Malayan, Indo-Chinese, and Indian biogeographical realms) has a predominantly humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers, severe monsoons, and mild winters. Along with the west coast of India, this region has some of the Indian subcontinent's last remaining rainforests, which support diverse flora and fauna and several crop species. Reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the region are estimated to constitute a fifth of India's total potential. The region is covered by the mighty Brahmaputra-Barak river systems and their tributaries. Geographically, apart from the Brahmaputra, Barak and Imphal valleys and some flatlands in between the hills of Meghalaya and Tripura, the remaining two-thirds of the area is hilly terrain interspersed with valleys and plains; the altitude varies from almost sea-level to over 7,000 metres (23,000 fts) above MSL. The region's high rainfall, averaging around 10,000 millimetres (390 in) and above, creates problems of the ecosystem, high seismic activity, and floods. The states of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have a montane climate with cold, snowy winters and mild summers.
Latest developments In NER :
Assam, with the maximum border dispute in the region, got into a proactive border dialogue.
The dialogue on the state's border disputes with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram are continuing at a steady Pace and progress is being made in the other disputes as well.
In January 2022, Assam and Nagaland agreed to settle their disputes out of court and talks are on with Arunachal Pradesh to solve the 122 disputed sites.
There are regular engagements between Assam - Mizoram to maintain peace and work out the permanent solution.
Reduction of disturbed areas under AFSPA : the union home ministry decided to reduce the disturbed area under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur after decades.
DAN has been in force in the whole of Assam since 1990, in all of Manipur since 2004 and in the whole of Nagaland since 1995.
Peace efforts : The Government of India has tried its best to accommodate the demand of the tribal groups and other inhabitants in the region, within the framework of the Indian constitution. Peace has been witnessed in most places across Assam, and even in Nagaland and Manipur talks with various Groups for the permanent solution had resulted in a cessation of violence.
The NLFT Tripura agreement (August 2019), The Bru agreement (January 2020),The Bodo peace accord (January 2020),Karbi Anglong Agreement (September 2021) has actually resulted in about 7000 militants surrendering their arms.
In 2021, militancy incidents had reduced by 74% compared to 2014 and security personals and civilians death have also come down by 60% and 84%, respectively, during this period.
Other efforts : government efforts to address the issues of the Northeast and have been moving according to strategic plan which is premised on three objectives - ending all disputes, ushering in economic progress and taking the region's contribution to GDP Back to its pre-Independence levels, and making efforts to maintain and preserve the region's language, dialect, dance, music, food and culture and make it attractive for the whole country.
Challenges to the Development of NER :
Difficult terrain : it is majorly a mountainous region, except the state of Assam, which has plains as a major part of its area. This makes it difficult for the government schemes to be implemented in the area.
Connectivity : it is a landlocked region. Therefore, it has Limited access to the sea. Similarly, it is difficult terrain that renders expressways and wider roads infeasible. This is completed by the absence of railway infrastructure in the region.
Backward Areas : the people of the NER are still content with a simple lifestyle and lack of technology in their day by day lives.
The standard of living continues to be low, due to the absence of high income generation opportunities.
Insurgency : one of the major reasons for the lack of development in the region is lack of political and social stability in the country.
The artificial boundaries of the British Legacy have not been fully accepted by the tribal communities of the region, which is compounded by political opportunism.
The region is still caught in the vicious circle of the violence due to political regions and the diversion of youth towards the insurgent groups, which leads to the lack of skill enhancement and consequent lack of opportunity.
Government's efforts :
The North East Industrial Development Scheme 2017 : it has come into force with effect from 2017 for the period of 5 years. The scheme covers the manufacturing and service sector of all the states of North East region, including Sikkim.
Niti forum for North East : constituted for accelerated, inclusive and sustainable development in the Northeast region, has identified five focus sectors,viz. Tea, Tourism, Bamboo, dairy and Pisciculture.
Swades Darshan scheme : under the Ministry of Tourism, 16 projects with themes of Heritage, wildlife, spiritual, tribal, Echo-adventure etc with a total amount of 1337.63 crore has been sectioned.
PRASHAD Schemes : under the pilgrimage rejuvenation and spiritual Heritage augmentation drive scheme, development of Kamakhya Devi Temple and pilgrimage facilitation of Nagaland and Meghalaya has been sectioned. Further, Kaziranga National Park has been identified under the iconic site Development Scheme.
The Ministry of Development of North East Eastern region, under its various schemes like non lapsable central pool of resources and its successor North East special infrastructure development scheme, schemes of North East Eastern Council and North East Road sector Development Scheme has also taken steps to bridge the social and physical infrastructure gap.
Digital North East vision 2022 : it was launched by the Union Minister of Electronics & IT in Guwahati. The vision document emphasise leveraging digital technologies to transform the lives of people of the northeast and enhance the ease of living.
Pan India schemes : In addition, various Pan India schemes are being implemented in north eastern states for their sustainable development, e.g., Jal Jeevan Mission, Atal mission for rejuvenation and urban transformation, Swachh Bharat mission, etc.
In the end, The efforts by the union government to make the Northeastern region the main pillar of act East policy has been useful in bringing a sense of political stability that is very crucial for optimal economic development and capacity enhancement in the region. These development are significant for restoring normalcy and enabling perception changes about the Northeastern region.