The Colours of Development
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 30, 2014 -
With the idea of development now wrapped in a paradigm under the rubric of globalization, the primary objective of most State Governments in India has been focused on enticing private capital.
The efforts given on attracting investments in recent times at least by the States in Northeast India have also been given further push under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s vision under “Act East Policy”.
The Government of India’s overture towards developing the Northeast has been based on the Nation State’s assumed role to shape the welfare of the people.
While doing so, India seems to be making earnest effort to play a global role vis-à-vis the needs of its citizens.
Under such circumstances, keen observers of the process of development particularly in the Northeast are eager to know how the resources of the region are to be extracted, developed and used.
Though there has been ample policy announcements with regard to what could be done by the Centre, there has not been much deliberation on the contours of the principles under which the Government of India has been envisaging the overall developmental path of the region.
Policy experts and the think-tanks who have shouldered the responsibilities of the assigned or assumed role of the State are still stuck with the idea that economic reforms only can mitigate the dismal political and social turmoil in the region. It seems not much thought has been put into the unfolding dynamics underway in the region.
Here, it is worthwhile to remember that development discourse in the region has been mostly centred on India’s greater security/counter-insurgency strategies.
Many have already expressed fear that the new rigour in developing the region might lead to a mere “Highway Economy.” This fear is founded on the political and social history of the region.
Over the years, many in the region are well aware that the idea of development under any dispensation is not necessarily based on the belief that the “linearity of development” is the only answer to human emancipation.
Hence, the necessity of revitalizing comprehensive debate on the contours and colours of development.
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