Though I don’t expect a Manipuri, a Mizo or any one from the North-East to figure in the annual Forbes’ list of world’s richest men and women, I fervently wish enterprising business men and women from the region to compete on equal footing with their fellow Indians at least.

But the reality presents quite a grim picture - that of the Northeasterners’ abysmal lack of willingness to invest in entrepreneurial ventures. It is sad to see NE’s rich natural resources and expertise in sectors like handlooms and handicrafts, horticulture, hydel energy generation, etc., remaining untapped.

This fact is hard to digest given the fact that educated youths of the region are languishing in a state of unemployment that becomes a major fuel for social unrest. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that opportunities are lying galore and only that is required is a determined will of the people and a little capital investment to turn those opportunities into gainful realities.

What perplexes me is why the educated youths of the region seem disinterested in their own pecuniary advancement. Or is it their apparent naivety or lack of access to information on how to kick start a business?

Whatever may be the reason, it is high time they began exploring self- employment options and did anything that is required to improve their economic lot. It is stupid to blame the government all waking hours when there are doors opening for you to live life on your own terms.

By now, they ought to realize that the government could do little or nothing to rescue them as even the state employees are left to fend for themselves without their due salaries for months in a row. After all, most of the NE states’ economy is in a shambles, and hopes of their speedy recovery are minimal. The economy of the region, except to some extent that of Assam, depends entirely on the mercy of Centre’s grants. How tenuous and weak it is, for instance, can be gauged from the present financial calamities that have plagued Manipur.

Following the anti-ceasefire extension outrage that led to the burning down of the Manipur Legislative Assembly on June 18, 2001, salaries disbursement was ceased for many months and state employees suddenly found the truth the hard way: that Manipur’s economy was in reality a travesty of economy whose strings are controlled at will by the Centre.

I suspect the Centre wanted to teach the Manipuris a lesson for opposing the geographical extension of the ceasefire between GoI and the militant NSCN (IM). Whatever be the political motives, the result of the rash action of the Centre to challenge the stomach of 20 lakh Manipuris brings forth a core question of identity and survival.

Who are we? Does our survival or even our existence lie in the hands of the political masters of an alien race who live in Delhi? If so, are they our sympathetic patrons or malevolent manipulators of our destiny? Can we chart our own course without anybody’s help? These are the vital questions which cannot be shrugged off easily if we want to live with dignity without bowing down to anyone like a slave groveling to his master for bread crumbs.

Not only are these thoughts applicable to Manipur, but also to the rest of the NE states which are more or less in the same predicament as the former. But why do we allow ourselves to be manipulated by people who want us suppressed and marginalized?

Centre resorts to lot of strong arm tactics- political and economical- to snatch our rights to make our own decisions independently. In the name of counter insurgency, draconian laws and brutish actions are enforced upon us; we enjoy no legal redress system against the repressive state might.

The result is that we live forever in an atmosphere of fear, intimidation and indecisiveness, our creative faculty and free will being numbed by daily experience of atrocities on our fundamental rights. We have lost our voice, our guts and our confidence. We have become defeatist. The defeatist mindset has stuck; it is hindering the very effort to shake it off. The first step in solving a problem is to identify its root cause from every possible perspective.

Fortunately, we know the obstacles that block the development of the North-East: these are
(i) government imposed ones and
(ii) people’s own negative attitude.

Of course, Government remains the No.1 enemy of development in the North-East. It lacks vision of purpose, sense of direction and urgency and expertise to execute the plans envisaged. It turns a blind eye to the region’s huge potential in clean hydel energy generation by virtue of the availability of abundant natural waterfalls, export of handlooms and handicrafts products , agro industries, tourism to name a few. Even if the government is reluctant to take initiative on its own, it should at least provide adequate support and incentives to would-be private investors.

On the contrary, the government is dreaming up numerous bottlenecks in the way of profitable private entrepreneurial initiative. For instance, the government has yet to lift the restrictions on traveling by foreigners in many parts of North-East. This seriously dampens and stymies the fledgling tourism industry in the region. Honourable Union Minister of Tourism, Mr Jagmohon should perhaps note this down. How grateful we will be should he vigorously promote tourism in the North-East with as much stamina as he had bulldozed illegal constructions in Delhi during his brief yet memorable stint as the Urban Affairs Minister.

Roads, electricity, transportation, communication and other basic infrastructure have also to be in place to galvanize industry in the North-East. The region is breathtakingly beautiful but it is a matter of common sense that people need good roads to go there and enjoy the nature’s bounteous gifts endowed on her.

The people of North-East are equally culpable of underdevelopment that afflicts the region like a paralysis. While government inaction cannot be condoned, the mindset of the people needs a drastic change. They remain docile and pliant startled by beguiling gimmicks of the so-called mainstream India.

It is not hard to see a pattern so starkly emerging in the North-East--slowly but effectively, mainland traders are appropriating its economic lifeline, and with their better economic clout, they are jeopardizing all hopes of locals to start business and compete with them. This sad prospect further discourages any local entrepreneurial initiative.

In spite of these real and psychological disadvantages, there still is a hope if people of the North-East take a united stand not to give in and let their future wither before their own eyes. Self-confidence is what is required to correct the reverses suffered by the NE in the hands of the rapacious mainland Indians. More often than not, what nips the bud is the defeatist attitude of the people. If this attitude is shunned and replaced by a refreshingly robust competitive mindset, rewarding results will be awaiting them.

The problem with the North-East is that they do not use their potential. With everything going right for them - say education, proficiency in English language, vast natural resources, proximity to South-East Asia, modern outlook and so on, what prevent them from becoming star states in India is themselves.

Kill that negative mindset. Point blank.