Conclave dissects investment potential in NE India
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, April 29 2022: The ministry of DoNER and Government of Meghalaya, in collaboration with IIM Shillong, North Eastern Council and Invest India (National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency), organised a "Conclave on Investment Potential & Future Energy Needs of North East" on Friday at the auditorium of North Eastern Council Secretariat, Shillong.

The programme was a part of North East Festival, 2022 and Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav organised by the ministry of DoNER Celebrating India's 75 years of Independence.

Minister of State for DoNER BL Verma attended the conclave as chief guest.

The other esteemed speakers were DoNER senior economic advisor Dr Kumar V Pratap, NEC secretary K Moses Chalai, Meghalaya chief secretary RV Suchiang, IIM Shillong director Prof DP Goyal and Invest India senior vice president Dushyant Thakor.

The conclave was aimed at understanding the investment potentials in the North Eastern India region, its evolving needs and the challenges that hinder achieving the same.

Addressing the gathering BL Verma mentioned how the present government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been taking various initiatives to bring North East to the forefront and bring out the unexplored potential of the region to the forefront.

Meanwhile, Dr V Pratap deliberated on "Development and Opportunity of Northeast in general and Meghalaya in particular".

According to him, despite high literacy rate in Northeast, people mostly depend on primary resources for their survival.

This is due to lack of infrastructure and industrialisation, he opined.

He mentioned two major announcements made in 2022 23 by PM Modi.

One being, PM-DeVINE, which is a 100 percent centrally funded scheme under which around 7 projects have already been sanctioned for Northeast.

The other - Parvatmala Scheme, is a national ropeway development programme.

Under this eight ropeway projects with a length of 60 km will be awarded in 2022-23, elaborated Dr V Pratap.

Moses Chalai, on the other hand, spoke about how infrastructure development has gained momentum in Northeast in the last 10 years.

While the infrastructure development has picked up, the economic transformation has failed to match the pace, he observed.

"The exodus of people from Northeast to different parts of the country to find livelihood due to lack of employment opportunity here is a major issue of concern," he said.

IIM Shillong director also spoke at length about the areas and scope IIM Shillong can facilitate on the investment potential and future energy needs.

IIM Shillong being the premier institute in the region has contributed to various community development programmes in the region.

"The three centres of IIM Shillong, namely CEDNER, Dr API Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research and Analysis and Incubation and Enterprise Support Centre facilitate the growth of entrepreneurs, research and is a data repository in the region," he informed.

Prof Goyal emphasised on the need of sustainable growth of the region and elaborated how IIM Shillong can play the role of catalyst in this regard.

In her speech, Meghalaya chief secretary Suchiang said, "Even after 50 years of the creation of the state of Meghalaya, the developmental parameters of Meghalaya is much below in terms of national index".

She further said issues like poor road connectivity is one major hindrance which needs to be addressed at the earliest.

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