VK Singh: The new DoNER MOS
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 31 , 2014 -

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the right choice by allotting the unique Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) to General (retd) VK Singh.

At the first place, DoNER was set up in the form of a Department under the Union Government in September 2001 with the primary objective of bridging the economic development gap between the region and the rest of the country.

The department was transformed into a full-fledged Ministry in 2004.

It was during the previous NDA regime led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that the DoNER Ministry was established and now NDA has come back to power with Narendra Modi as the numero uno leader.

Primary functions and responsibilities of DoNER Ministry are planning, execution and monitoring of development schemes and projects implemented in the North East region.

During the last UPA regime, DoNER Ministry was kept under the charge of BK Handique and Paban Singh Ghatowar, both natives of the region, more precisely from Assam.

In spite of being natives of the region, they left no legacy worth emulating nor did they achieve anything outstanding. Viewed from this perspective, the argument or rather complaints from some sections to give the DoNER Ministry to an MP from the region sounds skewed.

At the same time, Gen (Retd) VK Singh is not new to the North East.

Let’s take a brief look at the personal profile of the new man at Vigyan Bhavan, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi.

He became Chief of Army Staff on March 31, 2010 and retired on May 31, 2012.

He was the first commando to be promoted general and was also the first serving Indian military chief to take the Government to court.

In 2014, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and won the Ghaziabad constituency seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

During his illustrious career in the Indian Army, VK Singh was posted in the North East several times and as such, he has a fair knowledge of the region.

Narendra Modi, by opting for VK Singh who joined BJP only this year in place of many other veteran BJP leaders, has sent a very clear message that he wants action and performance not just lip service or empty promises.

We hope General (retd) VK Singh can deliver what his predecessors could not.

With his military background, VK Singh has all the elements needed to turn DoNER Ministry into one high performance agency of the Union Government of India.

Punctuality in executing projects, precision in planning and discipline in monitoring projects are the elements needed to give a new life to the Ministry.

From whom can we expect these characters better than VK Singh? So far, the new DoNER Minister of State looks promising.

He has already proposed to open a webpage where people from the North-East can send their feedback, suggestions and complaints.

Soon after assuming charge of the Ministry, VK Singh promised to find a solution to regular harassment of people from the North East at Delhi.

Talking about his priority areas, Gen (retd) VK Singh pointed to infrastructure enhancement, creating job opportunities for youth and boosting economic growth.

All these are enormous tasks which require meticulous planning and constant monitoring.

No doubt, Gen (retd) VK Singh has never been a public administrator nor is he an economist.

To deliver what he promises, the DoNER Ministry would need the service of a team of subject experts and policy planners.

The foremost task which lies ahead of the DoNER Minister is selection of a team of qualified advisors.

The task is a crucial one in the sense that selection of wrong or unfit advisors would impair all the good intentions of Gen (retd) VK Singh.

The country has high expectations from the Narendra Modi Government and the expectations are no lesser in the North East region.

Frankly we don’t expect a typical politician from Gen (retd) VK Singh who only loves to play to the gallery, we expect a man of action. Hope, we are not expecting too much.