16th NERCPA kicks off at State Assembly premises ; NE development key to Nation's development: Mahajan
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 15 2017:
Inaugurating the 16th North East Regional Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference (NERCPA-2017) at the premises of the Manipur Legislative Assembly today, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that the North East is a window in the National efforts to connect with the East and South East Asia which is playing a vital role in the emergence of a resurgent Asia.
To capitalise on the emerging reality, the Government of India today has an ambitious plan to build roads and ports connectivity with the South- East Asian countries through Myanmar for promotion of trade, commerce and tourism, she added.
Mahajan observed that North East India has an important strategic dimension and is a vital part of the Nation's defence architecture.
She further said that the strategic location and natural resources make the region a potential power house of India for development and progress.
As such, the 'Act East Policy' for all round development of North East is the top most priority for the entire Nation.
Observing that today policy making has become a highly complex process and there is greater emphasis on good governance based on transparency and accountability, the Lok Sabha Speaker emphasized that in order to perform legislative duties effectively, it is essential for legislators to seek the guidance of domain experts in areas which are specialized and technical in nature.
"As a member and now a Sneaker I notice the problems faced by Members in understanding several key issues that confront the Nation and come up for the consid-eration of Parliament.
In order to address this issue, it was decided to bring in domain experts to orient members by creating a perspective on various important issues.
Thus the Speakers' Research Initiative (SRI) was institutionalized m the Lok Sabha Secretariat in July 2015," she mentioned.
The Lok Sabha Speaker informed the delegates that SRI focuses on identifying core areas/issues of long term and strategic policy, generate high quality research inputs and devise appropriate mechanisms for interaction with Members of both tjie Houses of Parliament for the purpose of information dissemination and capacity building.
She hoped that a similar mechanism for the North Eastern States would be of great help to the Legislators.
She encouraged the Legislators to be proactive and said 'until you spread your wings, you don't know how far you can fly' .
Sharing his views on the theme of the Conference, Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar Singh said that the Look East Policy is largely founded.
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