Development and Northeast’s Fragile Ecology

More fund allocation to the Himalayan states is a welcome step as most of these states have remained underdeveloped in human, social and economic indices. In fact, the unrest in most of the states nestling in the picturesque Himalayas, barring Jammu & Kashmir, can be attributed to underdevelopment. This is especially true for the north-eastern states, with no efforts being made to bring the region at par with the rest of the country in terms of development, for a long period of time. Our policy makers kept on overlooking this economic aspect that was fuelling the unrest; treating the crisis as a law and order problem by ignoring the genuine grievances of the people. The region used to receive very little fund for development despite the dire need to boost economic development. It started drawing the much-needed attention only in the 1990s when a new economic policy was introduced and the then union Finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced a five-year tax holiday for investing in the Northeast. In 1996, several development projects were announced by the then Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda and his Railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan. This continued during late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime too as his government made it mandatory for every ministry to spend 10 per cent of the total annual allocation in the region, apart from setting up DoNER, a dedicated department for the development and welfare of the Northeast. With the region still a long way to go before catching with other states in terms infrastructure and economic development, the current dispensation has rightly allocated a substantial fund for the region in this year’s budget.

Besides developmental activities, the Centre should give special emphasis towards protecting the fragile ecology of the region. We have already witnessed the adverse effects of hasty development works in a couple of Himalayan states. Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim are virtually reeling under one catastrophe to another, as many of the development works have been carried out without proper study of the topography, feasibility and sustainability. The same mistake should not be repeated in the north-eastern region. Yes, infrastructure development is badly needed in the region but not at the cost of destroying nature, which will subsequently cause natural disaster. The Centre should give special attention to setting up industries, connectivity, tourism, health and other facilities in the region but such activities should not destroy the ecology. Strict building bye-laws should be in place and construction works should be prohibited on floodplains to prevent flooding of agricultural land. The government should adopt a cautious approach while carrying out developmental activities in the region.