North East Region- New Engine for growth in India

By-Srivatan Patel

The enthusiasm for sports and fitness activities in the North East states is a well-known fact and women athletes from Northeast India are making headway in Tokyo Olympics 2020 to prove their mettle for India. Apart from this, the entrepreneurship and dignity of labor are inherent traits of women in the North-Eastern region. It has been proved during the early weeks of COVID pandemic when the country was facing a shortage of face masks, the women entrepreneurs of the region took up the responsibility to manufacture the same for the nation in sufficient numbers.

Northeast has had a rich tradition of women entrepreneurship and always took a lead as far as the women Self Help Groups (SHGs) are concerned. It was way back in the 1950s, only a few years after India's independence that the State of Assam had its first-ever ‘Mahila Mandal’ established, which actually paved the way for other States to follow.

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Today, different North Eastern States have several vibrant women groups like the ‘Naga Mother Association’, which are contributing to the cause of livelihood as well as economic empowerment. These women entrepreneurship is being promoted in a big way in North East and while the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) has been providing the Viability Fund to new Start-Ups, and at the same time undertaken several initiatives to encourage and supplement the efforts of Women Self Help Groups.

In order to benefit the women entrepreneurs and SHGs, particularly in rural areas, a significant step has been taken by the Central government, by amending the 100-year-old “Indian Forest Act” which would exempt homegrown Bamboo from its provision and increase Import duty up to 25 percent on bamboo to promote domestic bamboo products.

The post-COVID economy of India will look for unexplored potentials and under such circumstances, the hitherto lesser utilised resources from lesser projected regions will assume an important role. every adversity is accompanied with some virtue and one of the positive aspects of the tumultuous COVID phase has been that it prompted us to look for new avenues, new potentials, and new resources to supplement the economy and make up for the deficit accruing as a result of the pandemic. This, in turn, has led to a situation, wherein the North Eastern region of India has an opportunity to emerge as the business destination of the entire Indian subcontinent.

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In the tourism sector, the North East region has been emerging as a major destination for tourists. The tourism types like ecological, adventure, wildlife, and pilgrim, cultural and Himalayan tourism are available in the region. The region has also taken a lead in institutionalizing the homestays concept to give the feeling of local flavor in a big way.

The  E-commerce supply chain is also one of the most promising areas which can boost the economy of the region in more ways than one and the pandemic has shown how e-commerce has fuelled the livelihoods of MSMEs and small players. With umpteen numbers of talented women, e-commerce can provide a strong platform to them for not only creating business opportunities but also creating scope to showcase their unique products to a global marketplace.

The Northeast region occupies about 8% of the territorial area and about 3.78 % of the total population of the country. Its average literacy rate is 78.5 percent which is higher than the national average of about 73 percent (2011 census). The literacy rate among women is about 74%. The sex ratio in the region is 959 (the national average is 943). According to 2016 figures, the infant mortality rate of the region is 25, whereas it was 34 in all India average.

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The work participation rate among the women in the region is about 34 %. The huge impetus given to connectivity issues in North-East by the center, will not only bring the region at par with other States of the country but will also result in double digit growth and realisation of a 5-trillion-dollar economy. Being the gateway to the growing economies of southeast Asian countries, the North Eastern Region holds the potential of contributing heavily to the country’s GDP by virtue of promoting trade and business relations with ASEAN, thus regaining its lost economic prominence.

The Union Government has been constantly striving towards the optimisation of the huge latent potential of the region and the “Look East” policy has been rightly transformed into ‘Act East” policy. In spite the North-eastern region constitutes 3.37% of the country’s total agricultural land holding, the region contributes to 52.68 % of the country’s Tea Production, 22.46 % of country’s Silk Production and Covers 34.5% of the total bamboo bearing area in the country.

There are varieties of agricultural produce in the region. Hydropower potential in the region is estimated to be nearly 80,000 MW, natural gas reserves 190 billion cubic metres, coal reserves over 900 million tonnes, and oil reserves over 500 million tonnes. These figures show the economic development potential of the Northeast region. North East is fast emerging as the New Engine for growth in India.

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There has been a tremendous improvement in connectivity through road, rail, as well as air and tourism, which has gained a special momentum in the region. With a view to strengthening the logistics and trade infrastructure and creating a vibrant multi-modal transport sector in the region, the government has initiated phased development strategies and specific sectoral policy interventions along with infrastructure development.

Indian supply chain companies are fast spreading their operational footprint in the North-East to leverage the potential of the region as a growing logistics destination. With the dedication of all the North East states and the concerned Ministries, the Region will be able to overcome challenges in the near future and beacon of growth. The North Eastern Region will lead the growth story of India when the rest of the world is looking for economic resurgence through trade-in post- pandemic times.

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