GUWAHATI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said insurgency was no longer an issue in the Northeast and asked chief ministers of the region to shift their focus from law and order to protecting the rights of citizens.
Addressing the 73rd plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Meghalaya's Shillong, Shah credited the Narendra Modi government with bringing peace to the region.
"The Modi government ended the era of violence in the Northeast and transformed the region from a hotspot of disputes to a hotspot of opportunities," he said.
Shah said the NEC was serving as an institution for strategic planning for the development of the region while fulfilling people's aspirations and promoting the region's culture.
Chief ministers of the northeastern states and Union Minister for Communications and Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya M Scindia were among those present at the meeting.
Shah, who is scheduled to review India-Bangladesh border security in Tripura on Friday, directed the states to build AI, machine learning and blockchain infrastructure for new generations.
He also instructed them to market the region's potential in agarwood, foreign trade and health tourism.
Union Minister Scindia outlined five missions for the region -- high-resolution village resource mapping; monitoring of wetlands, forests, rivers and landscapes; support for geo-spatial and space-tech startups; NER-Shield for disaster resilience and early warning; and green wealth and natural capital accounting.
"We remain committed to leveraging innovation and space-enabled solutions for a stronger and more resilient Northeast," he further said.
In a memorandum submitted to Shah, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma highlighted key concerns of the state government. He urged the Centre to strengthen mechanisms for checking illegal immigration.
"We suggested that measures such as the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act and the Inner Line Permit, for which the state Assembly passed resolutions, could serve as viable mechanisms to regulate and check illegal immigration," Sangma said.
He further sought the inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the NEC session reflected the ambitions of a confident region. "From AI, machine learning and blockchain infrastructure to agarwood, foreign trade and health tourism, the focus is now on preparing the Northeast for the opportunities of the future,"he said.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio reaffirmed his state’s commitment to working closely with the central government and the sister states in advancing a prosperous, peaceful and integrated Northeast. “Together, we can unlock the region’s immense potential and contribute to the vision of Viksit Bharat,” he said.