NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah graced the North-East Students’ & Youth Parliament in the capital as the Chief Guest. The programme, conducted by the Student Experience in Inter-State Living (SEIL), aimed to bring unity and emphasise the development activities carried out in the North-East region.
In his speech, Amit Shah characterised the North-East as India’s cultural gem, highlighting its richness and potential to become a tourist destination for the world. He commended the region’s youth for their strong work ethic and high intelligence, pointing out the region’s extraordinary diversity, comprising more than 220 tribal groups, 160 tribes, 200 languages and dialects, and over 50 distinct festivals. Even with these strengths, he pointed out that the Northeast had experienced development setbacks because of insurgency and regionalism in the past, which had held progress back for almost four decades. Shah attributed the Modi government with giving importance to the North-East, stating that earlier governments had no separate ministry for the region until the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, efforts have been made to bridge both the physical and emotional distance between the North-East and the rest of India. The Government has actively engaged with insurgent groups, signing 12 significant agreements in the past decade, leading to the surrender of over 10,500 armed rebels and a 70 per cent decrease in violence-related incidents. Emphasising the infrastructure developments, Amit Shah declared that in 2027, every North-Eastern state capital will be linked through rail, air, and road transport. He presented large investments, such as Rs 41,000 crores for road building, Rs 47,000 crores for rural connectivity, Rs 18,000 crores for railway expansion, and Rs 4,800 crores for the Vibrant Village scheme.