The first meeting of NITI Forum for North East was held under the chairpersonship of the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog and co-chairpersonship of Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region on April 10, 2018 in Agartala. During the meeting, the consensus was that the way forward could be to focus on the key thrust areas such as Horticulture, Bamboo, Tourism, Food Processing, Education and Made in North Eastern Region (NER) for which specific schemes are under implementation by the respective line Ministries. In addition, these sectors have also been included in the thrust areas for schemes to be taken up by the North Eastern Council (NEC).

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has given in-principle approval for release of central assistance of Rs.200.00 crore for reconstruction of totally damaged/washed away infrastructure in the North Eastern States, for which specific proposals have been sought from the States.

A High Level Committee, under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog has been constituted for suggesting measures for proper management of water resources in the North Eastern Region. The recommendations of the committee would, inter alia, include flood control measures, both structural and non-structural; NEC would provide financial assistance for establishment of Brahmaputra Study Centre at Guwahati University.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

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