Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE)

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The Union Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) – a new scheme for the Northeastern states.

• The scheme will be operational for the remaining four years of the 15th Finance Commission, from 2022-23 to 2025-26, and will have an outlay of Rs 6,600 crore.

What is PM-DevINE?

• The new scheme, PM-DevINE, is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% Central funding and will be implemented by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) through North Eastern Council or Central Ministries/ agencies.
• The PM-DevINE Scheme will have an outlay of Rs.6,600 crore for the four year period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 (remaining years of 15th Finance Commission period).
• PM-DevINE will lead to creation of infrastructure, support industries, social development projects and create livelihood activities for youth and women, thus leading to employment generation.
• Measures would be taken to ensure adequate operation and maintenance of the projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE so that they are sustainable.
• To limit construction risks of time and cost overrun, falling on the Government projects would be implemented on Engineering-procurement-Construction (EPC) basis, to the extent possible.
• Efforts will be made to complete the PM-DevINE projects by 2025-26 so that there are no committed liabilities beyond this year, said DoNER officials.

Objectives of PM-DevINE

• Fund infrastructure convergently, in the spirit of PM Gati Shakti;
• Support social development projects based on felt needs of the NER;
• Enable livelihood activities for youth and women;
• Fill the development gaps in various sectors.

MDoNER

• The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MD0NER) is responsible for the matters relating to the planning, execution and monitoring of development schemes and projects in the North Eastern Region. 
• Its vision is to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the Region so that it may enjoy growth parity with the rest of the country.

Initiatives/activities of MDoNER:

• NESIDS: North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme” (NESIDS) was approved by the Government of India as a Central Sector Scheme. 
• NLCPR: The Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Scheme came into existence in 1998 under then Planning Commission. Subsequently, it was transferred to DoNER in 2001. 

• The objective of NLCPR Scheme is to fill up the gap in infrastructure sector of the North Eastern Region through sanctioning the projects prioritised by the State Governments. 

• SIDF: Social and Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF). It is a one-time package that covers projects, prioritized by the State Governments as per their requirement, which, inter alia, include construction of new roads and bridges, re-establishment of new sub-stations/transmission lines, construction/upgradation of hospitals, establishment of schools, water supply projects etc.
• NITI Forum for North East: In collaboration with the NITI Aayog, the ‘NITI Forum for North East’ constituted for accelerated, inclusive and sustainable development in the North East Region has identified 5 focus sectors, viz. Tea, Tourism, Bamboo, Dairy and Pisciculture.
• Mission Organic Value Chain Development (MOVCD-NER): The program has been implemented in the North-Eastern states since 2017. The aim of the mission is to promote organic farming in the region. It seeks to replace traditional subsistence farming with a cluster-based approach.
• Sub Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP): It aims to increase the availability of seeds of the High Yielding Varieties of crops. The overall objective is to double farmers’ income by 2022, as envisioned by the Government. The scheme is run alongside other support programs like Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), integrated farming systems etc.
• Connectivity Projects: To create alternate routes to the region and decrease its dependence on the Chicken’s Neck, the Indian government has planned additional routes through South East Asia like Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Project, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor, etc.

• India’s Look-East connectivity projects connect Northeast India to East Asia and ASEAN.

• NEHHDC: Home Minister recently launched the North Eastern Handicrafts & Handlooms Development Corporation Limited (NEHHDC) Mobile Application during the session.
• The NEHHDC would help register artisans and weavers online and collect authentic data through the app. It is expected to provide training through specially designed online courses and help the beneficiaries and redress grievances.
• NESAC: North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) was established as a joint initiative of Department of Space (DOS) and the North Eastern Council (NEC) and came into being on 5th of September, 2000.

• The Centre helps in augmenting the developmental process in the region by providing the advanced space technology support.

External aided projects for NER:

• North Eastern States Roads Investment Programme (NESRIP) assisted by Asian Development Bank (ADB):
• The scheme envisaged construction/up-gradation of total 433.425 km long roads in 6 North Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.

Challenges to the Development of the NER:

Difficult Terrain

North Eastern Region is majorly a mountainous region, except the state of Assam, which has plains as a major part of its area.

This makes it difficult for the government schemes to be implemented in the area, because of the problem of access to the remote areas.

Backward Areas

Unlike the mainland, people of the North East Region are still content with a simple lifestyle and lack of technology in their day-to-day lives. The standard of living continues to be low, due to the absence of high-income generation opportunities.

For e.g., the farmers practice primitive methods of agriculture, with the tribals still practising Shifting agriculture in the country.

Connectivity

As stated above, the North Eastern Region is a landlocked region. Therefore, it has limited access to the sea. Similarly, it has a difficult terrain that renders expressways and wider roads infeasible.

This is complicated by the absence of railway infrastructure in the region.

Insurgencies

One of the major regions for the lack of development in the region is the lack of political and social stability in the country.

The artificial boundaries of the British legacy have not been fully accepted by the tribal communities of the region, which is compounded by political opportunism.

The region is still caught in the vicious circle of violence due to political reasons and the diversion of youth towards the insurgent groups, which leads to a lack of skill enhancement and consequent lack of opportunity.