The Union Cabinet on Wednesday has approved the proposal for the nomination of the Union Home Minister as ex-officio Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC), a decision that could further boost the developmental initiatives in the northeastern states.
The proposal was put up from the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
Approving the proposal, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails the repositioning of the (NEC) – a statutory body with governors and chief ministers of all the eight northeastern states as its members. The Cabinet has also approved that DoNER minister would serve as Vice Chairman of the Council.
The NEC implements various projects through the state and central agencies. Under the new arrangement with Home Minister as Chairman and Minister of DoNER as Vice Chairman, NEC and all the governors and chief ministers of northeastern states as members would provide a forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future.
NEC can now also perform the tasks undertaken by the various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-state issues as drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, boundary disputes etc.
This repositioning of NEC will help it to become a more effective body for the northeastern region.
The Council shall, from time to time, review the implementation of the projects and various schemes included in the project; recommend effective measures for coordination among the state governments for these projects. The Council shall have such powers as may be delegated to it by the central government.
The NEC was established under the North Eastern Council Act, 1971 as an apex level body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating coordination with the states.