Estimating that accelerating growth in the North East Region (NER) will require investments to the tune of Rs 13 lakh crore in the next 12 years, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), the North East Council and all the eight states in the region on Tuesday adopted NER Vision 2020 with a purpose to close the yawning gap between the region and the rest of the country and restore Northeast to a “position of national economic eminence”.

Achieving this kind of investments would require investment worth Rs 2 lakh crore during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, another Rs 5 lakh crore during the Twelfth Plan and Rs 6 lakh crore during the first three years of the Thirteenth Plan period.

“Whether this kind of money can be made available to the region in the next 12 years and whether there is an absorptive capacity in the region would determine the way development and growth come to the region,” DoNER Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Tuesday, adopting the Vision 2020 in the presence of representatives of all the states.

A record 50,000 people were asked about their aspirations and needs as part of formulating the Vision document. Underling that the “North-East Region is an integral part of the Union of India and its people proud members of the Indian family”, Aiyar, while reading out the Vision statement, said the Union and state governments of the region stand shoulder to shoulder in pledging themselves through this Vision Statement to the rapid realisation of the “ambitious but realistic goals of NER Vision 2020”.

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