Raju Das

SHILLONG, Jan 29 – The problem of insurgency in the North East is a “national problem” and the entire nation must stand up to make necessary sacrifices in solving it. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said a Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Home Affairs in its report to the Parliament has recognised insurgencyin the North East as a “national problem” and urged that the problem be “tackled accordingly, demonstrating the willingness to make necessary sacrifices by the entire country.”

Kumar during her maiden visit to the region quoted the PSC report while inaugurating the twelfth North East Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference here today.

Touching on the region’s natural resource potentials, she said, despite the potentials the North East is “grappling” with various problems of “underdevelopment, unemployment, backwardness and insurgency.”

Emphasising that realistic development cannot be achieved in the region unless people, who have taken up arms for political objectives, give up violence and work for the region’s development.

Kumar said initiative must also be taken to bring back those “influenced by the cult of violence,” into the mainstream of the society. Stating that “violence and democracy cannot co-exist,” India’s first woman Speaker asserted, movements instrumental in depriving citizens their fundamental rights and undermining development “cannot claim any place in a democratic society.”

On the region’s human resources potential, she added, although having a literacy rate higher than the national average the same has not transformed into high rate of employment opportunities in the North East.

“The high literacy rate has not transformed into a high rate of employment due to lack of economic development and industrial activities in the region,” she told the gathering of Speakers and MPs and other dignitaries of the region.

She further urged the Legislators and Parliamentarians to utilise fund earmarked for development of the region within a “stricter time-frame.” “A total of 233 (Centrally-sponsored) projects for the year 2008-09 are lagging behind the schedule due to delays in utilisation of funds. The projects should be pursued within stricter time-frame,” she said.

the assam tribune