NORTH by NORTH EAST

By Sanjoy Hazarika
The Statesmen: 1 November, 2006

Roadmap for ManiAs Mani Shankar Aiyar takes over his new portfolio at the ministry for the development of the north eastern region (DoNER), we join others in wishing him well in his assignment and the knowledge that he will bring to his charge the energy, articulation, capacity and transparency which has characterised his life and work.

The Prime Minister has taken a step which is bound to be welcomed across the North-east ~ and among its neighbours, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and China, countries that Mani has visited and where he is held in esteem.

As someone who has known Mani for over 23 years ~ we first met in his incarnation as Consul-General for India in Karachi and then when he took over as spokesman for the ministry for external affairs, a worthy successor to the late Mani Dixit ~ I can say that he is certainly among the sharpest minds that I have had the privilege of sparring with and he speaks his mind with a clarity and brilliance that has few peers.

But he is now heading into a region where every step he takes, every move he makes, every word he speaks on any issue will be watched, analysed and scrutinised by scholars, pundits, media, government leaders and politicians.

This is of course not a new situation for Mani; he enjoys the cut and thrust of politics but also, unlike many of his colleagues, of actually doing something on the ground, in the field, that makes a difference to the lives of people.

For a situation as complex as the North-east, Mani will receive a lot of gratuitous advice from local and Delhi-based pundits, both from the media and elsewhere, who know little or nothing of ground conditions but think they have a God-given right to make a mess of things there.

So, he will have to steer clear of such do-gooders. And since he’s “new” to the situation ~ although he did take care of Manipur and other states for the Congress until a few years ago ~ here is some more but very basic advice.

oEnsure transparency at the top and through the ministry as well as the North Eastern Council: MPs and others had complained about this to the Prime Minister and the party leadership;

o As part of that process, develop review mechanisms to monitor ministry-funded projects, which would include stakeholders, community leaders and strong, independent NGOs and put out the findings on the ministry website regularly;

o Develop a time-chart on moving ahead on the “Look East Policy” in practical terms by focusing on two or three areas of natural advantage and strength for the region, such as tourism, international trade, organic fruit and vegetable processing, floriculture and environmental safety;

o The “Look East Policy” should be part of an overall foreign policy that enables India to develop strong economic and social relations with its neighbours, especially since the North-east shares 99 per cent of its borders with other countries: scholarly and cultural exchanges among cross-border communities (the Lisus are in Arunachal Pradesh, Myanmar and Yunnan Province), South East Asian and Chinese language training schools in the NER and develop strong research institutes which study and work on South East Asia and China.

The latter can be done in collaboration with the ICSSR, ministry of human resource development and the University Grants Commission: Mani being Mani, he, if no one else, can bring this together. It is appalling surely that, given its historic and geographic location, not a single university of the region has a South East Asian department, barring a small unit on Myanmar studies in Manipur University and

oReview the NER Vision 2020 project which was based on interviews with 40,000 rural households and which flagged priorities sought by villagers, discuss it with members of the North Eastern Council (chief ministers, governors, among others) and see which segments can be implemented on a time-bound approach.