Bharatmala : PM Modi’s Flagship project towards New India

India has about 54.8 lakh km of road network, which is the second largest in the world in terms of length. National Highways (NHs) constitute about 2% of the total road network but carry about 40% of the total road traffic across the length and breadth of the country. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) is a project to upgrade and widen major highways to a higher standard. The program is managed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and is the most significant program representing 49,260 km of roads and highways spread across Phase I to VII. In addition, NHDP is implementing other programs like Special Accelerated Road Development Program for North-Eastern Region (SARDP-NE) for development of roads in the North East, Externally Aided Projects (EAP), Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected area projects, comprehensive bridge building program called “Setu Bharatam” where 1500 bridges and 208 Railway Over Bridges (ROBs) are being built. The government has planned to end the NHDP program and consume the ongoing projects under Bharatmala project.

Bharatmala project is a new umbrella programme for the highways sector that focusses on enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions like development of Economic corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes, National Corridor Efficiency improvement, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and Port connectivity roads and green-field expressways. Identification of the project stretches under the components of the proposed program has been done based on detailed O-D (Origin Destination) study, freight flow projections and verification of the identified infrastructure gaps through Geo Mapping, using data from Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG) as well as from other sources. The OD study has taken into account integration of economic corridors with the ongoing NHDP and infrastructure asymmetry in major corridors.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved Phase I of Bharatmala on 24 October’17. Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari said:

“Bharatmala is the new umbrella program for the highways sector that focusses on optimizing efficiency of road traffic movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps. It will be a major driver for economic growth and help realize the Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘New India’.”

A total of around 24,800 kms are being considered for implementation in Phase I of Bharatmala. In addition, Phase I also includes 10,000 kms of balance and road works under NHDP, taking the total to 34,800 kms at an estimated cost of  Rs. 5,35,000 crores. Bharatmala Phase I is to be implemented over a five years period (2017-18 to 2021-22). In addition to Rs. 5,35,000 crore for Bharatmala Phase I, there is requirement of Rs. 1,57,324 crore for ongoing schemes like SARDP-NE, Externally Aided Projects (EAP) and LWE under implementation in the highways sector. Thus, the overall outlay for Bharatmala and all existing schemes put together will be Rs. 6,92,324 crore over a period of 5 years.

Components of Phase I and estimated expenditure are as follows:

Sr. No	Components	Length-Km	Outlay – Rs. Crore
1.	Economic corridors development	9000	1,20,000
2.	Inter-corridor & feeder roads	6000	80,000
3.	National Corridors Efficiency improvements	5000	100,000
4.	Border & International connectivity roads	2000	25,000
5.	Coastal & port connectivity roads	2000	20,000
6.	Expressways	800	40,000
	Total	24,800	3,85,000
	Balance road works under NHDP	10,000	1,50,000
Total		34,800	5,35,000

         Key Highlights of Bharatmala programme

1. Bharatmala will provide National Highway (NH) linkage to 550 districts and be a major growth driver for economic growth in the country. Currently 300 districts have NH linkages.
2. Special attention is paid to fulfill the connectivity needs of backward and tribal areas, areas of economic activity, places of religious and tourist interest, border areas, coastal areas and trade routes with neighbouring countries: Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
3. Bharatmala will give the country 50 national corridors as against the current 6 corridors. With this, 70-80 percent of freight will move along National Highways (NHs) as against the current 40 percent.
4. India is currently grappling with logistics cost of 16-18% making exports uncompetitive. Roads build under Bharatmala will increase the speed of vehicular traffic by 20-25% thereby reducing the logistics cost by 6-8%, making exports competitive. This will have a positive impact on Logistics Performance Index (LPI) of the country.
5. The project will help generate a large number of direct and indirect employment in the construction activity, the development of highway amenities and also as part of the enhanced economic activity in different parts of the country from better road connectivity.
6. The project envisages improving the efficiency of the National Corridor (Golden Quadrilateral and North South (NS)-East West (EW) Corridor) by decongesting its choke points through lane expansion, construction of ring roads, bypasses/elevated corridors and logistics parks at identified points.
7. The project envisages building 3300 kms of Border Roads of strategic importance along international boundaries and 2000 km of International connectivity roads to promote trade with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Out of this, 2000 km will be taken up for Phase I.
8. Around 2100 km of coastal roads and 2000 km of port connectivity roads have been identified under Bharatmala of which 2000 kms are being taken up under Phase I.
9. About 1900 km of stretches have been identified for development of Green field expressways of which around 800 kms will be taken up under Phase I.

Sagarmala Project: India’s Blue Revolution Under PM Modi

 Importance and Potential of India’s Coastal Regions & Maritime Sectors

India is richly blessed with natural maritime advantages, with a 7500 km coastline covering 13 states and union territories, a strategic geographic location on key international trade routes and 14,500 km of navigable and potentially navigable waterways. Maritime logistics has been an important component of the Indian economy, accounting for 90 % of EXIM trade by volume and 72% by value.

The growth of India’s maritime sector is constrained due to many developmental, procedural and policy related challenges namely, involvement of multiple agencies in development of infrastructure to promote industrialization, trade, tourism and transportation; presence of a dual institutional structure that has led to development of major and non-major ports as separate, unconnected entities; lack of requisite infrastructure for evacuation from major and non-major ports leading to sub-optimal transport modal mix; limited hinterland linkages that increases the cost of transportation and cargo movement; limited centers for manufacturing and urban and economic activities in the hinterland; low penetration of coastal and inland shipping in India, limited mechanization and procedural bottlenecks and lack of scale, deep draft and other facilities at various ports in India

Coastal and island waterway transportation is energy efficient, eco-friendly and reduces logistics costs for domestic freight. However, the Indian coastline and river network has historically remained underleveraged. Inadequate focus on developing coastal shipping and inland waterways for domestic (non EXIM) logistics has skewed the modal mix of transport in India with a disproportionately high share of roadways. Raw material often travels a large distance from coastal areas to the hinterland and then finished products travel back from hinterland to the coast for exports. This reduces competitiveness of Indian exports compared to other exporting countries. Internationally, several ports have been successful in generating higher value-addition and  jobs inside the port area compared to the metropolitan area.

Launch of Sagarmala Program

Sagarmala project of the Ministry of Shipping, led by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, was approved in March 2015 and the National Perspective Plan was launched by PM Narendra Modi in April 2016.

The prime objective of the Sagarmala project is to promote Port-Led direct and indirect development, strengthen port and evacuation infrastructure, simplify procedures used at ports for cargo movement, develop new lines/linkages for transport (including roads, rail, inland waterways and coastal routes), setting up of logistic hubs and to provide transport infrastructure to and from ports for quick, efficient, hassle-free and seamless cargo movement. The project aims to unlock the full potential of India’s coastline and waterways.

The Sagarmala project focuses on 6 pillars of development  1)  Port Modernization  2) Port Connectivity  3) Port Industrialization 4) Coastal Community Development  5) Port Infrastructure Enhancement through capacity enhancement and setting up of new ports 6) Efficient Evacuation to and from hinterland/Logistics.

The projects identified under Sagarmala are expected to

1.  mobilize  more than Rs. 8 lakh crore of infrastructure investment.
2.   double the share of domestic waterways (inland & coastal) in the modal mix.
3.   generate logistic cost savings of Rs. 35,000-40,000 crore per annum.
4.   boost merchandize exports by USD 110 billion.
5.   enable creation of 1 crore new jobs, including 40 Lac direct jobs in the next 10 years.

 Highlights of Implementation of Sagarmala Project

1.  As part of Sagarmala, 514 projects at an estimated infrastructure investment of Rs. 8 Lakh crores have been identified for Port Modernization (189 projects, Rs. 142,828 Crores), Connectivity Enhancement (170 projects, Rs. 230,576 crores), Port Linked Industrialization ( 33 projects, Rs. 420,881 crores), Coastal Community Development (23 projects, Rs. 4216 crores).
2. Total 224 projects worth Rs. 1.85 Lakh crore awarded till 31 March’18. 196 projects worth Rs. 71,868 crore expected to be awarded in 2018-19.
3. 59 projects worth Rs. 11,299 crores have been completed till 31 March’18. 98 projects worth Rs. 31,046 crores expected to be completed in 2018-19.
4. Innovative projects like Gogha-Dahej RO-Pax Ferry Services Project, RO-RO Services Project at Mandwa and Majauli in Assam launched.
5. A roadmap has been created for increasing the Indian port capacity to 3500+ MMTPA to cater to the projected traffic of 2500 MMTPA by 2025.
6. About 200 projects costing around Rs. 2.5 Lakh Crore that have been identified under Sagarmala  for enhancing connectivity to Indian ports.  These include 112 road projects, 70 Rail projects, 11 inland waterways projects, 3 pipeline projects and 15 multimodal logistics parks.  
7. In Rajasthan, 2 Multi-Modal logistics parks are under development by CONCOR at Swarupganj and Phulera. In Maharashtra, 4 Multi-Modal logistics parks are under development by JNPT at Jalna, Wardha, Sangli and Nashik. Apart from this, important places like Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and places like Pune, Satara, Mumbai/Navi Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri at Maharashtra are being connected through Road/Rail with Ports.   
8. For promoting port-led industrialization, 14 Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) covering all the Maritime States and Union Territories have been identified. The list of proposed (CEZs) are Kachch, Saurashtra, Suryapur in Gujarat, North Konkan and South Konkan in Maharashtra & Goa, Dakshin kinara in Karnataka, Malabar in Kerala, Mannar, Poompuhar, VCIC South in Tamil Nadu, VCIC Central, VCIC North in Andra Pradesh, Kalinga in Odisha and Gaud in West Bengal.
9. 6 new port locations, namely – Vadhavan (Maharashtra), Enayam (Tamil Nadu), Tajpur (West Bengal), Paradip Outer Harbour (Odisha), Sirkazhi (Tamil Nadu), Belekeri (Karnataka) have been identified.
10. Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL) has taken up 35 last mile works (cost: Rs. 18,832 Cr) across 9 major ports.
11. Total 115 road connectivity projects (Rs. 176,359 Cr, 8,727 Km) have been identified under Sagarmala to be implemented.
12. Thirty five  potential port-linked industrial clusters across three sectors, namely – Energy, Materials and Discrete Manufacturing, have been identified. These include 12 bulk clusters for basic input industries such as Power, Refineries & Petrochemicals, Steel and Cement and 23 discrete manufacturing clusters, in the labour intensive sectors of Electronics, Apparel, Leather Products, Furniture and Food-Processing etc.
13. A world class, state of the art Centre of Excellence in Maritime and Shipbuilding (CEMS), first of its kind in Asia, a start up in skill development for maritime and shipbuilding sector with campuses at Vishakhapatnam and Mumbai was launched by Minister of Shipping on 17th Nov 2017 at a cost of  Rs 766 crore.
14. The National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC), at IIT Madras is being set up at a cost of Rs. 70.5 crore to study engineering issues related to ports, waterways and coasts and in the country. NTCPWC will act as a technology arm of Ministry of Shipping for providing the needful technological support to Ports, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and all other related institutions.
15. PROJECT UNNATI was launched to benchmark operational and financial performance of the 12 major ports with selected Indian private ports and best-in-class international ports for identifying improvement areas and develop a comprehensive improvement roadmap for each of the 12 major ports. Under Project UNNATI 116 initiatives have been identified for various major ports. Out of the 116 initiatives, 86 have been implemented so far.

India, Russia sign $ 5.4 billion S-400 deal. Can India overcome CAATSA?

India has asserted its strategic autonomy by signing a $ 5.4 billion defence deal with Russia for the procurement of Almaz-Antey S-400 Triumf air defence systems during the 19^th India-Russia Annual Summit on 5 October’18. What has not been made public is the exact number of systems sold, including the number of launchers and types of missiles to be delivered under the contract and other anticipated deals like Kamov 226T helicopters, frigates, leasing of nuclear submarine, AK 103 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The S-400 is touted as one of the most advanced and effective long range interceptor based air defence system in the world. The standard S-400 battery consists of four transporter erector launchers (TELs) with four launch tubes per TEL, in addition to target acquisition and fire control radar system and a command post. In the Russian military, two batteries make up a S-400 battalion, whereas a S-400 regiment consists of two battalions.

In comparison to its predecessor, the S-300, the S-400 air defence system features an improved radar system and updated software and can fire four new types of Surface to Air (SAM) missiles in addition to the S-300’s 48N6E, a vertical tube launched single stage SAM with a range of 150 kms and the improved 48N6E2 missile with a reported range of 195 kms. The S-400 is also armed with an improved variant of 48N6E2 missile with a range of 250 kms. The air defence system can also fire two additional missiles, the 9M96E and 9M96E2 with respective ranges of 40 km and 120 km. The latest S-400’s latest and most advanced missile system, the 40N6 SAM has operational range of 400 kms and can destroy targets up to an altitude of 30 kms. The S-400 air defence systems are expected to be fully integrated with the Indian Air Force’s Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS), an automated command and control system for air defence, which integrates the service’s air and ground based air sensors and weapon systems. With the depleting squadrons of Indian Air Force, the task of air defence can now be allocated to missiles and use fighter aircrafts for more offensive tasks.

Complication of India-Russia S-400 deal and CAATSA Sanctions

The conclusion of the agreement will complicate India’s deepening strategic relations with US, given the US threat to impose economic sanctions on countries engaging in “Significant Transactions” with Russian defence industry under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Section 231, CAATSA: requires that the president impose sanctions on any entity that “ engages in a significant transaction with . . . the defense or intelligence sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation”

  

Section 235, describes the sanctions that may be imposed, which include, but are not limited to, prohibiting “any transactions in foreign exchange that are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in which the sanctioned person has any interest” and forbidding “any transfers of credit or payments between financial institutions or by, through, or any financial institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and involve any interest of the sanctioned person”

In September’18, the US imposed sanctions on People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Equipment Development Department (EDD) for China’s procurement of S-400 systems and Su-35S multirole fighter aircraft.

US preserves the transformed US-India Relationship and Partnership

1. Secretary of Defence James Mattis and his predecessors in Trump Administration invested lot of political capital to shape National Security Strategy and National Defence Strategy to give India prominent standing, recast the US approach towards Indo-Pacific to formalize India’s integration into Asian balance of power.
2. US reoriented US policy towards South Asia, pressing hard against Pakistan’s continuing support of terrorism.
3. US liberalized access to advanced US technologies like Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV’s) and granted Strategic Trade Authorization (STA 1) status to India.
4. Secretary of Defence James Mattis urged US congress to exempt India, Indonesia and Vietnam from sanctions obligations associated with CAATSA. The Congress responded in Section 1294 of National Defence Authorization Act 2019 (NDAA 2019) by permitting the US President to exercise the waiver authority under CAATSA, if he can certify that the waiver is fundamentally in US national security interests, that the countries offered relief are taking demonstrable steps to reduce their defence dependence on Russia. The passage of this amended legislation opened the door for potential waiver on handful of countries important to the US.

Ramifications of CAATSA sanctions on India-US Relationship

1. Russia has been the largest defence supplier of military equipments and hardware to India since 1960’s, accounting to about 68% of India’s arms imports, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India depends on Russia for spare parts and maintenance of its Russian military assets, latest technologies and it cannot compromise its National Interests and Strategic Autonomy.
2. President Trump administration has articulated various National Security policies that treated India as a centre piece of both its South Asian and larger Indo-Pacific strategies. Targeting India by imposing CAATSA threatens to undermine the US larger objective of working with India.

Resolution of the Complication due to CAATSA

1. Given the first delivery of S-400 from Russia to India is not expected until October 2020, the US government does not have to react to the conclusion of the S-400 contract immediately since this will likely not be the last Indian purchase of Russian military equipment despite India diversifying its military imports. India’s arms imports from US rose by 557% in the last decade according to SIPRI. India should move forward on one of the several major defence acquisition programs it has discussed with the US over the years, thus enabling India to secure the capabilities it has always wanted while giving President Donald Trump an incentive to speedily issue the waiver that India needs.
2. India’s bilateral trade policy disputes and its overall restrictiveness matters the most to President Donald Trump. India has expressed its willingness to work on fair and reciprocal Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US. Quickly resolving trade disputes in economic arena will expedite the waiver process. 

PM Narendra Modi Reinvigorating North East India

The North Eastern Region of India is a  landlocked landmass which has over 5000 km of international border with Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. It is by and large isolated from the rest of India and is connected to the rest of the country by a narrow stretch of land called “Siliguri corridor” or “Chickens Neck” in West Bengal, which is about 22 km wide. The eight states constituting the North Eastern Region (NER) are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The region’s total geographical area is 2,62,179 square km which is 8% of the country’s total geographical area and its total population is 45,587,982 which is 3.1% of the country’s total population according to 2011 census.

The North Eastern states were re-organized mainly on linguistic basis and due to political exigencies emanating from so much of diversity in ethnicity, culture and levels of underdevelopment. They were not economically viable and had to depend heavily on Central Government for financial assistance, especially Plan assistance, which continues to be given on a 90:10 basis, i.e. 90% is central assistance while the state themselves raise only 10% of the budget and so fall under “Special Category” states.

Even after more than 4 decades of their existence, these states continued to be in the back waters of economic development and needed a great deal of concerted effort to bring them at par with the more developed states of the country. In September 2017, addressing the inaugural session of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), BJP President Amit Shah eyeing power in all eight north-eastern states, said:

“The three year old Modi government had done several times more work in the region than the congress had in 65 years”.

“The region was top priority for PM Narendra Modi. Development of the eight states was a must for overall growth of the country.”

Emphasising the importance of NEDA, Amit Shah said:

“It is not only a political platform but a platform to culturally unite all eight north-eastern states and increase their involvement in national affairs.”

In order to address development issues of the NER, North Eastern Council Regional Plan (2017-18 to 2019-20) was launched with a focus on key sectors 1) Transport and communication sector  2) Power generation, transmission and renewable energy  3) Irrigation, Flood Control, Water Shed Management  4) Industries & Banking Sector  5) Tourism  6) Agriculture  7) Medical & Health  8) Human Resources & Employment  9) Science & Technology  10) Information and Public Sector  11) Evaluation and Monitoring. The NEC provides an effective forum for discussing interstate matters more comprehensively, including drug trafficking, smuggling of arms & ammunition and boundary disputes.

North East India is increasingly gaining significant strategic value due to PM Modi’s “Act East Policy” and ASEAN engagement becoming a central pillar of India’s foreign policy direction. North East India plays an important role as a bridge between India and South East Asia due to which the government is investing massively in connectivity and Infrastructure projects.

Addressing the plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in May 2016, PM Modi said:

“ The government has been focussing on the development of the North East region through its pro-active “Act East Policy”. As a part of this policy, we are focussing on reducing the isolation of the region by improving all round connectivity through road, rail, telecom, power and waterways sector”.

“ The North East is the gateway to South East Asia and we need to take advantage of this. We are opening up both road and rail routes to our neighbouring countries. This should give boost to the economic development of the region.”

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while chairing the 67^th plenary session of NEC in Shillong on 9 July’18, talking about the internal security scenario in the north eastern states said:

“Private investment and the economic activity would not flourish in the absence of peace and normalcy. During four years of NDA government, the security situation has drastically improved. When compared to the 90s, the insurgency related incidents have declined 85 percent. There is 96 percent reduction in civilian and security forces casualties.”

“Today, Tripura and Mizoram are completely free from insurgency and there is tremendous improvement in other North Eastern states as well. Due to this marked improvement in security situation the AFSPA has been completely lifted from Meghalaya and its coverage area has been reduced in Arunachal Pradesh.”

Highlights of the Key Schemes of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)

1. North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) with allocated cost of Rs 1600 crores.
2. Schemes of North Eastern Council (NEC) and North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) with approved cost of Rs 4500 crores.
3. North East Venture Fund (NEVF) for start-ups in various sectors from health to media. Rs 100 crores allocated.
4.  Science & Technology Interventions in the North East Region   (STINER) to bring relevant technologies to artisans and farmers, especially women.

       Key Highlights And Achievements In North East India Under PM Modi

1. PM Modi on 24 September’18, inaugurated Sikkim’s first airport at Pakyong in a move to boost connectivity and tourism.
2. In a big boost to air connectivity and tourism, 92 new routes will be opened in the region  under second round of governments “Udaan” Scheme, announced by Minister Jayant Sinha at inaugural North East Development Summit in November’17.
3. In May’18, Indian Railways revealed plans to invest more than Rs 40,000 crore in infrastructure development and connectivity. The railways intends to connect the capital cities of five North Eastern states in the coming two years: Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland and areas bordering China, Myanmar and Bangladesh with the rest of the country including strategic lines for movement of armed forces. In the last three years, the government was successful in including Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura to the broad gauge map. As many as 29 new trains were introduces in the region in just one year.
4. Solar toilets were installed at Ibudhou Marjing hill Heingang of Manipur, making Manipur the first state in North-East and third in India to have solar toilets.
5. Mizoram became the third power surplus state in North East after Sikkim and Tripura after inauguration of 60 MW Tuirial hydro power project.
6. PM Modi in 2017 inaugurated India’s longest 9.3 km bridge, the Dhola-Sadia across Brahmaputra, connecting Dhola in Arunachal Pradesh to Sadiya in Assam at a cost of Rs. 2056 crore.
7. PM Modi in 2016 inaugurated a petrochemical project in Dibrugadh in Assam, a first ever such project in the northeast. The project is India’s highest wax producing unit using indigenous technology.
8. The government currently is making heavy investment in power transmission projects covering all the eight North Eastern states at a cost of Rs. 10,000 crore.
9. Modi government established two important projects in Assam: Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited and Numaligarh Refinery Limited’s wax unit, which would create huge job opportunities for people in the northeast.
10. In its first, the Modi government implemented an improved internet connectivity project for the North East region in collaboration with Bangladesh, which will make 10 GB of seamless alternate bandwidth available for the region.
11. In August’18, the NDA government passed a bill for India’s first ever Sports University to be built in Manipur.
12. In a landmark decision, the President of India in November’17 promulgated the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 to exempt bamboo grown in non-forest areas from the definition “Tree”, thereby dispensing with the requirement of obtaining a permit for felling of bamboo for economic use. The bamboo was legally defined as a "Tree" under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 which proved to be a major impediment for bamboo cultivation by non-farmers on non-forest land.
13. In August’18, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad released the “Vision Document” for a digital North East by 2022 that aims to enhance peoples' lives by capacity building of government staff and doubling BPO strength in the region. The document identifies eight digital thrust areas namely, digital infrastructure, digital services, digital empowerment, promotion of electronics manufacturing, promotion of IT and ITes including BPOs, digital payments, innovation & startups, and cyber security.
14. MoS Dr Jitendra Singh announced the launch of “Hill Area Development Programme” (HADP) for Northeast in Imphal (Manipur) on June 05, 2017. The announcement was made during a meet of Investors and Entrepreneurs, organised by NEDFi (North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd), with joint participation of the Ministry of DoNER and the Government of Manipur. The scheme will benefit the hilly areas of Manipur, Tripura and Assam.
15. On 16^th November’17, a two-day “12th North-East Business Summit” was inaugurated by MoS Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi to explore the scope for business opportunities in the North-Eastern region of India in the area of Infrastructure and Connectivity with Public Private Partnership, Skill Development, Financial Inclusion, Services Sector Development- Particularly in Tourism, Hospitality & Food Processing.
16. Conference titled “North East India: Organic Production Hub; Opportunities Unexplored” was organized during the prestigious World Food India 2017, on 4^th November’17 in New Delhi. NER has about 50 species of bamboo, about 14 varieties of banana and 17 varieties of citrus fruits. The NER also has huge production of fruits such as pineapple and oranges. There are 3 Mega Food Parks in North East, in the states of Assam, Tripura and Mizoram. The state of Sikkim has been declared the first Organic State of India.
17. The first meeting of the Japan-India Coordination Forum (JICF) for DoNER was held in New Delhi on August 03, 2017. Priority areas of cooperation identified by Indian side included Connectivity and Road Network Development, especially inter-State roads & major district roads; Disaster Management; Food Processing; Organic Farming and Tourism.