The Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah on January 23, 2021 chaired the 69th meeting of the North East Council (NEC) in Meghalaya capital, Shillong.
- Mr. Shah said that the Prime Minister directed that every 15 days, a Central Minister would visit some state in the North-East by turns and Shri Narendra Modi has himself visited the North East more than 40 times and more than 300 visits have been undertaken by various Ministers of the Central Government.
What is North Eastern Council?
- The North Eastern Council is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region which consists of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
- The North Eastern Council was constituted in 1971 by an Act of Parliament as apex level advisory Body.
- The NEC Act was amended by the Parliament in 2002 (Act No. 68 of 2002). The ‘North Eastern Areas’ now means the area comprising the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram. Sikkim was added as 8th Member State through this amendment.
- The Council now has as its members the Governors of the States mentioned above, the Chief Ministers of the said States and three Members nominated by the President.
- The President will nominate the Chairman of the Council and he need not be nominated from amongst the other Members.
- The Union Home Minsiter is ex-officio Chairman and the MoS(IC) DoNER is the ex-officio Vice-Chairman of the NEC.
- The North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, 2002 enjoined the NEC to act as a statutory Regional Planning Body for the North Eastern Region.
