The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitendra Singh said that several new initiatives for the youth of Northeast have already been rolled out while others are in the pipeline, during an interactive session here yesterday, organized by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has come out with a “Venture Fund” for the young Start-Ups. He said that, considering the incredible talent of the Northeast youth in excelling in international athletics and gymnastics, a state-of-the-art Sports University will soon come up in Manipur, for which the land has already been acquired.

Dr Jitendra Singh also mooted the idea of holding coaching classes for preparation of Civil Services Examination via satellite and tele-education for youth living in the remote parts of peripheral States, where they felt deprived of such facility unlike their counterparts in some of the metros and other cities.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that it is remarkable how the youth of Northeast had the capacity and determination to excel in diverse fields of activity, notwithstanding the constraints of lack of infrastructure or training/coaching facilities. Citing the example of the Tripura girl, Ms. Dipa Karmakar, who achieved world fame through her performance in Gymnastics, Dr Jitendra Singh said that he was pleased to note that the Ministry of DoNER had also tried to mentor her during her preparatory phase, even though in her early phase she did not have enough access to any formal training.

With a fast-track improvement in connectivity and means of transport during the last three years, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the business houses as well as investors have started showing interest in Northeast, which would ultimately augur well for job creation and employment. Even this year, he disclosed that there was a significant increase in the tourist flow, due to the priority given to the Northeast region by the tour operators from the rest of the country.

In response to a query, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Public-Private-Participation (PPP) model will help to carry forward all these initiatives and the private sector can also be encouraged to spend a substantial part of CSR (Corporate Social-Responsibility) funds in the remote areas of NER. He said that, for this purpose, he would take up with the Government, the feasibility of giving tax exemption for CSR spent in this region or fixing a certain mandatory percentage of CSR for this purpose.

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KSD/NK/PK/KM