Approach to N E region in 11th Plan

Shillong, Jan 23 (UNI) The National Planning policies have selected balanced regional development of the country as one of the major objectives for progress with the approach document for the 11th Five Year Plan identifying ''Regional Divides'' as one of the major challenges, with special reference to the North Eastern States.

In this regard, the Planning Commission has set up an expert group on equitable development for the 11th Five Year Plan, an official statement said today.

One of the terms of reference of the expert group is to map out linkages of liberalisation, globalisation and transmission mechanism that have an impact on the development profile of backward regions such as the NE region and to suggest appropriate strategies.

The approach document has highlighted as a general principle the various policy initiatives, including fiscal initiatives and targeted programmes that have been evolved to achieve the objectives.

The NE region is being given special focus as its per capita income has been found to be considerably low in comparison to the national figure.

Development of NE States have been hampered by sensitive geographical location, natural calamities, communication bottlenecks, political evolution, poor physical infrastructure, etc, which have adversely affected entrepreneurship development, market development, income generation and capital formation, the approach document has identified.

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