‘Better connectivity of northeast India with rest of world is crucial’

AGARTALA - Better connectivity between northeast India and the rest of the world is necessary to ferry men and material between the region and the outside world, President Pratibha Patil said here Friday.

“Efforts in these areas (connectivity) must continue as increased connectivity would facilitate two-way movement of people and goods within the region and outside,” Patil said at a civic reception organised in her honour by the Agartala Municipal Council.

She said: “For the northeast region, development of infrastructure and improvement of transport facilities are very important.”

“Tripura is the second largest producer of natural rubber in India. Taking advantage of this, rubber based industries have ample scope to prosper here. Rubber and tea plantation activities also have a special economic significance in rehabilitating shifting cultivators (tribals), which exist in many parts of this region.”

“However, as we seek food security for all it is now time for a second green revolution. The Tripura government has envisaged a strategy to attain self-sufficiency in production of meat, egg, fish and milk,” the president said appreciating Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar as a “dynamic chief minister of India”.

Patil said: “The number of females per thousand males in Tripura is higher than that at the national level,” adding that “I am happy to learn that Tripura has made reservation for women to the extent of 50 percent of the total seats, in the urban local bodies”.

The president appreciated the Tripura government for providing land rights - Pattas - to over 116,000 tribals under the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

“This will provide an opportunity for tribal families to undertake economic activities that will provide them sustenance.”

Sarkar said: “The northeastern region is unable to tap its resources properly due to inadequacy of basic physical infrastructure.”

“This is the single-most important factor of underdevelopment and one of the basic reasons of terrorism in the region,” Sarkar told the president.

Patil accompanied by her husband Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat arrived here Friday afternoon from Mizoram capital Aizawl and she will attend the eighth convocation of the Tripura University Saturday.

“Patil arrived in Agartala delayed by 165 minutes as the president’s Agartala bound special Indian Air force aircraft could not take-off from Aizawl due to bad weather,” a senior airport official here said.