"Now our country is growing at a rate of about 7 per cent. To catch up with that growth, the region has to have a growth of 14 per cent per annum," NEC secretary U K Sangma said at a workshop on opportunities in the north-east.
According to Sangma, the region has registered a better growth rate than that of the national average in the pre-Independence period.
"An economic survey conducted in 1944 showed that the region as a whole has a growth rate higher than that of the national average. Post independence, our growth declined," Sangma said.
The reason, he said was that, "Before Independence, the borders in the region were open to free trade, people were allowed to interact and go up and down freely with neighbouring countries".
The NEC official said the border residents in the region were the richest in terms of economic activities until the borders were sealed politically which resulted in immediate stoppage of trade and commerce.
"From then on, we are connected with the rest of India with a 27 km chicken neck and this is the reason why we lacked behind and why we should work overtime," Sangma said.
"The state governments in the region has to give a massive dose of investment to push the growth rate at 14 per cent. The problem is where do we get that much money and where to invest," he said regretting that tea industry is the only industry which is having a reasonable investment in the region.
