• Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 69th plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Shillong.

What is North Eastern Council?

The North Eastern Council (NEC) is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the Northeast region which consists of eight states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

Origin of NEC

• The NEC was established by North Eastern Council Act, 1971 initially as apex level advisory body, for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating effective coordination amongst seven states of Northeast region.

• It came into being on November 7, 1972 at Shillong.

• Subsequent to the amendment of NEC Act in December, 2002, Sikkim was added as eighth Member State, and NEC was mandated to function as a statutory regional planning body for the Northeast region. 

• NEC is under the administrative control of the ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER).

• The NEC comprises of governors and chief ministers of constituent states and three members to be nominated by the President. 

• Union home minister is ex-officio chairman and the minister of state, ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER) is the ex-officio vice-chairman of the NEC.

Significance of NEC

• Establishment of NEC marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned endeavour for rapid socio-economic development of the Northeast region.

• Over the years, NEC has been instrumental in setting in motion an effort aimed at removing the basic bottlenecks of connectivity, capacities, etc that stood in the way of development of the Northeast region. 

• It provides financial assistance for a variety of projects including infrastructure projects like construction of roads, improving air connectivity, etc through state governments.

Additional reading: Five Zonal Councils in India.

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