Translating Ideas into Action for Vision
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: November 07 2015 -
During a recent interaction with students hailing from the Northeast region of India residing in Delhi, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh said that the youth from all over the country should visit and stay in the Northeast to understand the culture and other aspects of the region.
Dr Jitendra Singh’s comment was made when the students were taken on a trip organised by the DoNER Ministry to acquaint them with various offices under the Ministry.
The students were informed about various steps taken by the Ministry for the welfare of the Northeast. The aim of the visit was to make the students of North east aware about the schemes and initiatives taken by the DoNER Ministry for the people of Northeast.
Though the idea of the union minister can be appreciated, one should note the qualitative difference it would make if the comment was made in a bigger national gathering of youth instead of the over 100 Northeast students from the Delhi University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Moreover, one wonders if there is any qualitative difference between this tour and the national integration tours organised from time to time by armed forces like the Assam Rifles.
In the latter’s case, it has been claimed that such tours gave the youth and children from the remote region an opportunity to visit historic cities to discover the grandeur of India.
As mentioned elsewhere, there is a serious need to rethink on organising such tours as they primarily target only youngsters from the Northeast under the assumption that such measures would reinforce the idea of unity and diversity of India.
The Government should rather take the idea thrown open by Dr Jitendra Singh more seriously and make the youth from other parts of India visit and stay in the Northeast to understand the key aspects of the region.
If the authorities act on such ideas, Northeast tours should be organised for children and students from other parts of India.
It has been observed that children from other parts of India need to literally open their eyes on the numerous cultures and potentials of the Northeast region which the Government of India has been earnestly attempting to promote as part of its Look or Act East Policy.
If the region continues to be pigeonholed into the idea of a perpetually sensitive and conflict ridden space, the children or the youth of India will not get the real picture of the country as envisaged.
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