New Delhi, Jan 08: Mr. G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER) participated as the chief guest of the North East Festival virtually and interacted with entrepreneurs and potential startups.
The North East Festival is one such programme that is being organized as a part of the DoNER Dialogues – a series of events that interact with various stakeholders such as the youth, and entrepreneurs of the North eastern region.
While addressing them, he said that the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi rightly said, the North East Region is fast becoming the ‘gateway of national growth’. ‘Vocal for local’ or Atmanirbhar Bharat has empowered people with the needed support at every step.
The Hon’ble Prime Minister has placed development of NER as a foremost priority through the ‘Act East’ initiative. The Minister felt that the Northeastern region now has the opportunity to lead the development journey of New India. Over the last seven years, the Northeastern region has seen consistent progress in connectivity of roads, railways, airways, internet and logistics.
He said that as India is celebrating 75 years of Independence, the country has achieved tremendous growth in every sector. The entrepreneurs have contributed throughout the journey of economic progress and building brand India.
The Minister observed that the region is a rich reservoir of natural resources, minerals and forest wealth, flora and fauna, fertile land, exotic fruits and vegetables and unparalleled scenic beauty.
Along with this, the geographical proximity to South east Asia, the region has immense trade potential as well. With the required infrastructure and market linkages, the North East can become a trade hub to South east Asia. For this, large scale efforts are being undertaken to improve connectivity both within the nation and with other states.
The Minister stated that the capital connectivity project is set to open a new chapter in the growth story of the region. He felt that the pace of development is visible and that road and highway projects worth over 85,000 crores are in progress across the region.
Even in the case of air connectivity, the scenario has improved by leaps and bounds as 4G mobile connectivity and Wi-Fi Connectivity for Village Panchayats is being enhanced. This growth in connectivity should soon turn into economic prosperity for the eight states and the people.
The Union Minister highlighted the role of an enabler, that the government was playing by tapping into the inherent potential of the region by creating a conducive business environment.
He said that the Government aims to tap this potential across the tourism sector, organic farming, agriculture, horticulture, IT sector, services industry, textiles among others.
In all these sectors there is immense opportunity for entrepreneurship and investment. Ever since Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the Startup India initiative, the entrepreneurial spirit has swept the nation.
Along with several initiatives such as Start Up India, Stand Up India, MUDRA yojana, Start-Up North East movement is gaining huge momentum through the North East Venture fund scheme. The scheme is helping the youth explore the untapped potential of the States and also make a good living for themselves.
The Minister Sri Kishan Reddy also spoke about the celebrations of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and the initiative being taken up by the government in documenting the inspirational journey of 75 young entrepreneurs from NER who are under 40 years of age and felicitate them for their achievement.
The Minister said that a book will be compiled and these young performers will also be given institutional support from IIM Shillong to help them scale up their business. He said that there will be a ripple effect and inspire others to start their own journey.
He urged the startup owners to mentor budding entrepreneurs to help them further chart a future of growth and development. With the visible and rapid development in the last 7 years, The Hon’ ble Minister has urged the business community to confidently carry the message of ‘investment ready North East’ across the country and beyond.
The Hon’ble Minister thanked Mr. Shyamkanu Mahanta and the organizing Team of North East Festival for bringing the various entrepreneurial stakeholders of North East on a common platform.
