SHILLONG, May 26 - The 65th North Eastern Council Plenary session began here today with Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh inaugurating the event.
This morning during the technical session, discussions were held on the developmental projects related to livelihood. In the session, agriculture, rural development, food processing and textiles sectors were the point of discussions.
Later, discussions on entrepreneurship were held. The area of focus was skills development, tribal affairs, Ayush, and other related sectors.
The plenary also presented action taken reports from the northeastern States and discussions were held on these reports.
Singh, who is also the Chairman of the NEC, held discussions with Chief Ministers of various NE States and representatives on making the region �Organic Capital of the Country�.
He also held discussions on the region�s road sector, assistance for procurement of agro and horticulture produce, including medicinal plants, tourism and other issues.
On enhancement of budgetary allocation for the NEC, Singh said, the budget of the Council has been increased from Rs 700 crore to Rs 900 crore. �A proposal has been sent to the Union Finance Ministry to further enhance this budget,� Singh informed.
There were also presentations from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Inland Waterways Authority of India, Health and Family Welfare, External Affairs and Drinking Water and Sanitation.
On Friday morning, Singh will flag off a �North East Leads the Way� run from the Polo Ground. The event has two categories in which juniors would run for a distance of 5 km, while the distance for the seniors would be 10 km.
Later in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the plenary session. He will also release a special cover and stamp brought out by Department of Posts.
A short documentary film on two years� progress of the Ministry of DoNER will also be screened on the occasion.
