SHILLONG, Dec 11 - Although there is an acute shortage of hostel seats in premier Universities in the North East, hostels are being built outside the region where, ironically, seats are not available for students from the region.
At least two hostels in the Union Capital, Kamrup and Pragjyotish, under Delhi University, have students from the region, while the majority of seats are being allotted to students who aren�t from the NE, JB Bhattacharjee, former Vice Chancellor of Assam University said here recently.
He said, there are other hostels built out of funds meant for the region under Jawaharlal Nehru University, Hyderabad Central University and Pune University. But, like in the case of Kamrup and Pragjyotish hostels, the seats in these too are being alloted mostly to students from the rest of the country and not from the region.
Stating that the Centre and also the State Governments have got their priorities wrong, Bhattacharjee said, the first thrust should have been given to build hostels in the region where there is acute shortage of hostel seats.
In one of the oldest and premiere Universities of the region, Gauhati University, there is an acute shortage of hostel seats. �First priority must be given to build hostels in this University and then think of building hostels outside the region,� the former VC said.
Similarly, in the North Eastern Hill University there is shortage of hostel seats. Several students from the region come to study here, but in the absence of hostel seats they have to live in rented apartments.
Bhattacharjee said, most of the Universities also don�t have advanced and up-to-date courses and therefore students from the region are forced to migrate to other States for higher education.
Looking back at 25 years of economic development in the region during an International seminar, he said, there needs to be a realistic appraisals of the development policies meant for the region.
�We need to analyse whether for example the ASEAN Highway, that would cut through the region, would actually benefit the region. There are other policies like the Look East Policy and now the Act East Policy, how far these policies have or propose to bring economic development in the region has to be analysed,� he said.
Bhattacharjee said the North East must move away from its present economic structure where it has remained a supplier of raw material rather than a manufacturing hub. He said, the infrastructure development in the region has been poor.
Moreover, the region has huge resources and shares over 4,000 km of borders with foreign nations, but these potentials to develop foreign trade with the available resources has not been tapped over the past several decades. These are areas that the Centre and States must dwell upon, Bhattacharjee added.
�We need not go by philosophical statements but go in for real terms. We need to see how much promises were made in the past 25 years and how much of it were translated into action,� he added.