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NAC to focus on NE development

By Spl correspondent

NEW DELHI, June 10 � The newly reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC) has identified development of the North-East, as one of the key focus areas.

At its first meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, the NAC members were given a presentation by Secretary NAC, Dr. Rita Sharma. All members including, Prof. M.S. Swami Nathan, MP,�Dr. Ram Deal Monad, MP,�Prof. Marinara Judah, Prof. Promod Tandon, Dr. Jean Dress, Aruna Roy,�Madhav Gadgil, N.C. Saxena,�Dr. Shiva Kumar, Deep Joshi, Anu Agha, Farah Naqvi,�Harsh Mander and Mirai Chatterjee, attended the meeting.

Vice Chancellor of North East Hill University, Prof Tandon is the sole representative from the region, who is the member of the NAC. �

Official sources said that the NAC decided to focus on at least 14 issues including the Food security Bill, natural resource managements, revitalization of agriculture, development of Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes, welfare of minorities, Communal Violence Bill, poverty elimination and employment generation, land rights and land reforms, Right to Education, disadvantaged children, health security and medical�insurance, social security and safety net for the disadvantaged groups, urban poverty, development of North Eastern region, besides special plan for Scheduled Castes and Tribal sub plan for Scheduled Tribes

The chairperson, acknowledged the contribution of the earlier NAC especially towards enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). These laws had enhanced transparency and accountability in administration and promoted the UPA government�s agenda for �inclusive growth�, the chairperson�observed.

The members agreed that the work of the NAC would be to provide policy and legislative inputs to Government with special focus on social policy and the rights of disadvantaged groups.

The members of the NAC agreed that the primary focus ought to be on the pro-poor programmes and that the council�s recommendations to the government, should as far as possible, be specific and result oriented which would facilitate further expeditious action in this behalf.

The Chairperson decided to hold the next meeting of the NAC on July 1 to consider the issues relating to the proposed Food Security Bill. The Chairperson and Members of the NAC later called on the Prime Minister.

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