GUWAHATI, April 30 - The relatively rich human resources of the NE region have the potential to boost a service sector-oriented strategy for it, according to Professor Mrinal Kanti Dutta from IIT Guwahati. He was delivering the 10th Bhabananda Deka Memorial Lecture on �Development Experience of North East Region in Recent Decades�, organised by the Department of Economics, Pragjyotish College on April 27, said a delayed press release here.
Professor Dutta however maintained that the agriculture sector of the region is more likely to succeed as the spearhead of a rapid growth process. Again, he said the unique and diverse terrain of the region has enormous potential for developing its tourism sector.
However, the policy-makers of the region should also boost the agro-processing and non-farm sector. Widespread infrastructure development would aid entrepreneurial activities and lay a proper base for development, he observed.
He lamented that the region had to suffer a lot economically due to the Partition and lagged behind the national average. Its development gap became more pronounced in post-1991 period when the government took to economic liberalisation and subsequently the government sector shrunk. Moreover, the states of the region suffered from lack of proper governance, he said.
A question-answer session followed the lecture. The Department of Economics of Pragjyotish College has been organising the lecture as an annual event under the aegis of the Economic Planning Forum in the hallowed memory of noted economist and litterateur of yesteryear and former head of the Department of Economics of the college the late Bhabananda Deka, who later rose to the post of principal of the college.
Earlier, Dr Manoj Kumar Mahanta, Principal of the college welcomed the guests and audience. Dr Namita Das, head of the department, stated the objectives and presided over the function.
Two fourth semester students � Homsing Chipang and Nipon Talukdar � made a power-point presentation on the department�s field trip to Daranggiri, Asia�s largest banana market. Two books - Development Issues of North East India: A Quest for Solution and Panir Majot Hema Malini � written by Dr Ira Das, faculty member of economics, were also released at the function by Prof Dutta and Biswajyoti Deva Mahanta of the Department of History of the college.
