November 26, 2001

'8'

       The Minister for Human Resource Development and Science and Technology Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi has said that all possible steps will be taken to develop the North Eastern region through the application of Science and Technology. Administrative and Financial assistance would also be extended by the centre for its over all development. Already ten per cent of all developmental allocations go towards the progress of the North East. He said the government will not only take a macro view but also a micro view, because of the peculiarity of the region which is rich in Herbal, Bamboo and Bio-resources. Dr. Joshi was addressing a meeting of the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, here today. The Itanagar based Institute is fully funded by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

        Dr. Joshi told the meeting that the centre wants to create a sound techno-economic base there taking into consideration the special requirements of the region. The needed manpower will also taken care of, he said. Biotechnology, Polytechnic and Information technology would be very useful in the development of the area. He said, delegations from Technology Development Board (TDB) and Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) will be sent to the region to evolve developmental schemes suitable for the area.

        The Institute has been conceived as an innovative project, primarily for providing an efficient system of technical education for meeting the requirements of the development programmes of the region comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Apart from the governor of Arunachal Pradesh Shri Arvind Dave, the meeting was attended by education Ministers from the seven states and others.