‘With respect to employment, migration of youth from the NE is less compared to other states’
NEW DELHI, Dec 19 (PTI): Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday said there is peace and political stability in the northeast since the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre.
Related Posts:
In response to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, the minister for development of north eastern region also said “it is not lip sympathy and we are practically doing development and now, telling the House about it”.
Listing out various development initiatives implemented for the region, Reddy said in the eight years since the Modi government came to power, there is peace and political stability in the northeast, and people are ready to make investments there.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned the initiatives taken up by her ministry in response to certain remarks by an Opposition member.
“Obviously, some words can raise a bit of worry. Certainly no lip service…. I want to give one example which pertains to the finance ministry.
“Before the last budget, I held consultations with all the northeast chief ministers and finance ministers. Based on their suggestions…for livelihoods, a special programme (was launched) from the 2022 budget…. A separate allocation has been made and (that is) going through the North Eastern Council,” she said.
To another query, Reddy said with respect to employment, the migration of youngsters from the northeast is less compared to states such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
In response to a question seeking details of the “large-scale” migration of youngsters from the northeastern states over the last three years in search of jobs and the states to which such migration is high, the minister said the government has no data in this regard for the said period.
“As per the Census 2011, there are 1,52,05,214 migrants in the NorthEast Region (NER) states. Of these, 93.8 per cent (1,42,62,490) are intra-state migrants and only 6.2 per cent (9,44,050) are inter-state migrants.
“The all-India figure for inter-state migration is 11.9 per cent and it is 88.1 per cent for intra-state migration. The top three states to which inter-state migration from the NER states occurs are West Bengal (39.56 per cent), Delhi (7.66 per cent) and Maharashtra (7.4 per cent),” he said.
Opposition members, including those from the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and DMK, were not satisfied with the minister’s reply.
Taking a dig at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Reddy, TMC’s Mahua Moitra wondered whether he is a minister of the saffron party or the Government of India.
DMK’s T R Baalu alleged that ministers are not giving proper replies on policies and making political statements.
