Rajnath to chair NEC meet in Shillong on July 9
Shillong, July 2: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair here from July 9 the 67th plenary of the North Eastern Council (NEC), a regional planning body of eight northeastern states, an official said on Monday.
Governors and Chief Ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura -- who are also members of newly reconstituted NEC -- will attend.
On June 13, the Union Cabinet brought the NEC under the direct control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Union Home Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of the council.
Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Jitender Singh will be its Vice Chairman.
The first session of the NEC meeting will include tabling of an action-taken report on the 64th plenary and approval of the draft annual plan of NEC for 2018-19 by the council.
Other topics to be discussed include infrastructure and connectivity in the region, in which officials from ministries of road transport and highways, railways, water resources, civil aviation, power, tourism and human resource development will participate.
NEC officials said that the repositioning of the council will provide a forum for more comprehensive discussions on inter-state matters.
Under the new arrangement, the NEC will now also perform the tasks undertaken by various zonal councils pertaining to inter-state issues like drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, and boundary disputes.
The NEC has been instrumental in setting in motion a new economic endeavour aimed at removing roadblocks to development of the northeastern region.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Betrayal of people's mandate': Tejashwi on Nitish's Rajya Sabha entry
Patna (PTI): RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to enter the Rajya Sabha was a "betrayal" of the people's mandate.
Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, alleged the BJP has always been opposed to Dalits and OBCs, and with Kumar leaving the CM's post, it will seek to implement its agenda in the socialist stronghold.
"The BJP has done a Maharashtra in Bihar," he said.
ALSO READ: Lara Dutta stranded in Dubai as Middle East unrest escalates, urges better sense to prevail
"We have been saying from the very beginning that the BJP will not let Nitish Kumar remain the chief minister after the elections. This is exactly what has happened. This development is against the mandate of the people and amounts to a betrayal of it," he said.
Alleging that the BJP had "hijacked" Kumar, Yadav said that was the reason the veteran leader was now moving to the Rajya Sabha.
"BJP is against OBCs and Dalits. They never want a leader from these communities to occupy the top post. They want a chief minister who will function like a rubber stamp for the top BJP leadership," he alleged.
"I had said -- 'Nitish ji ko ghoda toh chadhaya hai dulha banake, lekin phera kisi aur ke saath dila raha hai' (They made Nitish Kumar mount the horse like a groom, but are getting someone else to take the wedding vows)," he added.
Kumar, the state's longest-serving chief minister, filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha polls, paving the way for the first BJP-led government in the state.
