Question : Institute in NER

(a) whether the Government has any special policy to create, promote and develop higher educational institutes in the North Eastern region; if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether there is any special provision to protect and promote the rich and diverse traditions, language, culture and biodiversity of NE region;
(c) if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether there is any special provision to protect and promote such diversity and richness of the NE region that is rich in traditions, language, culture and biodiversity; and
(e) whether all the States in the NE region have been provided with a central university; if so, the details thereof?

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

[Dr. Jitendra Singh]

(a) Government of India has given focused attention on promoting Higher Education in the North Eastern Region (NER). Accordingly, the Ministry of Education has set up three Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode in the North Eastern Region in addition to already existing Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions namely, 11 Central Universities, 8 National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, North Eastern Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Arunachal Pradesh and Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar. Also, there are two Central Institutes of Hotel Management (CIHM) run by the Ministry of Tourism in the North Eastern Region at Guwahati, Assam and in Shillong, Meghalaya offering hospitality courses.

(b) to (d) As per North Eastern Council (NEC) General Guidelines 2020, promotion of NER is one of the focused sectors. Moreover, 30% of the NEC allocation is earmarked for focused development of languages, culture, biodiversity, rich and diverse traditions of NER, etc. in addition to development of deprived areas and sections of society. In this Financial Year, projects worth of Rs. 175 crores have already been sanctioned for these sectors. Ministry of Culture in order to protect and promote the rich and diverse traditions and culture of the North East region has set up North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) at Dimapur, Nagaland and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre(EZCC) at Kolkata. These Centers organize various cultural activities and programmes in North East Region on regular basis. All the seven Zonal Cultural Centres organize “OCTAVE” a festival to show-case the rich cultural heritage of the North East.

(e) Each NE State has one Central University with Manipur having three and Assam having two.

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