The North Eastern Council

Look at a map of India. Far in the east, eight states sit in a cluster of hills and valleys. They share long borders with other countries. Their roads and rivers are tied together, but they are far from Delhi. In 1971, Parliament made one council just for them.

1Why does the Northeast have a council of its own?

Some problems do not stop at a state border. A road, a power line or a flood plan may touch three states at once. The Northeast has many such problems.

• The five Zonal Councils were set up in 1956. They do not cover the Northeast.
• So the region got a separate body, the North Eastern Council (NEC).
• It is later than the Zonal Councils. It is also not one of the five.
• Its job is to help the eight states plan and work together.

2How was the North Eastern Council born?

• Parliament passed the North Eastern Council Act in 1971.
• The Council was formally inaugurated on 7 November 1972, at Shillong.
• It began with seven states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
• In its early years it was mainly an advisory body.
• The Act was amended in December 2002. Sikkim became the eighth member state.
• The same amendment made the NEC a statutory regional planning body for the Northeast.

3Who sits on the Council?

After the 2002 amendment, the Council has a clear membership. It is a mix of state leaders and nominees of the President.

• The Governors of the eight states are members.
• The Chief Ministers of the eight states are members.
• The President nominates three more members. The state Governors do not nominate anyone.
• Officers from ministries such as Home Affairs and DoNER may attend meetings. Attending does not make them members.

4Who leads the Council today?

• In June 2018 the Union Cabinet moved the NEC closer to the Home Ministry.
• Since then the Union Home Minister is the ex-officio Chairman.
• The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for DoNER is the Vice-Chairman.
• Before 2018, the DoNER Minister was the Chairman.
• The Council still works with DoNER as its nodal ministry. Do not say it works under the Home Ministry.

5What does the Council actually do?

Think of the NEC as a planner and a meeting table for the eight states. It does not run state governments.

• It acts as the regional planning body for the Northeast.
• It tries to line up the development schemes of the eight states.
• It discusses matters of common interest and can help when states disagree.
• It also backs regional institutions. One example is the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), run with the Department of Space.
• Its Secretariat is in Shillong, Meghalaya.

6What are the exam traps on the NEC?

• Trap 1: the NEC is a constitutional body. It is not. It is statutory.
• Trap 2: Manipur is the eighth member. It is not. Manipur was an original member. Sikkim is the eighth.
• Trap 3: the state Governors nominate the three members. They do not. The President does.
• Trap 4: the NEC is a nodal agency under the Home Ministry. The nodal ministry is DoNER, even though the Home Minister is Chairman.
• Match the year to the event. 1971 is the Act. 2002 is Sikkim. 2018 is the repositioning.

7How has the NEC been asked in exams?

8What changed in 2018?

• The Union Cabinet approved the repositioning of the NEC in June 2018.
• The Home Minister became Chairman. The DoNER minister moved to Vice-Chairman.
• The first meeting of the reconstituted Council was held in Shillong.
• Exam writers like this change. It tests whether you know the old and the new setup.