Secretary, North Eastern Council (NEC), Satinder Kumar Bhalla has urged Nagaland to move beyond small projects and prepare ambitious, long-term proposals aligned with the vision of Viksit Nagaland@2047, while exploring the State’s potential in tourism, forests, agriculture, technology and other emerging sectors.
According to a DIPR update, Bhalla made the statement during a meeting with senior officials at Polo Hotel, Aradura Hill, Kohima, on Friday, following his visit to the State Museum and Kisama Heritage Village after inspecting coffee plantations at Touphema.
The meeting was attended by G Ikuto Zhimomi, Adviser, Land Resources, and senior officers from the Departments of Tourism, Art & Culture, Land Resources, Eco & Statistics, and Planning & Transformation.
In his welcome address, Principal Secretary and Development Commissioner, Y Kikheto Sema, IAS, thanked the NEC for its continued support to Nagaland and stated that the State had received ₹1,644.36 crore from the council over the past 22 years for 252 projects.
Sema highlighted Nagaland’s natural resources, rich biodiversity, cultural heritage and favourable climate as key opportunities for economic development. He particularly emphasised the potential of coffee, tea and rubber plantations and said the State has set a vision of expanding coffee cultivation to 50,000 hectares by 2030.
He identified health, education, roads and other infrastructure, tourism, as well as meat, egg and fish production as areas requiring greater investment. He also called for greater promotion of eco-tourism, agro-tourism and forest tourism by leveraging Nagaland’s natural and cultural assets.
Sema stressed that Nagaland’s culture was both its strength and identity and should be effectively linked with tourism and economic development. He also sought greater flexibility in cost norms for the Northeastern States, particularly Nagaland, in view of the region’s difficult terrain, high transportation costs and other geographical challenges.
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Responding to the issues raised, Bhalla said the NEC was looking forward to receiving a comprehensive “wish list” of projects from Nagaland. He encouraged the State to think beyond small, fragmented projects and develop ambitious proposals with a long-term horizon up to 2047, in line with the vision of Viksit Nagaland@2047.
On tourism, Bhalla suggested the development of an “iconic tourism circuit” connecting key destinations across Nagaland and proposed adopting a “One District, One Destination” approach to strengthen tourism-based economic activity.
He also highlighted the economic potential of Nagaland’s forests, stating that conservation and development could go together. He pointed to opportunities in areas such as carbon credits, e-sports, information technology, IT-enabled services and cultural heritage that could generate employment while supporting environmental protection.
Bhalla further encouraged greater processing and value addition of agricultural produce within Nagaland, saying this could reduce wastage and enable farmers to secure better returns from their produce.
The interaction concluded with an emphasis on strengthening the partnership between Nagaland and the NEC and developing larger, sustainable and employment-oriented projects aimed at supporting the State’s long-term economic development.
