North Eastern Region Icons want people from North East to integrate themselves with mainstream India

Icons form the North East wanted people from North East to assimilate themselves with the mainland India and to contribute to the development of the country and the mainland Indians to recognize the contributions of the various North Eastern people during a session on the 2nd day of North East Festival 2013.

MC Mary Kom, Brand Ambassador for North East Festival and Olympian Boxer, Adil Hussain Brand, Brand Ambassador for North East Festival and celebrated Bollywood Actor; Larsing Ming, Promoter, Centre Point Hotels and Owner, Lajong Club and Maharaja Pradyot Debbarama, Maharaja of Tripura, Promoter of various Healthcare & Tourism efforts in the state and General Secretary AICC, Tripura alongwith Shyamkanu Mahanta, organizer in chief, North East Festival shared their views, beliefs and tips to the audience which included North Easterners and Mainland Indians in equal measure. It also included a question-answer session with their icons.

During an autumn of focus on North East India, where New Delhi has witnessed several specific small windows to the region, North East Festival 2013, has been the most successful in creating bridges with the complete North East India and people of the Capital and vice-versa.

In a two day carnival which was held in New Delhi on 8th& 9th November, 2013 at the IGNCA celebrated and showcased not only the cultural & traditional past, present and future of the region but also created awareness about the region and showcase its prospects and potentials.

The event was a combined effort of various prominent personalities of North East and organised by Trend MMS, the reputed Trust of the region and is supported by All Eight States of NER, supported by Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of DoNER and was the biggest such event outside of the North East. It had dances, musical performances, photography exhibition, ethnic food stalls, ethnic handicrafts and handloom stalls, exhibition of all NER States, fashion show as well as serious discussions on the issues of security, tourism opportunities, employment options, and such issues near to the hearts of North East Indians.

MC Mary Kom, brand ambassador of North East Festival and Olympian shared her difficulties while she scaled the heights of success. She said that nobody in the family or friends wanted her to be in Boxing, but discipline, will-power, hard work and persistence was there in her and she took the sport as a challenge hence she was able to succeed. She said “some of my dreams have come true but not yet fulfilled completely.”

Pradyot Debbarama, Maharaja of Tripura, Promoter of various Healthcare & Tourism efforts in the state and General Secretary AICC, Tripura said that he has been successful in sharing the views of Tripuris and North Easterners wherever he has gone. He felt that there was two-way discrimination, by the North Easterners and for the North Easterners. He said, “Moderate and youth should stand up and voice their opinions otherwise they will not be heard. Good people with fresh new ideas should come into politics otherwise they will be ruled by the current crop of politicians and we can’t complain”.

Larsing Ming, Promoter, Centre Point Hotels and Owner, Lajong Club said that “North East is full of possibilities and talent and everyone from the region should come together and help in fulfilling it and providing it the right avenues for growth”.

Adil Hussain, Brand Ambassador for North East Festival and celebrated Bollywood Actor was of the view that a person should be happy in whatever he or she is doing and the parents should be guided by their children rather than guiding them.  He further said, “One should choose their profession according to their choices and remain focused on it, they should love what they do and do all the hardwork and success will follow you.”

North East Festival was inaugurated by Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Paban Singh Ghatowar, Union Minister of DoNER and Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister of State, Ministry of Women and Child Development four Chief Ministers, all the Chief Secretaries of NER States. The first day of the North East Festival also witnessed discussion on “North East India as a central focus of India’s Look East Policy and Internal Security of North East” where keynote speakers were Mr Ranjan Mathai, former Indian Foreign Secretary, Mr Anil Goswami, Union Home Secretary of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr GK Pillai, former Home Secretary of India & Mr PC Halder, former Intelligence Bureau (IB) director. In this session these opinion makers discussed critical issues faced by the region including internal security, peace process with insurgents, North East as central focus of India’s Look East Policy and progress made so far.

With an objective to understand and solve problems faced by North East Students in Delhi, there was a discussion on “Issues of North East Students in Delhi-An Interaction with Student Associations of NER with Delhi Police, Secy. Home Ministry, Planning Commission and Ministry of DONER.

On the second day of North East Festival “Tourism B2B Session with Tourism stakeholders of North East with All India Tour Operators, Officials of India Tourism’ was held where it was agreed that they will jointly work out a model to make Northeast a regular feature in the tourism map of India thereby increasing tourist flow to the region.

A session on Entrepreneurship and Skill Development had participation of Mr Madhav Lal, Secretary MSME, Mr Shikhar Agrawal, Ms Subhra Singh, DGET, Ms Subhra Singh, Joint Secretary, DIPP, Mr JP Rai, NSDA. Leading entrepreneurs from North East like Habib Chaudhary, who have invested in Laos, Dr Kh Palin who have set up a top healthcare facility in difficult areas of Manipur, Mr. S.C Sehgal from Punjab who have huge investment in the North East also shared their journey and their optimism of the development of the region.

Both the afternoons had dance recitals from different parts of the North East Region and in the evening a mega cultural event had key attractions like Zubin Garg & Zublee Baruah, Low Majaw, Kalpana Patowari, Alobo Naga, Guru Reuban Masangwa, Mami Varte, Omak Kamut. Ethnic Fashion Show also had 23 top models and 8 designers of North East, where MC Mary Kom was the show stopper.

Parallel to the main festival there was Ethnic Food Festival including stalls by Roshan Café, Atul Lahkar, Food Store, Joko Valley Restaurant representing food from all the eight states of NER, and a photography exhibition “Paradise Unexplored’’ showcased the extraordinary beauty and unique feature of NER.

Mr. Shyamkanu Mahanta, the Organiser- in- Chief, North East Festival said, “People visiting the experienced the festivity of the region by getting a first-hand experience through traditional food, handloom, handicrafts, etc stalls from the region, cultural performances, literary & academic discussions, presenting successful entrepreneurs and their views on doing business and growth potential of the region as well as initiatives & possible developmental agendas by the states. All these wouldn’t have happened without lively environment created by traditional musicians and dancers various ethnic dances and music throughout the day in an open stage.This year, the emphasis was on Tourism & Culture, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. It is an attempt to connect to people of various ethnicities and to encourage investment and progress.”