I am assuming that the term "NRA" is being used here to refer the Assamese people who are currently staying outside the state of Assam. I am not going to defend ourselves why we are staying outside the state of Assam but would certainly like to make few points here:
Me and few of my friends (whom I know personally) who are working here in Bangalore never deserted our motherland for greener pastures or the corporate life in which we are working now. Many of us did not get any motivation and encouragement to stay back in Assam and were frustrated. I am not going to explain each and every individual case here and also not trying to justify our actions. We neither have a big brain nor a fat purse but even at our individual level we are trying to help few people from our motherland. Some of us still want to go back to Assam but at this moment we are not that economically sound to start something on our own. I am also a member of few other Assam and North East related yahoo groups. I am aware of the fact that some NRAs staying far apart from their motherland are trying to do something on the ground in Assam. Before leaving Assam during the later part of 2003, I worked with a Government of India project under Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. I have experience of visiting some of the remote parts of Assam. Also I had attended few high level meetings for the agricultural development of the North East. I feel non-availability of fund is not the big issue as according to the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07), all Central Ministries/Departments are required to earmark at least 10 per cent of the Budget for the North-East. "we must add the allocation of 10 per cent of the Plan Budget of each Ministry/Department for schemes and programmes in the North Eastern Region (NER). For the flagship programmes alone, this would amount to an additional allocation of Rs.4,870 crore in 2006-07. The total budget allocation for the NER is Rs.12,041 crore which includes Rs.1,350 crore provided to the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER). From BE 2005-06 to BE 2006-07, the step up is 18 per cent" - from the Budget 2006-2007 Speech of P. Chidambaram, Minister of Finance, Government of India on February 28, 2006. Major problem lies in non-utilization, under utilization and the way the funds are being utilized. I believe, NRAs neither have the authority to question the concerned officials or ministries about the way the funds are being utilized nor have any effective way to protest. Only we can share our concerns and worries, and to do that mostly we will have to use either a "desktop" or "laptop". Regards, -Dipendra Gogoi Bangalore, India
