‘Act East, Act Fast’: PM Modi Reveals Mantra to Bring Northeast on a Par With Rest of India at News18 Rising India Summit

New Delhi: Unprecedented efforts and energy is being put to bring India's East and Northeast regions on a par with the pace of progress in the rest of the country, Prime Minister Modi said during his keynote speech at News18 Rising India Summit on Friday.

India has brought the Northeast from "isolation to integration," he said. "People used to say Dilli Dur Ast [Delhi is far away] but I have brought Delhi to the doorsteps of the North East," the PM said.

Through his "Act Eas, Act Fast" policy, Modi said he was focussing a lot of the attention of the state machinery to reducing social imbalance in the region.

"But there are those who think that I'm working in Northeast for some political gains only. Let me tell them, they have lost touch with the realities on ground," he said.

Talking about the theme of the event, Modi said "Rising India" to him meant an India that is united in its aspirations.

"To me the idea of Rising India is an India whose aspirations and growth is united. It doesn't just mean amassing record forex reserves, receiving unprecedented foreign investments. India will rise only when social imbalance reduces," Modi said.

Modi talked about his recent trips to the North East, where his party was able to form government in 3 out of 3 states that went to polls last month.

"I just returned after inaugurating the Indian Science Congress in Manipur this morning. This was my 19th tour to the North East in my tenure as the PM," he said.

The Prime Minister commented how his government has worked overtime to change the image of Northeast "that has been a traditional laggard in the march towards progress and prosperity. Our government has worked hard to bring this region at par with the rest of the country."

Giving instances, Modi talked about how his government restarted a gas project in Assam that was pending for the last 31 years, or how through the efforts put in by his ministers the first commercial flight had just landed in Sikkim.

"We also started work on strategically located Dola Sadiapur, that shares border with China and we have given priority to East when it came to expanding higher education institutions," Modi said.

He also talked about energy projects that his ministry kick started in the region. "There were 18,000 villages that after independence had not received electricity, of this 13000 were in Northeast. We are working overtime to reduce this deficiency and to a large extent we already have," he said.

He also recounted successes India has made in fields of education, health, power and renewable energy, and diplomacy.

"We believe that there should not be any silos, only solutions. This is why we have worked for progress holistically. There has been a rise in immunisation coverage from 1% to 6%. The sanitation coverage has gone up from 38% to 80%," the Prime Minister said.