Insurgency has affected the development of the Northeast and initiatives should be taken to bring militants to the mainstream, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said here on Friday.
“We need to take initiatives to bring back those influenced by the cult of violence into the mainstream of our society. Everyone involved has to realise that violence and democracy cannot co-exist,” Ms. Kumar said while inaugurating the 12th North-East Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference.
She said no development initiatives could produce results unless violence was discarded as a means of achieving political objectives.
Ms. Kumar regretted that in spite of having a huge potential in terms of mineral wealth, water resources, forests and favourable agro-climatic condition in the region, it is grappling with problems of under-development, unemployment, backwardness and insurgency.
“There is a need to empower and energise various institutions of local self government like panchayats, village councils and village development boards so as to promote peace and achieve equitable and inclusive growth,” she said.
