North East : Development through the Lens of Health and Gender-Yojana April Summary

                                                                Introduction
The discussion on development in the North East region requires multiple lenses, multiple
stakeholders, a strong and dedicated political mandate and a continued dialogue with the people
of the region. Participation builds empowerment and an empowered population is the key to
development. A discussion on development must include an overall understanding of its various
dimensions, their overlaps, key components, their derivatives and: their effect in the short
term as well as in the long term. This indeed is a complex domain and requires expertise and
foresight to plan and achieve the right things at the right times and at the right places.
Focus North East: Even though the dimensions of development are not any different theoretically
in North East India, but, this discussion takes a unique turn when we shift focus to
this region.
One of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse regions in India with each state having
its distinct culture and tradition, North East India is home for more than 166 ethnic groups with
a wide range of languages. The lushness of its landscape, the range of communities and geographical
and ecological diversity makes the North East quite different from other parts of the
subcontinent. These diversities in terms of location, population, language, coupled with geopolitical
factors makes this terrain unique as well as different from the mainland India. These
create gaps which run in many layers affecting development in the region as well as pan-India.


What ails the North East?
Slow development in the region has always been attributed to the difficult terrain and to
issues of accessibility. But upon zooming in further read deeper inspection, there are a number
of reasons which are responsible for the slow pace of development. Socio-political reasons,
arising from within the region and beyond, have made it uninteresting for industries to invest
in the North East, despite its beautiful terrain. This has led to poor infrastructure facilities,
which is the primary pre-requisite for sustainable development.

Drug Use in the Region: With' its unfavourable position of sharing international borders
and its proximity to the notorious 'golden triangle', the North East region has suffered the most
(and continues to do so) from the drug menace, compared to any other region in the country. In
the recent years, injecting drug users have emerged as a high-risk group with the highest prevalence
of HIV.
Overlapping Gender, Drug and Health: The patriarchal social structure, specifically, the
position of woman in the society makes it very challenging for women to address and deal with the problems that emerge from drug use. There exists a huge gap between the involvement and
power possessed by men and women in relation to social participation in the negotiation of
circumstances ensuring safe sex for women. The level of IEC/BCC [information-educationcommunication and behaviour change communication] currently available in the community does not equip women to access options that would permit adequate harm reduction for themselves.

Under the umbrella of harm reduction, there is great opportunity to create IEC/BCC
strategies that would adequately address the needs of women for protection in relation.to both
sexually transmitted infections: (STI)/HIV and Sexual Reproductive a Health (SRH).

What can be done?
Awareness advocacy, and public debate on drug use, access to health
infrastructure by people in the injecting drug and in sexual networks are recommended.
Harm Reduction for injecting drug use requires a multifaceted approach through interventions
specific to address clinical, psychological and social issues. Like any other function of
behaviour, injecting drug use needs a holistic understanding for
a. reasons of drug use in each individual and influencing factors,
b. available options and opportunities for adopting saferbehaviours, and
c. non-judgemental and sensitive family/ contmunity support.

Conclusion
The discussion on development in the North East region requires multiple lenses, multiple
stakeholders, a strong and dedicated political mandate and a continued dialogue with the people
of the region. Participation builds empowerment and an empowered population is the key to
development.



https://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/northeast-states