Imphal, June 12, 2026: Chief Minister of Manipur, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, today called upon NITI Aayog to play a decisive role in the state’s economic recovery, peace-building efforts and long-term development. The Chief Minister was speaking during the interaction between NITI Aayog and Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of North Eastern States held at New Delhi.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has described India’s Northeast as the “Growth Engine of India” and as ‘Ashtalakshmi’, Khemchand Singh affirmed that development is the most effective tool to end insurgency and unrest in Manipur. He noted that Manipur has suffered greatly economically, socially and developmentally in the last few years.
Stating that NITI Aayog has a major role in the development of the North East and Manipur, the Chief Minister sought its support in planning economic recovery, coordinating with ministries, and engaging international partners.
During the interaction, Khemchand Singh highlighted that connectivity is one of the most important sectors where Manipur requires sustained and major investments. He said major projects such as railway connection to Imphal, national highway projects connecting Imphal to the rest of the country, and airport terminal expansion need early completion, as they have the potential to transform the state’s development landscape.
He also urged support for projects including the Imphal Ring Road, Elevated Highway in Imphal, and the Imphal–Moreh Railway Project.
The Chief Minister maintained that the Act East Policy envisions Manipur as India’s main land-based gateway to Southeast Asia, but execution of projects often faces delays due to cross-border political instability and other challenges, resulting in a persistent implementation gap.
To address this, he requested NITI Aayog to set up a high-level “Act Fast Implementation Unit” to protect critical cross-border logistics infrastructure from localized disruptions. He also proposed establishing an ‘Act East Regional Coordination Cell’ in collaboration with the North Eastern Council to regularly coordinate border, logistics, and security policies among Northeastern states.
Khemchand Singh further stated that medical institutions in the state, including RIMS and JNIMS, require significant modernization, noting strong potential for treating patients from Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar. He suggested that NITI Aayog could coordinate with the Ministry of Health to develop a Super-Specialty Tertiary Care Expansion Framework for Manipur, enabling it to emerge as a medical tourism hub for Southeast Asia.
The Chief Minister pointed out that internal security challenges and civil friction create a risk premium that discourages private investment and increases construction and maintenance costs in the state. He sought support for designing a special fiscal incentive framework providing Vulnerability Gap Funding (VGF) for infrastructure projects affected by security concerns.
He further observed that central scheme allocations often yield significantly lower physical infrastructure in the North Eastern Region and Manipur compared to other parts of the country due to difficult and hilly terrain. He suggested formulating a Terrain-Weighted Cost Index Matrix to provide Northeastern states a 20–30% fiscal premium in central fund distribution to offset geographic constraints.
Khemchand Singh stated that Manipur depends heavily on central grants, with its own tax revenue contributing only about 10% of total revenue receipts, limiting its developmental capacity. He added that NITI Aayog could help prepare a roadmap to strengthen the state’s fiscal capacity through Fiscal Stabilisation Grants, greater flexibility in centrally sponsored schemes, and access to multilateral development bank funding and technical assistance.
The Chief Minister thanked NITI Aayog for arranging the meeting and expressed confidence that the deliberations would contribute towards building a Viksit Manipur, Viksit North East, and Viksit Bharat @ 2047.
The interaction was attended by Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Ashok Kumar Lahiri, Chief Ministers of North Eastern States, Members of NITI Aayog, Chief Secretaries of all North Eastern States, and officials of NITI Aayog and State Governments.
