Imphal, Jan.

India yesterday assured Bangladesh of not building any irrigation project downstream of the Tipaimukh hydro power structure in Manipur.

Indian ministries of power, external affairs and water resources conveyed the message to the parliamentary delegation from Bangladesh in an hour-long interaction at the South Block of the Secretariat Building in New Delhi.

Notwithstanding tall claims by the north-eastern States, the region has recorded huge losses of forest cover, with the Forest Commission calling for an end to nexus between politician, bureaucrat and contractor in Assam and three other States. If the nexus between politician, bureaucrat and contractor goes on developing, as is the case in Assam, Uttaranchal, Himachal and Kashmir, then any attempt of development will be diminished and then the exploited tribal people will try to take revenge, the Commission warned.

Since the economy of the North East is basically agro-based, the primary reason for its poverty is agricultural backwardness. The very fact that the region has to look after 3.8 per cent of India's population with only 2.7 per cent of national income earned by its economy shows what poverty-distance it has to meet in order to catch up with the rest of the country. The region's per capita income-distance from all-India average has increased from Rs 1,706 in 1993-94 to Rs 7,000 in 2005-06.

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The centrality of the Northeast to India's ambitious national electrification plan cannot be overstated, since the region will be required to generate about 60 per cent of the total power produced through some 45 mega hydroelectricity projects. In the pro