Tura (Meghalaya): A national seminar on 'Rural Empowerment in Northeast India' will be held on November 26-27, 2009 by the Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Production, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Tura.

The national seminar is sponsored by the ICSSR, New Delhi (Ministry or Rural Development).

Prof. S.S. Khare, Pro-Vice Chancellor of NEHU, Tura Campus will chair the inaugural session to be held on November 26, 2009 at 9:30 a.m.

Prof. Nandu Ram, eminent scholar and Dean of School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi will deliver the keynote address.

The seminar assumes tremendous significance considering the enormous emphasis placed on empowerment of rural people in the world over in recent times.

It has been widely acknowledged in many countries of the world that empowerment of rural people, especially the rural poor and weaker sections, is the quintessential requirement for alleviating rural poverty and backwardness and for bringing in effective all-round development in rural areas.

"It is realizing this fact, that the Government of India introduced different programmes of rural empowerment beginning from the inauguration of the Panchayati Raj System in 1959 to the implementation of NREGA in 2004, RTI in 2005 and creation of rural courts in 2009," said an official at NEHU.

Like other parts of India, the Northeast region too experienced the introduction of various rural empowerment programmes in different periods.

However, compared to rest of India, the rural empowerment scenario in Northeast region is unique and complex. This is so because Northeast region exhibits certain distinctive features that are not found in the rest of India.

The differential rates of tribal development in the region, further adds special character to the process of rural empowerment in the region.

The seminar mainly focuses on the following broad objectives:
Understanding the theoretical and conceptual aspects of rural empowerment with reference to the Northeastern situation; Examining the impact of rural development programmes on empowerment of rural people in the region; Exploring the strength and weakness of rural empowerment in the region; Assessing the impact of rural empowerment on weaker sections in the region.

Keeping the above objectives in mind, the following sub-themes have been identified for the seminar:

- Rural Empowerment: Theoretical and Conceptual Issues

- Local Governance and Rural Political Empowerment

- Community Participation, Education and Rural Empowerment

- Poverty Alleviation, Employment and Rural Economic Empowerment

- Women, Gender and Rural Empowerment

- Weaker Sections and Rural Empowerment