INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (4) said the country’s northeastern states will become major drivers of growth in the coming years with Manipur as the main source of the growth trajectory.
Modi said this while addressing an inauguration programme of development projects in Imphal, the capital of Manipur which will go to polls in a few months.
The northeastern state is also set to complete 50 years of statehood on January 21.
Modi said the state “will become the main source of India's growth trajectory and will stretch its potential to other parts of India via enhanced road connectivity and infrastructure projects”.
Stressing that the northeast is all set to become the “new gate of development” for the country, Modi said, “The northeast, where Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s army hoisted the flag for the first time calling it the gateway to India's independence, is now becoming the gateway to fulfil the dreams of New India.”
He inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several developmental projects here on Tuesday.
Modi inaugurated 13 projects worth over Rs 1,850 crore (£184 million) and laid the foundation stone of nine projects worth around Rs 2,950 crore (£293 million); spanning across sectors such as road infrastructure, drinking water supply, health, urban development, information technology and more.
He also laid the foundation stone of construction of five national highway projects to be built at a cost of more than Rs 1,700 crore (£168 million), with a cumulative length of more than 110 kilometres.
This photograph taken on April 28, 2026 shows a boy getting "thali", a sacred thread tied to his neck symbolising marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.Getty Images
This photograph taken on April 29, 2026 shows a member of the transgender community mourning as a priest cuts the "thali", a sacred thread symbolising end of her marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. For a few fleeting days each year, at the heart of the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts -- and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom. Getty Images