Shillong: Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma demanded a shift in mindset during the MPOWER Youth Opportunities and Economic Growth Workshop in Tura on October 29. He told the crowd that Meghalaya must move past identifying problems and start owning solutions. He pushed stakeholders to stop criticizing and start working. "Everything starts with believing that things can happen and that you want it to happen. That small spark is what the government is trying to create in every person," Sangma said.
The Chief Minister warned against trying to fix everything at once. He wants teams to pick priority challenges, find resources, and build momentum with early wins. While he admitted the state still lags in certain development metrics, he claimed his administration's work over the last eight years is gaining traction. He noted that some state-run programs now serve as national models.
The workshop, held under the Meghalaya Programme for Adolescent Wellbeing, Empowerment and Resilience, brought together government officials, elected representatives, and academic partners. The group included representatives from the Harvard Growth Lab, Harvard University, the Meghalaya Institute of Governance, and the Bharti Institute of the Indian School of Business. They examined how to push growth in tourism, border trade, food processing, and high-value agriculture.
Experts addressed structural hurdles such as heavy rainfall, remote geography, and a heavy reliance on subsistence farming. Sangma stressed that the state needs to move beyond government jobs. He called for a focus on sectors like IT and horticulture to build sustainable livelihoods on the foundation of strong local communities.
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