India, Feb. 1 -- The Union Budget 2026-27 once again speaks to the Northeast in the familiar vocabulary of promise-connectivity, culture, agriculture and strategic integration, even as allocations for the Ministry for Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) show only a modest increase. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated the government's focus on what she described as the "Purvodaya States and the North-Eastern Region to accelerate development and employment opportunities," positioning the region within a broader eastern growth narrative.

At the core of this approach is the funding for DoNER. In Budget 2025-26, the ministry was allocated Rs 5,915 crore, accounting for roughly 0.12 per cent of the ...