Act East Policy and NE region's indispensability
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 12 2016 -
It was none other than President of India Pranab Mukherjee who made it a point to take all the Eastern States, particularly North Eastern States on board the Government of India’s Act East Policy (earlier Look East Policy).
“Connectivity of the North Eastern States must be improved by strengthening the road and rail network. There is a need for a progressive policy for industrial investment and promotion in the hilly and mountainous States”, remarked Pranab Mukherjee at the concluding session of the 47th Conference of Governors held on February 10, 2015 at New Delhi.
The President’s statement clearly manifests that the Northeastern region has not been made active agents of the Government of India’s Act East Policy so far and there is a lot to be done before the region can serve as India’s gateway to South East Asia and beyond.
One can also deduce that the region is still plagued by absence of progressive policy and meaningful industrial investment.
In another word, the region is lagging far behind other parts of the country in terms of socio-economic development which means there is a huge disparity.
This disparity was not created overnight. The disparity grew to such magnitude because the region constituted nothing more than a frontier or a buffer zone for many decades.
The region came to the limelight only with the conceptualization of the Look East Policy.
Suddenly, the North East region, which was neglected and marginalised all along, became indispensable.
The Northeast has found a key position in the overall scheme of the Government of India’s ambitious project called Act East Policy on account of its highly strategic location.
To put it in a nutshell, the Act East Policy or the Look East Policy cannot be materialised in the absence of the North East region.
But how much or how far the region can benefit from the ambitious project is still shrouded in mystery.
In fact, to many keen observers, the Look East Policy (LEP) sounded like a Pandora’s Box as far as the North East region is concerned.
As much as the LEP is an economic policy aimed at integrating the liberalized economy of India with the thriving economies of the ASEAN countries and beyond, the LEP is a composite politico-military strategy propelled by changing geo-political considerations.
This is understandable if one takes into account the ever rising Chinese influence among ASEAN countries and the decades old insurgency movement in the North East region.
Given these existential realities, many are apprehensive that the LEP would come with a heavy baggage of military doctrines, and extensive militarization of the whole region.
Apart from its stated objectives of coupling the Indian economy with the thriving economies of South East Asia, LEP is also seen as an effective instrument for engaging Myanmar, perhaps the most isolated country on Earth till the last couple of years and thus, counter China’s growing influence in South East Asia.
The Government of India and all stake holders must ensure that the North East region and Manipur are not reduced to mere interface of geopolitical engagement among India, China and ASEAN.
If Myanmar is a key partner of India’s Look East policy, the North East region in general and Manipur in particular are the pivots of the entire policy.
To enable the North East region transform itself as an active agent of LEP, there must be adequate investment in terms of education, trade and commerce, physical infrastructure etc.
Most importantly, there must be practical and progressive administrative policies which can empower the region politically and economically within the shortest possible time.
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