Sudden consciousness of NE : Beyond the Brahmaputra
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 09, 2012 -

It is raining North East in Delhi. Things are indeed moving at a much faster pace than it was ten or even five years back.

While Manipur existed as a Part C province for 23 long years, from the time it merged with the Union of India in 1949 till the time it was conferred Statehood in 1972, it has not taken more than a month or two, since the visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Myanmar, for the political leaders of Delhi to look beyond the Brahmaputra.

Clearly India's Look East Policy is not merely an external economic policy, as enunciated by none other than Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh himself.

It has gone beyond a strategic shift in India's vision of the world and India's place in the evolving global economy and today it has come to mean where the North East States figure in Delhi's overall scheme of things.

The changing global politics and economy, the emergence of China as a super power, economically and militarily, the opening up of India's economy in 1991, the indispensability of neighbouring countries in South and South East Asia, the reforms that have been put in place at Myanmar etc are all contributory factors for the eagerness in which the country is pursuing the Look East Policy but the spill over effect on the North East States is profound.

And so while it took years for mobile telephony to reach the region with Manipur getting access to mobile phones only in 2004 Delhi and the political leaders are talking about IT development in the region, from a place where the Protected Area Permit is mandatory for foreigners Delhi is today talking about bus service from Moreh to Mandalay, the second biggest town in the neighbouring country, a six way lane highway, new township at Moreh etc etc.

It is amazing to see the speed with which Delhi has started acknowledging the ‘existence’ of the North East region, with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee mooting special economic packages for the region peppered with the readiness of the Centre to help the region to raise loans from the market.

Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has also done his bit in announcing the Ministry's intention to reduce the export obligation under the Export Promotion Capital Goods for traders from the region.

This is a remarkable shift from the past when political leaders from Delhi viewed any visit to the North East States as something of a foreign jaunt accompanied by a foundation stone laying spree without any effort to really understand the issues besetting the people and the place.

In fact so ingrained was the culture of tokenism when it came to the North East that the political babus of Delhi were more than satisfied with verbally criss crossing the entire length and breadth of the region with rail tracks, without ever making the efforts to see how hopelessly cut off the region is from mainland India.

The world may salute Then Sien for the reforms put in place at Myanmar and for giving democracy a chance but to the people of the North East region that gratitude may be expressed for making Delhi conscious of the region lying to the east of the chicken neck or the Brahmaputra and herein lies a tale, a tale which Delhi and the provincial satraps would not like to admit.