Top

Published in:

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

1. Towards a Perspective on the Look (Act) East Policy and Northeast India

Authors : Atul Sarma, Saswati Choudhury

Published in: Mainstreaming the Northeast in India’s Look and Act East Policy

Publisher: Springer Singapore

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

While the potential for developing resource rich Northeast India and South East Asia through economic complementarities is immense, the existing transport and communication network within the Northeast and between the two regions results in high transportation costs and a fragmented market. Given large unexplored domains of demography and economy of the region, it continues to be isolated and landlocked even after a decade of envisioning Northeast India within the Look East Policy framework. Mainstreaming Northeast India’s development concerns within the Look (Act) East Policy will provide a development frame of the region given it’s locational advantage with S.E. Asia. Region’s resource endowment provides a sound rationale for making it central within the Look (Act) East Policy instead of being a mere gateway.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

next chapter Integrating Northeast with South East Asia: Great Expectations and Ground Realities

The share of ASEAN trade with India has gone up from 8 per cent in 1997–98 to 10 per cent in 2014–15, and ASEAN FDI to India over the last 25 years has increased by 22 per cent.

Assam has the longest railway route in the region (2434 km) followed by Tripura (151 km), Nagaland (13 km), Arunachal Pradesh (12.73 km), Mizoram (2 km) and Manipur (1 km).

This is operated by Druk Air with two flights a week (Paro–Guwahati–Bangkok) and four flights a week (Paro–Bagdogra–Bangkok). The much hyped Guwahati–Bangkok direct flight operated by Indian Airlines was grounded on April 23, 2003, due to reasons of low seat occupancy in the flight and the high cost of operation. Regional flight networks had been mooted in September 2015 with Guwahati as the major hub.

Bilateral relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh are not cordial on account of the Rohingya issue in Rakhine state; India and Bangladesh need to resolve the Teesta river water sharing issue. There is simmering discontent between Myanmar and Thailand* over the long border of 2400 km, of which only 60 km is demarcated.

*The problem lies in the crux of the Burney Treaty which was signed in 1826 by Thailand and Britain after the British possession of Burma in 1824. This treaty established the current boundary between the two countries. After the independence of Myanmar in 1948, Thailand refused to abide by the demarcation, emphasizing that it had been an imposition by the British. Since then problems like ethnic insurgency and illegal immigration has often kept the border between the two nations in an uneasy quiet.

ASEAN. (2002). Text of Singapore lecture in 2002. http://www.asean.org/2835.htm. Available at http://www.cpd.org.bd/pub_attach/op64.pdf

Das, S. K. (2015). Governing India’s Northeast: Essays on insurgency, development and culture of peace. New Delhi: Springer.

Expansion of North. (2011). East India’s trade and investment with Bangladesh and Myanmar, an assessment of the opportunities and constraints. RIS Research and Information System for Developing Countries Ministry of DONER.

FICCI. 2014. Gateway to the ASEAN: India’s Northeast Frontier, November, p. 10.

Juergens, L. (2014). BCIM and BIMSTEC: Two competing initiatives for Northeast India? Institute of peace and conflict studies. http://www.ipcs.org/article/india/bcim-and-bimstec-two-competing-initiatives-fornortheast-india-4454.htm

Leonard, M. (2015). Geo-economics: Seven challenges to globalisation. World Economic Forum, January 2015, Geneva. Available at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFGeo-economics7 Challenges Globalization 2015 report.pdf

Ministry of External Affairs. (2012, December 20). Vision statement-ASEAN-India commemorative summit. Available at http://www.mea.gov.in

OKDISCD. (2015). Look (Act) East policy and North East India. Conference brief, September 25–26, 2015.

Rahman, M., Rahman, H., & Shadat, W. B. (2007). BCIM economic cooperation: Prospects and challenges. Dhaka: Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Raja Mohan, C. (2015, January 29). From looking East to acting East. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. http://www.mea.gov.in/infocus-article.htm?24714

Sarma, A. (2011). Integrating North-East with South-East Asia: Great expectations and ground realities, J B Ganguli Memorial Lecture delivered at Tripura Central University on April 11, 2011.

Singh, L. R. (2000). The Kunming initiative: Prospects for sub-regional cooperation. The Asian Scholar. Available at http://www.asianscholarship.org. Accessed 13 Apr 2016.

Title: Towards a Perspective on the Look (Act) East Policy and Northeast India
Authors: Atul Sarma
Saswati Choudhury
Publisher: Springer Singapore
Book: Mainstreaming the Northeast in India’s Look and Act East Policy
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-5319-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-10-5320-7

Copyright Year: 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5320-7_1