A New Troika for India’s Northeast Region

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Recently, the third India-Japan Intellectual Dialogue was hosted by the Asian Confluence (ASCON) in Agartala (Tripura).
- It was an ideal opportunity to assess the evolving thinking of experts and policymakers.
North-eastern India is an extensive web of linkages with neighbouring Bangladesh.
- Besides, Japan has emerged as a significant development partner for both India and Bangladesh.
- It showed that the current decade may produce path-breaking changes in the northeast, bringing the troika of Bangladesh, India and Japan closer.

The Northeast region of India comprises eight states – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura – each with its own distinct history and identity.

It is a diplomatic initiative by India to promote economic cooperation, and cultural ties and develop strategic relationships with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the States of North Eastern Region with other countries in our neighborhood.
The Northeast of India has been a priority in India’s Act East Policy.
This eastward drive started in 1992 under the Look East policy.

Strategic Location: The North Eastern Region of India is a landlocked region with no sea access. The existence of the Siliguri Corridor, known as the chicken’s neck in India, complicates matters.
Links with Southeast Asia: The North Eastern Region is physically next to Myanmar, which is part of South-East Asia. As a result, it has the potential to serve as India’s “Gateway to Southeast Asia.”
Electricity Resources: Due to the presence of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, the North-Eastern area offers enormous potential for hydroelectric electricity. It has also been a source of crude oil and natural gas in the form of the Digboi oil fields.
Carbon Sink: As part of the Paris Summit, India has pledged to develop an additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon sink each year through its Nationally Determined Contributions. With its vast forest cover, North-Eastern India can play a significant part in such an endeavor.
Agricultural Resources: The North Eastern area is endowed with natural resources that are critical to the country’s economic progress.
Ecotourism and the Environment: Because of its lush green terrain, distinctive tribal culture, fresh air, agreeable climate, and different topography, the North Eastern area has the potential to be a tourist hotspot.

Difficult and hilly terrain, geographical location, and short working season pose a challenge to the development of optimal infrastructure and communication links within the region and with the rest of the country.

The infrastructural bottlenecks include inadequate road and railway connectivity, power transmission and distribution, telecom connectivity, and the absence of airports in the region.

The objectives of improving mobile connectivity in all the villages in the region, improving high-speed internet connectivity, last mile internet connectivity from the village to a consumer have not been achieved satisfactorily.

The industrial scenario is not encouraging in terms of the number of factories as well as the shares of fixed capital, invested capital, net value-added and the number of workers in the industrial sector as compared to the all-India position.

While there are number of colleges and universities, North East Region lags behind in quality education and lack of constructive higher educational institutions.
Natural Resources Utilization: Northeast India is a storehouse of natural resources that are essential for creating employment and generation of GDP in Northeast India are either underutilized, unutilized, and mismanaged.

All eight states of the North-East have international borders with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Myanmar, or Bhutan.
With such vast borders, there is always room for illegal immigration, arms smuggling, cattle, and commodity smuggling.

The North-Eastern states have witnessed a rise of insurgent activities and regional secessionist movements. Some of the insurgent groups are United ULFA, PLA, NSCN, and ATTF.

There are existing inter-state and international territorial conflicts within the Northeast that are often based on historical border disputes and differing ethnic, tribal or cultural affinities. Example: Assam-Mizoram Border Dispute.