“Since 2014, there has been a conscious effort to correct the neglect that the Northeast suffered from,” Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.
He was speaking at the launch of Delhi’s Principal Secretary of Transport Ashish Kundra’s book, ‘A Resurgent Northeast: Narratives of Change’ in New Delhi.
According to Puri, the Modi government has made a “conscious effort to correct the region’s neglect,” and that since 2017, “there has been a 74% reduction in insurgency, 60% reduction in attacks on security forces, and 89% reduction in civilian deaths… The PM has visited more than 50 times in the last eight years. There’s been a massive increase in budgetary allocation.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has spent more than Rs 3.84 lakh crore for the development of infrastructure in the North Eastern (NE) states since 2014-15, according to Anish Mondal of The Financial Express.
According to Rajiv Bhatia, a former ambassador, India’s eight Northeastern States are undergoing dramatic change and have overcome several security challenges and are now heading toward economic development.
“Political changes have brought stability to many states and are a major factor. But so is the extensive web of linkages with neighboring Bangladesh, and a valuable third partner – Japan,” the former diplomat added.
Troika of Bangladesh, India and Japan
He then went on to talk about how India intends to bring the troika of Bangladesh, India and Japan (BIJ) closer together for game-changing reforms in the Northeast, as its long-term objective is for Bangladesh and the northeast to become a centre and vital industrial corridor in this region.
According to Bhatia, this effort was obvious during the third India-Japan Intellectual Dialogue organized by the Asian Confluence (ASCON) on 11 and 12 April in Agartala, Tripura this year.
According to a recent ASCON-commissioned study, the development of the Matarbari Deep Sea Port (DSP) on Bangladesh’s south-eastern coast, which is being built with generous assistance from Japan and is scheduled to open in 2027, is a game changer because it is thought that this port will be responsible for the troika.
Other initiatives undertaken by the Government of India include the East-West Corridor (EWC), which runs from Porbandar in Gujarat to Silchar in Assam; the Trilateral Highway connecting Manipur to Thailand via Myanmar, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, and the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project, which includes a sea route for shipping cargo from ports in eastern India to Myanmar, as well as a land route to the country from the north-east.
Tuirial Hydro-power Project in Mizoram, which made Mizoram the third power-surplus state in NER after Sikkim and Tripura, and relaxation of the restrictive regulatory regime of bamboo, where permits for producing, transporting, and selling Bamboo products will no longer be required, are a few other initiatives undertaken by the Modi government.
But what will be the impact of Infrastructure projects in NE India?
India’s focus on the North East Region (NER) would expand the scope of intra and cross-border trade and socioeconomic benefits in the region by creating deeper connections. Most importantly, it is strategically significant since the north-eastern states serve as a major gateway to both China and Southeast Asian states; thus, these corridor projects will be critical for India’s economic and geopolitical connection with these countries.
It would also strengthen India’s Act East Policy and improve coordination with South East Asian states. These corridor-based development initiatives may also stimulate more economic activity and regional development, influencing economic growth through increased output and consumption. As connectivity improves, it is projected that road density would increase as a result of these corridors, resulting in larger freight volumes as well as higher state GDP growth.
According to a research published in the Economic and Political Weekly by Prabir De and colleagues in 2019, the East-West Corridor (EWC) will raise freight volumes in the states that are part of the corridor by up to 90%. According to the same report, the completion of current and proposed infrastructure projects in the north-east might herald more economic growth and improve the region’s geopolitical relevance.
Challenges for troika and development in NE
However, experts have pointed out that reaching this shared vision will be difficult. According to Bhatia, Japan as a lone investor in the Northeast is unsustainable and thus Indian corporations must invest as well, while policy convergence must be broadened and people brought along.
“The Indian government must ease restrictions on the flow of investments from Bangladesh. The three governments should also forge closer linkages of economic cooperation,” Bhatia added.
Japan already provides the most development assistance to India and Bangladesh, but only India and Japan are linked through the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). As a result, he believes that similar agreements between India and Bangladesh, as well as Japan and Bangladesh, should be reached.
Other concerns include Chinese aggression towards Arunachal Pradesh, large-scale migration from Bangladesh, which causes many socioeconomic and political problems, and the culture of ‘bandhs’ in Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland.
Drug abuse is also a big problem among the youth of the North East, with more than 30% of its youth abusing drugs; an insufficient number of polytechnics and higher institutions for engineering, medical, and nursing studies, etc.; and inadequate teacher training, all of which contribute to poor educational standards.
However, the goal of developing northeast needs empowering of people by maximizing self-governance and participatory development through grassroot planning in order to promote inclusive development.
Moreover, connecting a large part of South Asia with Southeast Asia requires an astute pilot and as Bhatia suggests, this leadership can come from the triad of Bangladesh, India and Japan (BIJ).
“A BIJ Forum can be launched first at the level of foreign ministers, and then include stakeholders from business – a move that will be especially welcome in the Northeast,” Bhatia concluded.