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India’s efforts towards Act East Policy

Posted on March 20, 2021 by admin1  60

In News

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) stated that connectivity is an important element of Act East Policy.

About Act East Policy

  • The ‘Act East Policy’ was announced in November 2014 at the  12th ASEAN-India Summit in 2014 held in Myanmar.
  • Act East Policy is the successor of Look East Policy which was promulgated in 1992.
    • Unlike Look East which focussed on Economic Cooperation with ASEAN nations, Act East focuses on the extended neighbourhood in Asia-Pacific and involves Security cooperation as well.
  •  It aims at promoting economic cooperation, connectivity, trade cultural ties and developing a strategic relationship with countries in the Indo-pacific region with a proactive and pragmatic approach and thereby improving the economic development of the North Eastern Region (NER) which is a gateway to the South-East Asia Region.   
  • AEP provides an interface between North East India including the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the ASEAN region.

India’s initiatives to strengthen the Act East Policy

  • Includes
    • Agartala-Akhaura Rail Link between India and Bangladesh
    • Intermodal transport linkages and inland waterways through Bangladesh.
    • Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project –
      • Kaladan transit project in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is seen as crucial to improving connectivity with the landlocked northeastern states
    • The Trilateral Highway Project connecting the North East with Myanmar and Thailand.
    • Under India-Japan Act East Forum, projects such as Road and Bridges and modernization of Hydro-electric power projects have been undertaken.
    • Among other initiatives assistance has been extended in the form of medicines/medical supplies to ASEAN countries during the pandemic.
    •  India is also implementing Quick Impact Projects in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to provide development assistance to grass-root level communities in the fields of education, water resources, health etc.
  • Other initiatives
    • Mahabahu-Brahmaputra inland waterway project-
      • The launch of Mahabahu-Brahmaputra will be marked by the inauguration of the three Ro-pax vessel operations between Neamati-Majuli Island, North Guwahati-South Guwahati and Dhubri-Hatsingimari.
    • Dhubri Phulbari bridge
      • Foundation stone for a 19-km-long four-lane  Dhubri Phulbari bridge over the Brahmaputra
      • It will be India’s longest bridge over a river that connects Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya, to be constructed at the cost of Rs 5,000 crore.
    • National Bamboo Mission
      • The Mission envisages promoting holistic growth of the bamboo sector by adopting an area-based, regionally differentiated strategy.
      • The aim is to increase the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing.
  • Bru or Reang resettlement
    • The agreement has been signed between the Government of India, Government of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru community representatives in New Delhi on 16th January 2020 to put an end to the 23 years old Bru refugee crisis.
  • Digital North East Vision 2022
    • It was launched by the Union Minister for Electronics & IT in Guwahati.
    • The Vision Document emphasizes leveraging digital technologies to transform the lives of people of the northeast and enhance the ease of living.
  • NITI Forum for North East
    •  Focussed attention on the development of NER:
    • The forum examines various proposals both at the Central and the State levels and prepares plans for the speedy development of the North Eastern Region.
    • The Forum proposed that the development projects in the NER would be based on the concept of “HIRA” (Highways, Inland Waterways, Railways and Airways)

Significance of North East

  • Northeast states are increasingly gaining a significant strategic value.
  • With ASEAN engagement becoming a central pillar of India’s foreign policy direction, these states play an important role as the physical bridge between India and Southeast Asia.
  • In view of the attractive natural environment and growing trends of outbound business meets, the NER also offers ample opportunities for the business tourism segment.
  • Heritage tourism has picked up considerably in the Region with a participatory approach

What is the Siliguri Corridor?

  • India’s North East is geographically isolated from the rest of India and is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land called the Siliguri Corridor also known as Chicken’s Neck.
  •  It is about 200 km long and 60 km wide. At its narrowest, it is just 17 km wide.
  • The corridor extends from the Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Terai areas of West Bengal towards the North East.
  • The region is important for trade, commerce and tourism for West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
  • All land trade between the North East and the rest of the country happens through this corridor

Seven Sisters of Northeast India

  • The ‘seven sisters’ of Northeast India comprise Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
  • Sikkim is also a part of the Northeast but is not included in the Seven Sisters because while the other seven states are contiguous, Sikkim is sort of a neighbour, divided by the Siliguri Corridor.
  • Sikkim is also referred to as the ‘Brother’ of the Seven Sisters.

Source :PIB


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