A Winning Strategy for India’s North-East

Abstract

For most Indians, the North East (NE) has remained largely on the fringes of nationhood as well as on the periphery of the country’s geography. This is partly because India has ignored the region politically and economically for a long time, and partly because the complex social and cultural dynamics have made it difficult to integrate the region with the rest of the country. However, India can never achieve sustained high economic growth or become a powerful integrated nation if it continues to think of developing NE as a rural infrastructure project. It is a region of seven states – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura – that has four international borders – China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan – and accounts for a major source of hydrocarbons (oil and gas), coal, limestone, tea, bamboo and other resources. A big, bold, tangible, all-encompassing strategy is suggested in this article to kick-start an economic revolution in the NE, using domestic businesses and partnerships neighbouring South East Asian countries. The paper uses the model of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), a $90 billion effort funded jointly by Government of India and Government of Japan to make western India into an economic powerhouse. Part 1 of this paper examines the political and economic landscape of the region and explains how diplomacy, policing and development brought peace to Assam and to NE at large. Part 2 proposes a major new economic plan for the future, with Thailand as partner.