Youthopia

THE SUNRISE STATES

Realizing the growth potential of North-East

TEAM YOUTHOPIA

Group coordinator: Alif Hossain

Group members:

1. Niriksha Bishnoi

2. Ashutosh Mohapatra

3. Sneha Boyana

4. Devika Singh

OUR MOTO: “Set thy heart upon thy work but never its reward”

“Even though the team is made up of diverse personalities, we function with cohesiveness. For every task undertaken,

our primary objective is to outperform. Emphasis is given on team success rather than individual accolades.”

The NORTH EAST INDIA covers an area of 255,511 km2, or about 7% of India’s total area.

They have a population of 44.98 million in 2011, about 3.7% of India’s total. It is a true frontier

region which has 2000 km of border with Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh and

is connected to the rest of India by a narrow 20 km wide corridor of land. The economy of NER

is agrarian although little land is available for settled agriculture due to the inaccessible terrain.

Insurgency

The parochial governments and Delhi centric move of the Indian

government is at the core of much of the discontents, widespread

dissatisfaction, feelings of being oppressed and in the impression of

being colonized. There is an incessant idea in the minds of the people

that their identity is being scoured due to the submergence into the

vast ocean of Indian humanity. Thus, insurgency has mushroomed in

the region and the secessionist movements, either for sovereignty or

for separate homeland, began to lock horns leading to a vertical

division among various ethnic groups.

Infrastructure

The rich natural and human resources available in the region

cannot be utilized to the full extent mainly due to the geo-political

condition, including ever-deteriorating law and order, which has a lot

of implication on the development of must needed infrastructure. The

negligence of the central government in the past and due to the

problems of insurgency at present resulted into the gross deficiency of

infrastructure in the region. This has crippled the free flow of factors

as well as products. In such a situation, it would be hard for the region

to accrue the benefits of globalization. Under the prevailing

circumstances mere allocation of funds or implementation of new

policy would not suffice to tackle the problems in the region.

Governance

“The state is

responsible for the

creation of

conducive political, legal and economic environment for building

individual capabilities and encouraging private initiatives.”The state of

governance in the region is in pathetic condition. Government

machinery is on the brink of collapse. Corruption, squandering of

public funds, deteriorating law and order, lack of transparency and

accountability, bureaucratic rigmarole, insensitivity and so forth are

quite rampant in the region. There is widespread allegation of

insurgency-government officials-bureaucrats-politician nexus,

including law enforcing agencies, and siphon off public funds. All this

has eroded the individual capabilities and institutional capacities to

meet the social objectives.

The present state of affairs in the region is past deed of the

central government and what the future generation will face would be

decided by One Single Decision or Idea.

“A GOOD DECISION IS BASED ON KNOWLEDGE AND

NOT ON NUMBERS.”

MYANMAR IS THE SOLUTION FOR NORTH EAST

Solving the insurgency problem in the NER bilaterally by

involving security and intelligence exchange between the

border forces.

Ethnic ties and tribal linkages between the insurgents on

either side of border have facilitated their movements and

finding of safe haven and camps in those areas. Thus

holding cross border talks and missions in eradicating this

from the grass root.

After a series of arms seizures in Chittagong and other parts

of Bangladesh, Myanmar has emerged as sole route for

weapons into the northeast. Camps in Myanmar allow these

rebels to stockpile these weapons and transfer them at

appropriate time into India. Improved ties will kill the very

oxygen (i.e., arms) from the insurgents.

The warlords in Myanmar have encouraged growing poppy

plants in NEA as well. Unless these new plantations are

destroyed and gainful agricultural alternatives provided to

the farmers, the India- Myanmar border will soon be dotted

with poppy fields feeding the processing plants in western

Myanmar. Joint collaboration between the Border

Security Forces of both the countries is needed.

Myanmar being an energy rich country can full fill the need

of India’s energy crisis. The proposed International pipeline

through Bangladesh should be taken more seriously as the

IPI pipeline has taken the shelves.

It can transform India’s North-East and bordering

region. Development of Sittwe port will allow our

Northeastern states to access the port and reduce India’s

transportation dependency on the security sensitive

Siliguri corridor.

Myanmar possesses resources that are required

desperately by India e.g. natural gas, minerals, and

pulses. Myanmar has 2.54 trillion cubic meters of

natural gas reserves and the largest copper mines in

Asia. Investing in these areas and in the undeveloped

secondary and tertiary sectors like educational, telecom

and healthcare systems will dramatically improve the

trade through NE thus enabling the boost to the growth

to the region.

Connecting Myanmar with the NER will lead India into

the open market of the South East Asia (particularly

Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, South Korea and Taiwan).

The recently explored oil-rich region of South China

Sea will also be available. Thus prospering the NER

and reducing the Indian traffic in the Strait of Malacca.

Thus India can have a direct land trade route through

the NER.

Infrastructure Project - India-Myanmar-Thailand-Cambodia (IMTC) Quadrilateral

Quadrilateral Highway from Moreh in India to Phnom

Penh in Cambodia through Nai Pyi Taw in Myanmar with total

length of 2,300 km

Balance Import vs Import Traffic

Proposal Benefits

Promote Export Traffic

Establish branches of

Indian & Myanmar

banks in the border area

Frame strategic industrial

and economic policies

for NE

Develop NE as the most

modern textile hub

(handlooms, Handicrafts)

Promote Import Traffic

Setup IT based security

services on the highway

Stabilize exchange rates

Security improvement

across the border

Economic

Stability in trade balance &

market prices

Economic growth

Control over illegal

taxation and trades

Ecology

Spreading environmental

friendly practices and

habits across the regions

through Tribal way of

living

Social

Cultural & literacy

development

Skill development through

technology and industry

FRIENDSHIP ROAD - AMPLIFYING STATUS QUO

PROPOSAL BENEFITS VISION

To make the NER the biggest transit point between India

and ASEAN

GLOBAL STANDARD

Create the Best Globally standard in Eco-Wayside

Amenities

Basic Resting Relief Special

Fuel station Hotels Accident

relief centre Rural Tourism

Parking place Toilets Security

centre

Souvenir

Shop

Banking Resutrants Information

centre Internet zone

Transit duty free land port (widen the current list)

Economic

Smooth border trade and gain comparative advantage

Formation of micro economy for managing wayside

facilities

Growth in trade in high value products.

Ecology

Eco-Friendly practices giving benefit across the

spectrum of Land Energy Water Waste Air Carbon

Social

Reduction in Insurgency

Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP)

BOOST TRADE

Proposal Benefits

Overcome project

challenges

Increase support and

funding to take the

project completion.

Target for early

completion

Eco-friendly

implementation

Environment

conservation

Water management

practices

Strengthen old ties

Gain access to

Bangladesh port

Economic

NE to gain sea

access to ASEAN

zone

Facilitate bulk trade

via Sittwe port

Open up contiguous

markets

Opening up trade

with Bangladesh

Ecology

Distance travelled by

trader is reduced by

half

Cheap &

Environment friendly

transport

Social

Improve quality of

life

Tourism “Paradise unexplored”

One of the most promising income and employment generating sectors in North Eastern Region and with climatic, scenic and varied, robust

cultural attractions the North East can and must be developed into a list-one tourist destination. Opening up of the trade-routes to South East Asia

would give further boost to tourism in the region.

PROMOTING AND DEVELOPING NE INDIA as the ECO AND

ADVENTURE TOURISM CAPITAL

Introducing TREE HOTELS and lodges in the forest area.

Eco friendly, cost effective and attractive for tourism.

No huge investments necessary

Promotion and Govt. help needed.

Employment to local people including tribals.

Income to the forest department.

The other key ideas-

• Creating a Regional Tourism Development Corporation.

• One food craft institute to be set up in each state.

• Guwahati to be developed as a major national and

international air hub with Imphal as the regional hub.

• The State PWDs, the Ministry of Road Transport and

the Highway Authority of India to ensure that the

tourism destinations in the national and regional circuits

are adequately connected.

• To enable tourists to enjoy the local environment and to

allow the socio-economic benefits of tourism to spread

to rural areas, responsible rural tourism to be developed.

At least two such centers will be developed each year in

each state from 2014 onwards.

DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT

REQUIRED

Priorities Suggested:

Primary sector.

Education (HRD).

Primary Healthcare.

Rural connectivity.

Value addition to local produce locally for income

enhancement.

Employment generation including micro level enterprises for

rural unemployment.

Agriculture and Primary Sectors:

Land reforms.

Horticulture on massive scale.

Efficient market infrastructure through regional master plan.

Self help group.

Fishery:

Raise production of fish to 12 lakh MT.

Reservoir & unregistered beels and swamps utilized for fishery.

Promote MAHSEER for in situ and enhanced production.

Exploit riverine stretch (about 2000 KM) for fishery.

Est. fish producers co-operative society/ farmers club for high

production and marketing.

Sericulture:

2 lakh ha. Wasteland be encouraged for seri.

Two clusters of 200ha./300m farmers be set up in each district.

Sericulture development mission with special Central Grant.

Raise production level of seri to 6000 MT.

Industry and Employment:

Developing small & micro enterprise through growth poles.

15 year bamboo DP under NERBM to generate 1 million jobs.

Crash programme to train youths in petroleum tech to takeoff the

big employment market by oil giants in the region.

Programme for development of Khadi and Village industries,

may create about 5 lakh job opportunities.

Wide scale IT application for knowledge based development.

Infrastructure:

Increase road length of district roads and upgradation of national

highway to 4-lane with separate regional road maintenance fund.

Development of ten old airstrips in the region.

Completing existing railway tracks and all capitals be connected.

Make Brahmaputra-Barak-Meghana into a natural

waterway.

Make NER destination for fresh water for various parts of world.

Education:

Management of primary education by local community.

Training of all untrained teachers through a crash programme to

be jointly implemented by SCERTs, NCERT and IGNOU.

Health:

Communatization of primary health care system.

Setting Regional Medical Univ. & para medical institutions.

Increase health sector budget to 6 percent of GDP.

Rural Development:

Minimum road connectivity to all the 40000+ villages.

Electrification of the 8400 villages and 45 lakh households.

Water supply to the uncovered 46.54% rural households.

At least two rural clusters in each of the 484 blocks in the region.

Set up a regional centre for rural studies.

Promotion and application of appropriate rural technology.

Measures to Correct Financial Imbalances: Set fiscal targets on basis of long term macro economic forecast.

Constitution of state level fiscal advisory boards.

Reduction in administrative overhead.

Making tax system efficient.

Better project implementation and monitoring.

Governance and Decentralization:

Need of a responsive, committed & transparent administration.

Capacity building for e-governance.

Assistance from Planning Commission to states to improve

project formulation, execution & monitoring system.

NEC to have professionals in core sectors through outsourcing.

Excessive bureaucratic interference which inhibits flow of

private investment must be avoided.

Centre to provide adequate financial resources for development

of core sectors contributing to economy.

Mission Mode:

Immediately launch NEBM and NERITM, Bamboo mission to

create 1 Lakh additional job opportunities, lead to double rise in

economic growth and enhancement of community income.

Global & South East Asia export network for bamboo products.

New transport subsidy packages for all items exported from

NER to provide air, rail and inland transport subsidy from any

part of NE up to port of transshipment be introduced.

Excise/ import duty waivers on capital goods import

CHALLENGES AND RISKS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION

CHALLENGES INVOLVED:

Unguaranteed involvement of the

Govt. during projects.

Supervision by people from other

states not involved.

The lack of connectivity to respective

market is the main cause for under

utilization of resources

Opposition faced due to neighboring

counties.

No check on the corruption.

Lack of monitoring of the

development of projects

Lack of incentives for private

companies to invest in the region.

In Tourism the private sectors not

motivated to invest in the region.

RISKS INVOLVED:

Lack of will of locals to contribute in

development.

Long term investments are not

preferable by private sector.

Opposition from local businesses.

Political instability and lack of

security dissuades investors.

Unsteady inflow of investment.

Promotion of the projects in a right-

minded manner with the assistance

of the government.

REFERENCE “Augmenting Bilateral Trade Between India & Myanmar”, ICC

Bibhu Prasad Routray, “India-Myanmar Relations: Triumph of Pragmatism”, Vol-1, Issue-1, Oct ’11.

Kyaw Hlaing, DMD, Ministry of Construction, Myanmar, “Strengthening Multimodal Connectivity”- 11th BCIM Forum, 23-

24 Feb ’13.

“Indo-Myanmar Relations”, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India

S. D. Muni, “India’s Foreign Policy: The Democracy Dimension”

J. N. Dixit, “Road to Mandalay”, Telegraph

Dr M. Lall, C. House and IOE, University of London, “India’s gas pipeline efforts–an analysis of the problems that have

prevented success”.

Subhir Bhaumik, “Guns, drugs and rebels”

Marie Lall, “Indo-Myanmar Relationships in the Era of Pipeline Diplomacy”, Contemporary Southeast Asia

List of Indian states by GDP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

File No.10 (3)/2007-DBA-II/NER, Government of India , Ministry of Commerce and Industry , Department of Industrial

Policy and Promotion

V. P. Singh, “Reflections of Indo-Myanmar Relations”.

UN 2012, “ASIAN HIGHWAY ROUTE MAP”.

So UMEZAKI, IDE-JETRO, “ASEAN-India Connectivity: The Comprehensive Asia Development Plan (CADP), Phase 2,

2012”

Sasiwan Chingchit, JNU, “India, Thailand and the Burma Connection”- Asia Pacific Bulletin, 23 Feb, 2012.

D. Suba Chandran, N. Manoharan, V. Shekhar, P. G. R. Mohan, J. Jacob, IPCS, “Connecting India-A Road Map for New

Roads”, No 58, Jan 2008.

Linking with Southeast Asia: Developing North East India's tourism potential"-ipcs.o