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 Indias total area. They have a population of 44.98 million in 2011, about 3.7% of Indias 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 Indias energy crisis. The proposed International pipeline

through Bangladesh should be taken more seriously as the IPI pipeline has taken the shelves. It can transform Indias North-East and bordering region. Development of Sittwe port will allow our Northeastern states to access the port and reduce Indias 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
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

Benefits
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 Economic To make the NER the biggest transit point between India Smooth border trade and gain comparative advantage and ASEAN Formation of micro economy for managing wayside GLOBAL STANDARD facilities Create the Best Globally standard in Eco-Wayside Growth in trade in high value products. Amenities Ecology Basic Resting Relief Special Eco-Friendly practices giving benefit across the Accident spectrum of Land Energy Water Waste Air Carbon Fuel station Hotels Rural Tourism relief centre Security Souvenir Social Parking place Toilets centre Shop Reduction in Insurgency Information Banking Resutrants Internet zone centre Transit duty free land port (widen the current list)

Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP)

BOOST TRADE
Proposal 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 Benefits 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

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

 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

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 rightminded manner with the assistance of the government.

 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, 2324 Feb 13. Indo-Myanmar Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India S. D. Muni, Indias Foreign Policy: The Democracy Dimension J. N. Dixit, Road to Mandalay, Telegraph Dr M. Lall, C. House and IOE, University of London, Indias gas pipeline effortsan 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

REFERENCE