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Look (Act) East Policy: With or Through the Northeast

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Abstract

From the time the Government of India declared its Look East Policy (LEP), a question has been asked about its effectiveness in the Northeast. Many Northeast tribes that are divided between India and Myanmar need regular social, cultural and economic contact. One has to view the region primarily as a habitat of people, a part of whose identity is linked to South East Asia. There is much migration from Chin State to Mizoram which causes tension. The primary reason for migration is the absence of any alternative livelihood as agricultural land has become gradually infertile making cultivation impossible. It is in the border regions like Chin State and Mizoram that cooperation in the development process can unleash new practices of LEP unlike the trade growth model.

Dr. Walter Fernandes, formerly Director of Research and Executive Director, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi and Editor of Social Action (1977–1999) and later Founder-Director of North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati (NESRC) (2000–2012) and Director of Research at Animation and Research Centre, Yangon, Myanmar (2013–2015) is at present Senior Fellow at NESRC. He has done extensive research on tribal, land, and gender issues and has many publications on these issues to his credit.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The region cannot develop if concentration is exclusively or primarily on infrastructure development in the major urban areas or on four-lane highways leading to the ASEAN countries. People cannot own such an LEP because they are forced to pay its price through land alienation and other losses without getting any of its benefits.

  2. 2.

    Pyi is a measure of volume in a Burmese unit which is equal to 2.557181 litres or 2.70214 quintals.

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Fernandes, W. (2018). Look (Act) East Policy: With or Through the Northeast. In: Sarma, A., Choudhury, S. (eds) Mainstreaming the Northeast in India’s Look and Act East Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5320-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5320-7_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-5319-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-5320-7

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