PEACE
IN NORTH-EAST – INTERNAL SECURITY
News:
BJP government ensured
peace, progress in the northeast: Amit Shah
What's
in the news?
●
Home Minister Amit Shah on January 6 said
the Narendra Modi government at the Centre
helped rid Manipur of curfews, blockades and extremism and ensure “three Ps” -
peace, progress and prosperity in adjoining Nagaland.
Key
takeaways:
●
Among the 21 projects the Home Minister
inaugurated and initiated was the Kangla
Nongpok Thong (Kangla Eastern Bridge) in Imphal, which was destroyed during
colonial rule.
●
Another project unveiled was a
120-feet-tall statue of a polo player at the Marjing Polo Complex in Manipur’s Imphal East district.
●
The Home Minister also unveiled the tallest National Flag in the
northeast at the Indian National Army headquarters at Moirang, about 45 km from
Imphal.
○
The INA had hoisted the first Tricolour on
Indian soil at Moirang in 1944. The new Tricolour is 165 ft tall.
●
The central
funds for Nagaland were increased four times in the last eight-and-a-half
years.
Importance
of North-east:
1.
Growth Engine:
●
The Northeast has the potential to become
the growth engine of the country.
●
It is in the context of the future of the
region, with lots of development opportunities it has.
2.
Act East Policy:
●
The North Eastern Region is geographically
contiguous to Myanmar, which is a part of South-East Asia. Therefore, it has
the potential to act as the Indian ‘Gateway
to SouthEast Asia’.
3.
Strategic Location:
●
North Eastern Region of India is a
landlocked region, with no access to seas. This is complicated by the presence
of the Siliguri Corridor, called chicken’s neck for India.
●
Siliguri
Corridor is a mere 21 km wide corridor that connects India
with its North Eastern Region. In the event of a war, India would need to
safeguard the corridor, so that any potential advances by the Chinese in the
Northern part of the North-East region can be suitably repelled by the Indian
armed forces.
4.
Carbon Sink:
●
India has vowed to create an additional
2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon sink per year under its Nationally Determined
Contributions as a part of the Paris Summit.
●
North-Eastern India with its dense forest
cover can play a huge role in such an endeavor. Mizoram is the best state in
India in terms of forest cover.
5.
Energy Resources:
●
Due to the presence of the Brahmaputra and
its tributaries, the North-Eastern region has immense potential as far as
hydroelectric energy is concerned.
●
Similarly, it has been a source of crude oil and natural gas in the form of
Digboi oil fields. Potential oil and natural gas reserves have been found
at the Arakan Basin.
6.
Agricultural Resources:
●
The North Eastern region is blessed with
natural resources which are important for the economic growth of the country.
●
For e.g. the tea plantations of Assam earn
a significant value of foreign exchange for the country.
●
Similarly, Bamboo is useful in the cane and furniture industry. Bird’s Eye
Chilli from Mizoram has the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
7.
Tourism:
●
The North Eastern region can be a hub for
tourist activity due to its lush green landscape, unique tribal culture, fresh
air, comfortable climate and distinct topography.
●
It can be harnessed as a source of
eco-tourism and rural tourism.
8.
Environment:
●
The North Eastern Region is ideal for both
passive and adventure forms of Ecotourism with wildlife sanctuary/parks, good
scenic beauty, waterfalls, forests etc.
Challenges
in North-east Integration:
1.
Historical reasons: Assam was integrated under British rule
after the ‘treaty of Yandabo’. After that this region was loosely administered
only for revenue exploitation.
2.
Geographically, 70% of areas are occupied by hills which
are inhabited by 30% and hilly terrain makes the accessibility very difficult
and hampered the mainstreaming of the people with the mainland.
3.
Inter-ethnicity crisis between the tribals is a cause of
concern. E.g. Bodo vs Assamese.
4.
Issues with migrants from Bangladesh. E.g Chakmas &
Hajongs in Arunachal Pradesh.
5.
Secessionist movements like Greater Nagalim.
6.
Demands for autonomy and statehood. E.g Bodo people.
7.
Deep rise of alienation due to human rights violations by
the Security forces e.g AFSPA.
8.
External support: Hostile neighbors like China extending
moral and material support to the insurgent groups.
9.
Other developmental issues like poor connectivity, lack of
industrial development, corruption and poverty.
10.
Sense of alienation among the people and also widespread fear
of intervention into their traditionals and customs.
Steps
taken by Government for North-East Integration:
1.
Constitutional provisions:
●
Sixth
schedule areas which provide autonomy to the indigenous people
which protects their traditional practices from external intervention.
●
Special status to certain states of North
East under Article 371 - ‘Asymmetric
federalism’.
2.
Legal measures:
●
PESA act
●
North East Zonal Council.
3.
Protecting Indigenous people from outsiders:
●
Inner
Line Permit (ILP): ILP is an official travel document issued
by the Central government to permit the Indian citizen to travel into the
protected areas for a limited period of time. The Indian citizens outside these
protected regions must obtain ILP before travelling to these regions.
Currently, the ILP is active in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and
Manipur.
4.
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER):
A Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) was established in
2001. It was elevated to a full ministry in 2004.
5.
Infrastructure Related Initiatives:
●
North
East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS)
launched by Centre in Dec2017 to fill the gaps in creation of infrastructures
in two sectors
●
Under Bharatmala
Pariyojana (BMP), road stretches aggregating to about 5,301 km in NER have
been approved for improvement.
●
The North East has been kept as a priority
area under RCS-UDAN (to make flying
more affordable).
●
National Waterways on the Ganges,
Brahmaputra and Barak rivers (National Waterways (NW)-1 on the Ganges, NW-2 on Brahmaputra and NW-16 on Barak)
are under development to provide better connectivity.
●
Along the Brahmaputra River, the
development of the entire area between Sadiya and Dhubri in Assam is ongoing
for improved connectivity.
6.
Connectivity Projects:
●
Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Project
(Myanmar) to develop water connectivity.
●
Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM)
Corridor.
●
India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway.
7.
External links:
●
Act East policy
●
Neighbourhood first policy.
●
Better cooperation with Bangladesh
regarding migrants issue, border security, swiping insurgency.
●
Sting bilateral relations with Myanmar to
weed out north-east militant groups E.g. Operation SunRise.
8.
Military:
●
Special powers were given to the Indian
military under AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act). This was done to enable
the military to deal with emergencies in the region.
9.
Peace Talks:
●
Government is continuously engaging in
peace talks with the insurgent groups and accepting the surrenders from the
militants.
Important
Developments under Present regime:
1.
Gateway:
●
He said that, “For the government, the
north-east is not the last part of the country, but the peace and development gateway for trade and other ties with Southeast
Asian countries”.
2.
Connectivity:
●
The Prime Minister noted that the number
of airports in the region increased from nine to 16 and the number of flights increased from 900 to
1,900 in the last eight years.
●
The government is now under way to connect all the state capitals of the
region by railway.
●
The PM also underscored the 50% increase in the length of national highways
in the region since 2014, insisting that the infrastructure projects in the
north-east gained momentum after the launch of the PM-DevINE scheme.
●
Mr. Modi said the government has been
working on improving digital
connectivity in the north-east by increasing the optical fibre network with
6,000 mobile towers being set up at a cost of ₹5,000 crore.
●
The Atma Nirbhar 5G infrastructure will
help develop the start-up ecosystem and service sector in the region.
3.
Beyond Act East and Look East:
●
The government has gone "beyond the
conversion of the Look East policy to Act East and now to Act fast for
northeast and Act first for northeast".
●
The PM highlighted several peace
initiatives in the north-east to help “push development like never
before".
4.
Peace:
●
The developmental initiatives include
peace agreements with extremist groups and resolving decades old interstate
boundary disputes.
●
The reign of peace has made the Centre lift the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act (AFSPA) from many parts of the northeast.
●
The north-east has moved from violence and
conflicts in the last eight years to an era of peace and progress. Since 2014,
extremism in the region has decreased by 74% while attacks on security forces
has come down by 60% and civilian deaths decreased by 89%.
5.
Organic farming:
●
The Prime Minister highlighted the
potential of organic farming in the region, the scope for deriving benefits
through the oil pam mission, and the
use of drones for farmers to overcome geographical challenges.
●
The Prime Minister inaugurated and laid
the foundation stone of multiple projects worth over ₹2,450 crore. These
include an integrated beekeeping
development centre and 21 Hindi libraries for Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and
Assam.
WAY
FORWARD:
●
There needs to be a comprehensive stock-taking of the internal challenges and an
identification of regions and sectors where there is potential.
●
Development
of socio economic infrastructure, fuller utilization of
natural resources, development of entrepreneurial culture and above all
extending transnational ties will determine the future of Northeast in the near
future.