India’s North-east is a conundrum beset by demands for ethnic homelands that have been part of its historical-political journey. However, over time, the people themselves have realised the diminishing returns of violence and conflict, which have taken a huge toll on human lives and scuttled all attempts at outlining a common roadmap for development by taking advantage of the location of the region, which is strategically placed vis-a-vis South-east Asia.

The region shares only four per cent of its boundaries with the country and is joined by that tiny strip that resembles a chicken’s neck and metaphorically speaking it is the neck of the chicken that bears the brunt of the knife when it is being slaughtered. This chicken’s neck is still a fragile area and with the Chinese mounting pressure at Doklam it is difficult to comprehend the outcomes of the mind games that China is adept at.

However, for the sake of the region’s development needs and the imperative to create employment opportunities within the region, we need to take advantage of the Act East Policy, which none less than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a keen interest in, giving the slogan more teeth and action points.

For too long this region has been a favourite sojourn of security forces whose interest in its security is secondary. The primary reason why uniformed personnel patronise the region and have coined it a conflict zone is because of its rich resources and the huge amounts pumped in to secure us from ourselves. These amounts are not audited because they are “secret funds” for covert operations, which go by the name of “national security”.

It is our own lapse that we have never sought to know more about such secret funds. During the tenure of General VK Singh, now Union minister of state for external affairs, a wing called Technical Services Division was created, ostensibly to prepare, plan and execute special operations, “inside depth areas of countries of interest and countering enemy efforts within the country by effective covert means”. The main areas of operations were the North-east and against adversaries in neighbouring countries.

The Army’s internal approvals for raising the TSD reportedly said it would “enable the Military Intelligence Directorate to provide a quick response to any act of state-sponsored terrorism with a high degree of deniability”. It was asked to “cover any tracks leading to the organisation”. Investigations into the functioning of the TSD found many irregularities and withdrawal of funds that could not be explained.

There have been serious allegations from political analysts that the Army and para-military forces have developed a vested interest in keeping the pot of insurgency boiling because that means a continued flow of funds. Interestingly, the TSD was abolished after the retirement of Singh as it did not have the sanction of the defence ministry.

These are internal strategies, which actually weaken the region and it largely happens because we don’t pay attention to such issues but keep believing the stereotypes fed to us. The fact that over 30 insurgent outfits operate in the Imphal Valley alone should make us ask how they survive if not from government funds. And how have such funds leaked into militants’ coffers when they should be used to build roads and other infrastructure.

The possibilities for collaboration with South-east Asian countries are manifold, however, the region first needs to build on its strengths and identify areas of export and import, and mutually beneficial areas of collaboration. Exchange programmes for college and university students, health tourism especially from Myanmar and Bangladesh, which still lack the basic infrastructure, are opportunities for health-care providers in the region to capitalise on.

Tourism too needs a better and more robust planning so that unique destinations, such as the living root bridges in Meghalaya, and wild life sanctuaries are not short-sold.

The major roadblock remains the need to deconstruct the hyper-ventilated security concerns. Enough harm has been done to the region by keeping it undeveloped because of the fear that better roads would make it easier for the enemy to come in. The manner in which China has developed its peripheries should teach us lessons in adversity. We need better communication within the region and to the rest of the country.

Every state needs to have a fully functioning airport since overseas visitors don’t have the time to spend on road journeys. Our inability to access Chittagong port fully means that states like Meghalaya and Mizoram are still landlocked. The Land Customs stations are also in very poor shape even after 71 years. No one has paid attention to these important trading stations and there is more informal than formal trade happening through them.

VL Srinivasan in his essay, “Roadblocks to North East India,” in Break Bulk Media, mentions the difficulty of moving over-dimensional cargo across the region. Hence these oversized cargo for mega-infrastructure developments such as power plants, airports, fertiliser units and other capital projects are mostly located in the hinterland of the Norh-east, because the moving cargo from mainland India to the North-east, which is land-locked, is often the biggest challenge. But talks with Bangladesh on communication sharing treaty both by land and sea have taken an inordinately long time. This should be the Centres’s priority if India wishes to roll out the Act East Policy and take it from a slogan to reality.

While each of the North-eastern states needs to craft out their own roadmap for economic development, there are areas of convergence that have to be identified. The states need a robust regional platform where all stakeholders from academia, business, economists, tour promoters, engineers, doctors and civil societies, different peoples’ groups et al have to be involved, not just for the short term but with a commitment of financial and other resources.

A major concern in the region is the absence of governance. In about four of the eight north-eastern states like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya, while insurgency has come down to a large extent, law and order is still an area of concern. The state police are not trained to meet internal security exigencies and each time there is a threat to the peace or a violent upheaval on account of demands for ethnic homelands, which happen with predictable frequency, the Army is called to handle the situation.

In Assam there are several groups till date, which can block roads and call a bandh successfully without anyone holding the groups to account. In Meghalaya, this blackmailing tactic by sundry groups has come to a close after the state filed an FIR against their leaders and put a figure to the losses caused to the state institutions during the period of the bandh. The leaders now have to appear in court regularly. They have thought it wiser to refrain from calling unscheduled bandhs and strikes. The private sector cannot survive in an environment that cannot guarantee a return on investments. No one is going to come to the region for philanthropic reasons.

Hence the big Advantage Assam meet in Guwahati recently is no reason to celebrate. Now that the hype and hoopla is over there are many issues that need to be resolved, especially the issue of land availability. A strike team must be built, which can envisage the problems and address them before they manifest in public disaffection. Thus far people have been treated as non-citizens and their involvement in these mega business meets have been minimal.

We might ask why people in the rural areas should be involved. The reason is because land is only available beyond the district headquarters in the rural areas of the state. There is no certified wasteland in any of the eight states unless you consider the abandoned coal mines in Meghalaya as barren land. And since farm lands are the bread basket of the state, who decides what land can be given away to industries? There is as yet no transparent policy on land acquisition and public hearings are simply a farce because they are largely manipulated. Until these issues are sorted out, looking for investments from business and industrial giants like the Ambanis and Adanis is futile.

The writer is Editor of the Shillong Times and can be contacted at patricia.mukhim@gmail.com