Manthan Topic: The Sunrise States

Tourism and Border trade

“The need of the hour is to focus”

Team Details

Team Name: Future India

S. Jawahar Ganesh

S. Balamurugan

J. K. Pushkar

Shiva. P

K. Kanagaraj

Team members:

The North Eastern states occupy 8% of India’s geographical area but contribute

to only 2.3% of the country’s GDP.

Per Capita Income and Unemployment Rates

The Challenges:

Insurgency

•Prior to any policy programme to resolve the problem of insurgency in

the region, the political processes that has been framed and pursued to convert

a breeding ground of insurgencies must be reversed first.

•The attitude and security obsess mindsets of the central government

should also change and embrace the region with open arms so as to restore the

lost confidence of the common people

Infrastructure

•In order to reconnect the lost connectivity, trade and commerce and

more importantly to foster emotional attachment among various ethnic

groups inhabiting in the region, infrastructures like roads, transports,

Communications, electricity, banking etc. must be developed adequately.

Governance

•Until and unless the quality of governance has been improved, no

Matter how much is the fund earmarked for whatever the policy programme

initiated would not be successful and only the common people have to bear

the brunt.

Comparative Advantage of Tourism:

With ou tiful atu e’s eathtaki g s e i eauty, salu ious li ati o ditio s, extraordinarily diverse ,rich art and cultural heritage of the people, this region can

become a hotspot for eco and adventure tourism.

The development of this industry would promote national integration and international

understanding, generate employment and revenue and provide prospective buyers for local

manufactured products especially handloom and handicraft products–a dyeing industry due

to lack of access to market.

Tourism can generate more employment per million of rupees spent than any other

activities.

It would also enlarge the base of locally manufactured products.

All this, however, would be possible only when there is well-developed infrastructure like

transport and communication and sense of participation of the people of the region.

Border Trade:

The lack of connectivity and access to market, the main causes for under utilization

of resources and weak resource-industry linkages, have set the economy of the

region by half a century behind.

Due to the peripheral location and stiff competition from mainland industries having

better access to critical inputs like finance, technology and management, the base of

traditional manufacturing in the region has been eroded leading to deindustrialization.

This has widened the gap between resource base and industrial structure in the region.

Further, due to the restriction of free movement of men and material across the border,

the notion of isolation has developed in the minds of the people.

It is in this context, there is a strong argument to develop border trade.

In this increasingly borderless world, establishment of border trade would not only

provide an opportunity to revive the local manufactured units but also serve as a transit

corridor for the mainland big industrial units to explore the vast Asian market.

Border Trade:

It is with this vision that ‘look east policy’ was initiated in 1991.

Unfortunately, as old habits die hard; the central government still continues to live in the

shadow of security obsessed mindset and prefers inward looking approach.

As a result, even after so many years of implementation of border trade agreement, it has

failed to invigorate the region’s trade with their neibhouring countries.

The tepidity of the central government in implementation of the policy has only led to

rise in the porosity of these borderlands.

Appendix

References:

Ahluwalia, Montek “. : E o o i Pe fo a e of “tates i Post-Refo s Pe iod , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 35, no. 19, pp. 1637-1648.

Bajpai, M. : A De ade of E o o i Refo s i I dia: The U fi ished Age da , Working Paper no. 89, Center for International Development, Harvard University,

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/CID/cidwp/089.pdf.

Barbora, “a jay : Rethi ki g I dia’s Cou te -insurgency Campaign in North-

East , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 35, pp. 3805-3812.

Baruah, Sanjib: The P o le ,

http://www.manipuronline.com/North-

East/November2005/theproblem23_2.htm.

Bhattacharya, B. B. & S. Sakthivel : Regio al G o th a d Dispa ity i I dia: A Comparison of Pre and Post-Refo De ades , http://iegindia.org/worksakthi244.pdf.

Chanda, Nayan : What is Glo alizatio ? Co i g Togethe : Glo alizatio ea s e o e ti g the hu a o u ity , http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/567.

Ghosh, Madhusudan : E o o i G o th a d Hu a De elop e t i I dia “tates , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 30, pp. 3321-3329.

References

GOI 99 : T a sfo i g the No th East: Ta kli g Ba klogs i Basi Mi i u “e i es a d I f ast u tu e Needs , High Le el Co issio Repo t to the P i e Mi iste , Pla i g Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/ne_exe.pdf.

GOI : Natio al Hu a De elop e t Repo t , Pla i g Co issio , Ne Delhi, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/nhdrep/nhdreportf.htm

GOI : Repo t of the Co ittee o I dia Visio , Pla i g Co issio , Ne Delhi, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/pl_vsn2020.pdf.

GOI : Repo t of the T elfth Fi a e Co issio - , Ministry of Finance,

http://finance.rajasthan.gov.in/doc/12fcreng.pdf.

Grare, Frederic & Amitabh Mattoo (2003): Beyo d the Rhetoric: The Eco o ics of I dia’s Look East Policy, Manohar Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.

Gupta, K. R. : Li e alizatio a d Glo alizatio of I dia E o o y , Gupta, K. R. (ed.) Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy, vol. VI, pp. 304-315, Atlantic

Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi.

Humanshu : Re e t T e ds i Po e ty a d I e uality: “o e P eli i a y Results , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 497-508.

Khanna, Sushil : E o o i Oppo tu ities o Co ti ui g “tag atio , http://www.manipuronline.com/Economy/November2005/stagnationoropportuny18_1.ht

m.

References

Kishore, Adharsh (2002): Towards an Indian Approach to Globalization,

http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Conferences/2002/kishore.pdf.

Kurian, N. J. : Wide i g Regio al Dispa ities i I dia: “o e I di ato s , Economic

and Political weekly, vol. 35. No. 7, pp. 538-550.

Nayyar, Deepak : E o o i G o th i I depe de t I dia. Lu e i g Elepha t o Ru i g Tige ? , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 15, pp.1451-1458.

NSSO (1997): Employment and Unemployment in India, 1993-94, 50th Round, Report No.

409.

NSSO (2006): Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2004-05, 61st Round,

Report No. 515.

Prabhakra, M. “. : Is No th-East I dia La dlo ked , Economic and Political Weekly,

vo. 39, no. 42, pp.4606-4608

Ramachandran, H.: Go e a e a d People’s Pa ti ipatio , Ba kg ou d Pape : Visio 2020, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/reportsf.htm.

Roy, “a jay K. : Co fli ti g Natio s i No th-East I dia , Economic and Political

Weekly, vol. 40, no. 21, pp. 2176-2182.

Sen, Amartya : The Th ee R’s of Refo s , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40,

no. 19, pp. 1971-1974.

References

Sinha, A. K. : I dia: “teps To a ds Li e alizatio a d Glo alizatio , Gupta, K. R. (ed.) Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy, vol. VI, pp. 315-330, Atlantic

Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi.

Sinha, Aseema: Glo alizatio , Risi g I e uality, a d Ne I se u ities i I dia , http://209.235.207.197/imgtest/TaskForceDiffIneqDevSinha.pdf

Upadhyay, Archana : Te o is i the No th-East: Li kages a d I pli atio s , Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 48, pp. 4993-4999.

Verghese, B. G.: U fi ished Busi ess i the No th East: Poi te s To a ds Rest u tu i g, Refo , Re o iliatio a d Resu ge e , “e e th Kamal Kumari Memorial Lecture,

http://www.freeindiamidia.com/economy/19_june_economy.htm.