PM Modi lauds historic initiatives under ‘Act-East policy’

During the 75th Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched upon a range of topics including the Covid-19 pandemic to Atmanirbhar Bharat, infrastructural development in the country to welfare of the farmers, and employment generation in the nation. Among these, he emphasized on the multiple parts of the country, including Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh that will become a big base for India’s development in the future.

Prime Minister Modi stated that a new history of connectivity is being written in the northeast region and therefore, announced that the work to connect the state capitals with rail services in the region will be completed soon.

PM Modi lauded ‘Act East Policy’ 

Since 2014, the Indian government under PM Modi has rebranded the Look East Policy as the Act East Policy (AEP). The policy was launched by PM Modi at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit held in Myanmar. The policy shift is an initiative to promote economic, strategic, and cultural relations with the vast Asia-Pacific region at different levels. This policy further aims to strengthen the economic development of the Northeastern Region (NER) in order to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties, and developing a strategic relationship with countries in the Indo-pacific region. The 4C’s of Act East Policy  includes:

Commerce
Connectivity 
Capacity Building 
Culture

Along with 4C’s, the important dimension of Act-East Policy also includes the dimension of ‘Security’. This aspect is in context with growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. 

Initiatives are taken to enhance Connectivity:

Agartala-Akhaura Rail Link: By the end of 2021, the central government has announced the rail line between Agartala in Tripura and Akhaura in Bangladesh. It will be marked as the ‘first train’ to run from the Northeastern region to Bangladesh. The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) will bear the cost of laying a 5.67km track on the Indian side and a 10.6km track on the Bangladesh side. 

Connecting Bangladesh & Bhutan: In 2019, the Ministry of State for Shipping flagged off a ship of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) which carried stones from Bhutan that were delivered to Bangladesh. This was the first time an Indian waterway was used as a channel for the transport of cargo between the two countries. This proved to strengthen relations between the neighboring countries. The ship, MV AAI sailed from Dhubri in Assam and traveled to Narayanganj in Bangladesh.

Kaladan Multimodal Project: Jointly identified by India and Myanmar, the Kaladan Multi-Modal project, a road-river-port cargo transport project was initiated to create a multi-modal mode of transport for shipment of cargo from the eastern seaport of India to Myanmar and to the North-Eastern part of India through Myanmar. This project connects Sittwe Port in Myanmar to the India-Myanmar border and is expected to contribute to the economic development of the North-Eastern States of India. It is also an alternate route to India’s North-East bypassing the Siliguri Corridor.

Other initiatives: 

In the unprecedented times, when Covid-19 posed a challenge for India as well as other countries, India extended assistance in the form of medicines/medical supplies to ASEAN countries. The joint development of life-saving vaccines and related technologies, with the major actors, typically scientists had come together to work irrespective of the kind of diplomatic relations between the participating countries.

India is also implementing Quick Impact Projects in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam to provide development assistance to grass-root level communities in the fields of education, water resources, health, etc.