Act East Policy: New Mizoram Railway Line and Regional Headwinds
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: International Relations (Act East Policy, Look East Policy, Association of Southeast Asian Nations - ASEAN), Geography (Northeast India, key infrastructure projects like Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, Sittwe Port), Economy (Infrastructure).
Mains:
GS Paper 2: India and its neighborhood- relations; Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
GS Paper 3: Infrastructure: Roads, Airports, Railways etc.; Security challenges and their management in border areas.
Key Highlights from the News
A new 51.38 km railway line connecting Bairabi in Mizoram to Sairang has been commissioned.
This gives great hope to India's ambitious Act East Policy.
Landlocked Mizoram will be able to reach other parts of the country easily and quickly via this railway line. This will promote tourism, trade, and freight movement.
Sairang railway station will also play a significant role in transferring goods from Sittwe Port, built in Myanmar with India's assistance.
The 'Act East Policy', announced in 2014, is a more extensive version of the 1991 'Look East Policy'. Its main objective is to make the Northeastern states a gateway to ASEAN countries.
However, unrest in India’s neighborhood poses significant challenges to this policy.
Due to the civil war in Myanmar and political instability in Bangladesh, cross-border connectivity projects like the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project and Agartala-Akhaura Railway Project have been delayed or stalled.
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