Table Of ContentINDIA AND MYANMAR
BORDERLANDS
This book explores the India–Myanmar relationship in terms of ethnicity, security and connectivity.
With the process of democratic transition in Myanmar since 2011 and the ongoing Rohingya
crisis, issues related to cross-border insurgency are one of the most important factors that determine
bilateral ties between the two neighboring countries. The volume discusses a diverse range of
themes – historical dimensions of cooperation; contested territories, resistance and violence in
India–Myanmar borderlands; ethnic linkages; political economy of India–Myanmar cooperation;
and Act East Policy – to examine the prospects and challenges of the strategic partnership between
India and Myanmar, and analyzes further possibilities to move forward. The chapters further
look at cross-border informal commercial exchanges, public health, population movements, and
problems of connectivity and infrastructure projects.
Comprehensive, topical and with its rich empirical data, the volume will be useful to
scholars and researchers of political studies, international relations, security studies, foreign policy,
contemporary history, and South Asian studies as well as government bodies and think tanks.
Pahi Saikia is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Indian Institute of Technology
Guwahati, Assam, India. She is the author of Ethnic Mobilisation and Violence in Northeast India
(2011). Her areas of specialization are international relations; foreign policy between India and
neighboring countries; ethnic identity politics, tribes and indigenous people in Northeast India;
governance and political development in developing areas; security issues in borderlands Asia; social
movements; and conflict prevention. She has published articles in books and in peer-reviewed
journals such as India Review on security concerns and risks of conflict in the South Asian sub-
region, subnationalist insurgency, ethnofederalism and marginalized tribal ethnic minorities in
India’s northeast.
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is Senior Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s
Neighbourhood Initiative, Kolkata chapter, India. She specializes in South Asia, forced migration
and women in conflict zones. Among her published work are the books Connecting Nations: India
and Southeast Asia (co-edited, 2019); State of Being Stateless (co-edited, 2015); Women in Indian
Borderlands (co-edited, 2011) and SAARC at Crossroads: The Fate of Regional Cooperation in South
Asia (2006). She is a regular contributor to peer-reviewed journals, newspapers and magazines
on energy crisis and subregional cooperation in South Asia, religious violence, connectivity and
refugee issues in South Asia.
INDIA AND MYANMAR
BORDERLANDS
Ethnicity, Security and Connectivity
Edited by Pahi Saikia and Anasua Basu
Ray Chaudhury
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Pahi Saikia and Anasua Basu Ray
Chaudhury; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Pahi Saikia and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-32846-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-36483-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-34636-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
CONTENTS
List of illustrations vii
Contributors viii
Foreword x
Rakhahari Chatterji
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Conceptualizing India and Myanmar borderlands: ethnicity,
security and connectivity 1
Pahi Saikia and Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury
PART I
India–Myanmar relations: ethnicity and security dimensions 19
2 State-territoriality, circulation of socio-cultural relations
and resistance in India–Myanmar borderlands 21
Pahi Saikia, Ingudam Yaipharemba Singh and Apurba K. Baruah
3 Crisis in the Rakhine state of Myanmar: bilateral relations
with India in perspective 44
Mihir Bhonsale
4 Reality on the Indo–Myanmar border: field observations
from Longwa and Hmaungbuchhuah on issues of ethnicity,
connectivity and security 63
Rajeev Bhattacharyya
vi Contents
5 Territoriality, ethnic contestation and insurgency in the
Indo–Myanmar borderland 79
Ngamjahao Kipgen
PART II
Proximity to connectivity: India–Myanmar in perspective 99
6 India–Myanmar relations: a perspective from the border 101
Alana Golmei
7 India–Myanmar borderland: pressing concerns in public
health hazards 114
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury and Sreeparna Banerjee
8 Employing proximity: boosting bilateral ties between India
and Myanmar 129
Pratnashree Basu
PART III
Changing political landscape and India–Myanmar
cooperation 143
9 Political economy of subregional cooperation: ‘interests’
in reframing the peripheries of India and Myanmar 145
Rakhee Bhattacharya
10 Act East Policy and the importance of Myanmar and
Northeast India region 159
Nehginpao Kipgen
11 India–Myanmar relations: political transition and shared
borderlands 174
K. Yhome
Index 194
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
2.1 India–Myanmar Friendship Road 27
2.2 Movement of people on the India–Myanmar Border (along FMR) 28
2.3 Border pillar no. 81, Kwatha Khunuo (near Namjet Lok River) 36
4.1 A village in Longwa 66
4.2 Cardamom farming, Longwa 68
4.3 Hmaungbuchhuah village, Mizoram 72
4.4 Local shop in Hmaungbuchhuah village, Mizoram 74
6.1 Passenger terminal at Moreh in Manipur–Myanmar border 106
6.2 Border fencing in Manipur–Myanmar border 108
6.3 Road construction Near Lawngtlai (Mizoram–Myanmar border)
under KMTTP 110
7.1 IDU HIV Prevalence in Northeast India 119
7.2 ANC HIV Prevalence in Northeast India 119
7.3 FSW HIV Prevalence in Northeast India 120
Tables
3.1 Year-wise exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar 46
9.1 India’s trade trend with Myanmar and ASEAN (Rs crores) 148
CONTRIBUTORS
Sreeparna Banerjee is a research assistant at the Observer Research Foundation
(ORF), Kolkata chapter, India. Her interest areas are gender studies and identity
politics.
Apurba K. Baruah is former Professor of Political Science and former National
Fellow Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, India. He
is currently the Academic Adviser and Managing Trustee, Assam School of Journal-
ism, and the Academic Adviser, Assam School of Mass Communication and Media
Research. He has published a number of books and articles on ethnic identities and
democracy, student movements and elections.
Pratnashree Basu is Associate Fellow with ORF’s Neighbourhood Regional
Studies Initiative and Maritime Initiative, Kolkata chapter, India. Her recent publi-
cations include a Special Report titled India’s Maritime Connectivity: Importance of the
Bay of Bengal (2018, co-authored) and a Special Report titled India’s connectivity with
its Himalayan Neighbours: Possibilities and Challenges (2017, co-authored).
Rakhee Bhattacharya is Associate Professor in the Centre for the Study of North
East India, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,
India. Her current areas of interest include political economy, development eco-
nomics, regional economy, transnational economy and geo-economics, poverty and
inequality, geopolitics, India’s Northeast and its neighborhood. She is the author of
Northeastern India and its Neighbours: Negotiating Security and Development (2014) and
Development Disparities in Northeast India (2011).
Rajeev Bhattacharyya is a senior journalist and author based in Guwahati, Assam,
India. He has worked for The Times of India, The Telegraph, The Indian Express, Times
Now, Bengal Post and was the Managing Editor of Seven Sisters Post. He has authored
Contributors ix
two books – Rendezvous with Rebels: Journey to Meet India’s Most Wanted Men (2014)
and Lens and the Guerrilla: Insurgency in India’s Northeast (2013).
Mihir Bhonsale is Junior Fellow with ORF’s Neighbourhood and Regional Stud-
ies Initiative, Kolkata chapter, India. He is the coordinator of ORF’s South Asia
Weekly monitor and a regular contributor on Bhutan and Myanmar for the Weekly,
Kolkata chapter, India. His research areas include India’s Look East/Act East Policy,
Sino-Indian border, ethnicity, tourism and culture.
Alana Golmei is Director of Burma Centre Delhi, India, which was founded in
2008 to work for restoration of peace, justice, democracy and human rights in
Burma and to strengthen relationships between the people of India and Burma.
Golmei is also a social activist and the General Secretary of Northeast Support
Centre & Helpline based in New Delhi which was launched in 2007 with the aim
to prevent harassment, discrimination, molestation and abuses meted out to people
from Northeast India living in Delhi and NCR, particularly women.
Nehginpao Kipgen is Associate Professor, Assistant Dean (International Collabo-
ration) and Executive Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal
School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, India. He is the author
of Myanmar: A Political History (2016) and Democracy Movement in Myanmar: Problems
and Challenges (2015). With specialization in comparative politics and international
relations, he has published several peer-reviewed academic articles and over 190
articles in various leading international newspapers and magazines in Asia, Africa,
Australia, Europe and North America.
Ngamjahao Kipgen is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Indian Institute of
Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. His major research interests are environmental
sociology, political sociology, religion and cultural politics. He has published several
book chapters and articles in journals such as Asian Ethnicity and SAGE Research
Methods Cases.
Ingudam Yaipharemba Singh is a guest faculty in the Department of National
Security Studies, Manipur University. Yaipha completed his doctoral research from
the Department of Defence and National Security Studies, Panjab University,
India. His research interests include international relations, conflict resolutions and
border crisis.
K. Yhome is Senior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi,
India. His research interests include India’s regional diplomacy, regionalism in South
and Southeast Asia and subregionalism in the Bay of Bengal and the Himalayas.
Before joining ORF, Yhome worked with the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. He is
the author of Myanmar: Can the Generals Resist Change? (2008) and has coauthored
Looking Beyond the Conflict: Changing Dynamics of India-Sri Lanka Ties (2013) and
coedited Emerging Trans-Regional Corridors: South and Southeast Asia (2017).
