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.

The changing situation in Myanmar creates new opportunities for deepening India-Myanmar relations. Owing to its strategic position, Myanmar is connecting Asia’s three big markets – ASEAN, China and India. Myanmar forms a land-bridge connecting South Asia with Southeast Asia. But, country’s underdeveloped infrastructure, institutional and business environment seriously limit participation of Myanmar into the global economy. However, Myanmar has the potential to become another dynamic growth centre of Asia if it develops a stronger and improved connectivity with the neighbouring countries. Opening-up and strengthening the connectivity with neighbouring countries such as India would also speed-up its development process. We should see connectivity through Myanmar as crucial for India’s Look East Policy and deepening economic integration with ASEAN, China and beyond. This article deals with physical connectivity links between India and Myanmar. Specifically, it presents current status of all major modes of transportation links between India and Myanmar, and discusses the challenges and prospects. Besides, it also presents Myanmar’s selected connectivity projects with neighbouring China and Thailand. Finally, this study draws an action plan for implementation of connectivity projects in Myanmar.

This research project focuses on the resurgence of Kuki-Chin ethnic nationalism in the Indo-Myanmar borderlands. The tribe known as Kuki in Manipur is known as Chin in Myanmar--they live on both sides of the Indo-Myanmar border. Their land was annexed by the British in the 19th century and, during decolonization, divided between the new countries of India and Myanmar. The Kukis have a history of anticolonial resistance, and they have launched postcolonial ethnic nationalist movements to claim an autonomous state. In 2009, the Indian and Myanmar governments started investing in a hydropower project named Tamanthi in the borderland districts of Myanmar. There were protests against that project, because construction would have not only caused large-scale displacement but also led to the erasure of the sacred geography of the Kuki-Chin, and these protests led to the cancelation of the project. The specific research case of the movement against Tamanthi in Myanmar discussed here demonstrates a context in which the Kuki-Chin identity was politicized and forged, which not only stalled the project but led to the resurgence of ethno-nationalist demands on both sides of the border. Through this case study, we analyze the dilemmas, ambivalence, and processes of doing research in borderland communities, and demonstrate that these communities cannot be studied through the standard methodologically nationalist and realist paradigm, that is, a cross-country comparison of cases. To appreciate how and why ethno-nationalism and secessionism emerges whenever there is a state intervention for "development," we need an "ethno-historical," constructivist, and "emic" understanding of the making of these borderland communities and the liminal spaces they inhabit.

This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of India's multi-faceted relations with Myanmar. It unravels the mysteries of the complex polity of Myanmar as it undergoes transition through democracy after long military rule. Based on meticulous research and understanding, the volume traces the trajectory of India–Myanmar associations from ancient times to the present day, and offers a fascinating story in the backdrop of the region’s geopolitics. An in-depth analysis of ‘India–Myanmar–China Triangle’ brings out the strategic stakes involved. It will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of international relations, peace and conflict studies, defence and strategic studies, politics, South and Southeast Asian studies, as well as policy-makers and political think tanks.

India Shares 1643 Km Long Border With Myanmar That Passes Through The Northeastern States Of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram And Nagaland. Although Cross-Border Contact And Movement Of People Are Known Througout, But They Have Not Led To Any Strong Economic Interdependence Between The Regions Across The Border So Far.

This edited volume adds to the literature on Myanmar and its borders by drawing attention to the significance of geography, history, politics and society in the construction of the border regions and the country. First, it alerts us to the fact that the border regions are situated in the mountainous and maritime domains of the country, highlighting the commonalities that arise from shared geography. Second, the book foregrounds socio-spatio practices — economic, intimate, spiritual, virtual — of border and boundary-making in their local context. This demonstrates how state-defined notions of territory, borders and identity are enacted or challenged. Third, despite sharing common features, Myanmar’s borderscapes also possess unique configurations of ethnic, political and economic attributes, producing social formations and figured worlds that are more cohesive or militant in some border areas than in others. Understanding and comparing these social practices and their corresponding life-worlds allows us to re-examine the connections from the borderlands back to the hinterland and to consider the value of border and boundary studies in problematizing and conceptualizing recent changes in Myanmar. “This ambitious project combines sophisticated theorization of boundary-making as a form of social practice and empirical studies of Myanmar’s heterogeneous borderlands, both land and sea. Seeing the country from its edges opens up a provocative and altogether novel vision of the contestations joining diverse peripheries and centre. This volume brings together the leading scholars of the country in a collection that is a must-have for anyone interested in contemporary Myanmar, border studies, and Southeast Asia.” -- Itty Abraham, Head, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS) “This is the first book to attempt to bring together such a diverse range of Myanmar’s land and maritime border regions for comparison. In doing so, it highlights the diversity of the country’s demographic, social, economic and political make-up when viewed from the margins rather than the centre. It reveals how these border regions help to constitute the nation and how they shape what modern Myanmar is today — they also give strong indicators of what it might become. This is an essential read for anyone in the social sciences interested in borderlands, as well as those requiring a broader understanding of the challenges facing the contemporary Myanmar government as it attempts to usher in social and political cohesion following decades of conflict.” -- Mandy Sadan, Reader in the History of South East Asia, School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS)

For most residents of India?s bustling metros and big towns, nationality and citizenship are privileges that are often taken for granted. The country?s periphery, however, is dotted with sleepy towns and desolate villages whose people, simply by having more in common with citizens of neighbouring nations than with their own, have to prove their Indian identity every day. It is these specks on the country?s map that Pradeep Damodaran rediscovers as he travels across India?s borders for a little more than a year, experiencing life in far-flung areas that rarely feature in mainstream conversations. In Borderlands, he recounts his encounters with the war-weary fishermen of Dhanushkodi at the southernmost tip of Tamil Nadu, who live in fear both of the Indian Coast Guard and the Sri Lankan navy; farmers in Hussainiwala, a village on Punjab?s border with Pakistan, who are unwilling to build concrete houses for fear of them being destroyed in the ever looming war; Tamil traders of Moreh, a town straddling the Manipur?Myanmar border, who pay bribes to at least ten different militant organizations so they can safely conduct their business; and ex-servicemen in Campbell Bay who were resettled there three generations ago and have long been forgotten by the mainland. From Minicoy in Lakshadweep to Taki in West Bengal, Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to Raxaul in Bihar, Damodaran?s compelling narrative reinforces the idea that, in India, a land of contrasts and contradictions, beauty and diversity, conflict comes in many forms.

A Booklist "Top 10 History Book of 2022" The first true people's history of modern India, told through a seven-year, 9,000-mile journey along its many contested borders Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the world's largest democracy and second most populous country. It is also the site of the world's biggest crisis of statelessness, as it strips citizenship from hundreds of thousands of its people--especially those living in disputed border regions. Suchitra Vijayan traveled India's vast land border to explore how these populations live, and document how even places just few miles apart can feel like entirely different countries. In this stunning work of narrative reportage--featuring over 40 original photographs--we hear from those whose stories are never told: from children playing a cricket match in no-man's-land, to an elderly man living in complete darkness after sealing off his home from the floodlit border; from a woman who fought to keep a military bunker off of her land, to those living abroad who can no longer find their family history in India. With profound empathy and a novelistic eye for detail, Vijayan brings us face to face with the brutal legacy of colonialism, state violence, and government corruption. The result is a gripping, urgent dispatch from a modern India in crisis, and the full and vivid portrait of the country we've long been missing.