In India’s Northeast, development is no longer neutral—it's a tool of statecraft, shaped by security logics and Indo-Pacific ambitions.
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This commentary is part of the ongoing U.S. Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific: North Eastern Dialogue.
The discourse of the ‘security-development nexus’ in the current world order has been attributed to exemplary shifts and situational complexities. The referents and contexts—such as historical conditions and geographical imaginaries—have been subject to change over time. In India’s Northeast, a convergence between development and security has underscored the securitisation of development policies to address the challenges of violent conflicts. India’s Northeast is considered to be a political and geo-strategic construct. It is known to have ‘connected histories’ through trade and other commercial activities with its neighbours, particularly Bhutan, East Bengal (now Bangladesh), and Tibet. Although the ‘general discourse’ is that the region is largely regulated by geographical isolation and marginal academic attention, it has been exposed to global capitalist relations since the 1900s due to the commercial expansion of tea, railway networks, and oil discovery. Today, the region has acquired enormous policy-related attention for modernising state security, connectivity, and developmental infrastructure projects. For instance, the Central Electricity Authority—one of the nodal agencies responsible for power generation and usage in India—revealed that the Brahmaputra river basin in the Northeast has the ‘lion’s share of unused potential for hydro schemes.’
In India’s Northeast, a convergence between development and security has underscored the securitisation of development policies to address the challenges of violent conflicts. India’s Northeast is considered to be a political and geo-strategic construct.
Regarding risk management in the Northeast, India’s eastward policy has been to combat terror through massive economic investments and development projects to ‘magically eliminate the source of violence’ and alleviate regional and global security concerns. The central Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) entails the vision to bridge the development gaps of the region through aid for economic and social infrastructure. Under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) for Roads, 11 projects have been sanctioned by MDoNER since 1 April 2022, with a total estimated cost of INR 625.34 crores (approximately US$762.49 million) for transport and communication. However, a recent report revealed that the Northeastern states and various agencies are yet to utilise INR 9536 crores (US$11,624 million) of MDoNER funds.
In 2024, a JICA-assisted Guwahati Sewerage project worth INR 1,178.75 crores ( US$1,438 million), including three sewerage plants in Siksakoo Beel, Borsola Beel, and Paschim Boragaon in Guwahati City, Assam, was approved by the Government of India.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)—which implements Official Development Assistance—signed a loan agreement amounting to ¥15,561 million (approximately INR 877 crores or US$1,068 million) with the Government of India for the North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project (Phase 7). JICA has been involved in such road connectivity projects in the Northeast since 2017, after signing an agreement with New Delhi to provide over ¥67 billion (US$610 million) (Phase I) for the ‘North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project.’ Significant transformations in the road infrastructure are yet to be seen, and the National Highway infrastructure remains underdeveloped. The total road surface in the Northeast is 33.7 percent compared to the all-India figure of 69 percent. In 2024, a JICA-assisted Guwahati Sewerage project worth INR 1,178.75 crores ( US$1,438 million), including three sewerage plants in Siksakoo Beel, Borsola Beel, and Paschim Boragaon in Guwahati City, Assam, was approved by the Government of India. Earlier, JICA and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) invested in water supply projects in Guwahati city. However, holistic development landscapes, including urban infrastructures, are poor and yet to progress.
Despite these challenges, the Northeast is crucial for the government of India’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ roadmap. In March 2024, the national government laid the foundation stone for INR 27,000 crore (more than US$3 billion) for an indigenous ‘Semiconductor Assembly and Test Facility’ led by the Tata Group of Electronics. The Government of India chose Assam as a semiconductor manufacturing base for its proactive semiconductor policy, establishing the initiative in the Prime Minister’s vision of developing the ‘Astha Lakshmi’ states.
As India continues to rise as a leader of the Global South, it seeks to expand its ‘Act East’ engagements by focusing on strategic dimensions in the Indo-Pacific region, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as its core. India’s development assistance in its neighbourhood includes Grant Assistance, implemented by Bangladesh, in infrastructural projects such as the Akhaura-Agartala Rail Link, the upgradation of Mongla port, and High Impact Community Development Projects, among others. The India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Trilateral Highway is a central feature of India’s grand ambition to link ‘the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Pacific in the East, with India as the bridge connecting the two halves.’ However, the completion of this highway that would connect ‘Moreh in Manipur with Mae Sot in Thailand’ is delayed due to instability in India’s border state of Manipur and neighbouring Myanmar.
Connectivity linkages with Bangladesh are crucial for India to realise its Indo-Pacific potential and maintain multimodal regional connectivity and access to the Bay of Bengal through Mongla and Chattogram, the active seaports for transit and trans-shipment of cargo vessels.
There are similar concerns about physical connectivity projects, including energy, transport, and digital connectivity projects between India and Bangladesh after the forced resignation of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024. Connectivity linkages with Bangladesh are crucial for India to realise its Indo-Pacific potential and maintain multimodal regional connectivity and access to the Bay of Bengal through Mongla and Chattogram, the active seaports for transit and trans-shipment of cargo vessels. Access routes have been identified that would connect these ports with the states of Assam (Sutarkandi), Meghalaya (Dawki), and Tripura (Agartala) in India’s Northeast through Bangladesh. On 4 May 2023, the Government of India inaugurated the 10th land port between India and Bangladesh at Dawki, in the West Khasi hills, to boost trade and tourism. The Matarbari deep-sea port, currently under construction with partial assistance from JICA, worth US$1.09 billion, has huge economic and strategic potential for the region. Access to this port through Tripura is vital for the Northeast.
Despite these pronouncements, however, concrete outcomes are yet to materialise. A plethora of challenges remain. Physical connectivity in the region, particularly the construction of highways, is impeded by problems of land acquisition, deforestation, climate-induced disasters, faulty construction, slow pace of work, and compromises on the quality of work by the implementing agencies. The incomplete and dilapidated condition of inter-state highways, connecting each state and administrative units within the states in the Northeast for instance, the Shillong-Dawki highway in Meghalaya, the inter-state National Highway 6 (formerly known as NH 154) between Assam and Mizoram, National Highway-6 connecting Assam, Manipur, and Tripura, National Highway-37 connecting Assam and Manipur, among others, further stand in the way of materialising the promises of infrastructure development and completion of these connectivity projects. Without strict monitoring of the externally funded ongoing connectivity projects and implementation by an efficient and dedicated class of political executives, India’s grand ambition of integrating the Northeast in the larger Indo-Pacific and Act East framework will remain symbolic.
Pahi Saikia is a Professor of Political Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG).
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Pahi Saikia is a Professor of Political Science at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG). Her academic specialization lies in Comparative Politics and International ...
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