Manipur, Myanmar, conflict, violence, social suffering, development

This paper highlights the significance of India Act East Policy in driving economic transformation and development in Manipur a state grappling with pressing challenges such as youth unemployment, poverty, and underdevelopment-ultimately impacting its overall well-being. Blessed with favourable resources human capital, bio-resources, and a geographically strategic position Manipur offers its access to a vast market in Southeast Asian countries. However, the state is currently gripped by violence and frozen conflict. Since May 3, 2023, the conflict fuelled by manufactured grievances has been allowed to persist unchecked. The weak and ineffective state response has rendered the indiscriminate violence, untold sufferings and killing of innocent civilians serving as a grim reminder of Manipur’s painful history of human suffering dating back to the 1950s. Given Manipur’s entrenched sociological challenges including a legacy of political instability, civil unrest, and ethnic insurgency violence the weakness of the state apparatus emerges as a major impediment to fully leverage the opportunities presented by India’s Act East Policy. Without effective governance, security, and stability, Manipur risks being unable to harness the Act East Policy’s potential for economic progress and development.