[Assam] Fwd: Re: Los Angeles Times on Northeast India

Mon Jun 2 21:18:05 PDT 2008

Umesh,

That would be Brahmaputra or Brahma's son.Supposedly, the only male river in
India, all the rest are feminine.

I am not sure about a river like Ravi in the Punjab - sounds like a male
name.

--Ram da

On 6/2/08, Manoj Das <dasmk2k at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> hi Umesh
>
> This male river in question is our 'bor luit'- Only male river in the
> world..mythologically though..:)
>
> On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 9:32 AM, umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> > what is this "male river"
> >
> > any misprints?  :-)
> >
> > Umesh
> >
> > Manoj Das <dasmk2k at gmail.com> wrote: I was thinking this all along!
> >
> > When I shared this news with a Japanese thinker from ADB, he was
> stunned..
> > There are many players in this. Number one is Bangladesh, which is
> > constantly frustrating India's efforts to get transit through the male
> > river. Secondly a grand politics of undermining Assam's destined position
> > as
> > the land bridge between giant Asian land and economic masses.
> >
> > mkd
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 9:33 AM, Dilip&Dil Deka  wrote:
> >
> > > Forwarding.
> > >
> > > Dilip&Dil Deka  wrote:  Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008
> > > 20:58:13 -0700 (PDT)
> > > From: Dilip&Dil Deka
> > > Subject: Re: [Assam] Los Angeles Times on Northeast India
> > > To: baruah at bard.edu, cmahanta at charter.net
> > >
> > >  Dear Sanjib,
> > >  You said, "But are they  producing or is it only assembling products.
> I
> > > don't know the answer. "
> > >  Even Assembling products is better than not doing anything. Mexico is
> > > making a lot of money assembling products for USA. Assembling products
> > > eventually leads to local production if the local entrepreneurs mean to
> > take
> > > part in the process.
> > >  Car battery industry is a good example. As I understand, back in
> > seventies
> > > batteries were assembled in Assam. I heard that most of the parts are
> now
> > > made in Assam. Is it true?
> > >  Dilipda
> > >
> > > baruah at bard.edu wrote:
> > >  Dear Dilipda and Mahanta,
> > >
> > > Good hearing from you. I am skeptical, as Mahanta has noted. But not
> > > because a lot new is not taking place -- but because things that are
> > > crucial for a breakthrough are not happenning. There is a much more
> > > affluent India, and many in Delhi are genuinely committed to doing
> > > more. So if earlier we talked about 100 crores, now the language is of
> > > 1000 crores. But is money enough? Domestic policy and foreign policy
> > > cannot be separated when it comes to Northeast India. Our relations
> > > with China may be improving in many ways, but not when it comes to
> > > Arunchal Pradesh. Only last summer China has begun referring to AP as
> > > China's Southern Tibet. So long as the Burmese military regime is
> > > there, huge amount of foreign funds are not going to move in to build
> > > infrastructure in Burma. Indian money or Chinese money can do a little
> > > bit of this and that, but not the funds that could be mobilized for
> > > Northeast india to benefit from India's Look East policy. No matter
> > > how much we shout about Bangladesh's animosity, the burden of normal
> > > relations is on the bigger neighbour as in all such cases of a country
> > > that is far more resourceful than the aggreived smaller neighbor. We
> > > may be landocked by India, said a Bangladeshi foreign minister, but
> > > Northeast india is landlocked by us. So the military man's vision of
> > > the Look East policy -- linking up with the Burmese or the Bangaldeshi
> > > army to get support for their anti-insurgency operations--is a very
> > > poor substitute to the huge leap of resources -- material as well as
> > > intellectual -- that is needed for the task. At the same time I am
> > > willing to say that we do not know the implications of some of the
> > > huge amount of money that is being spent. There are about 15 daily
> > > flights from Delhi to Guwahati -- more than any other comparable city.
> > > There is much more energetic road-building (and the massive
> > > disappearance of trees and of the familiar surroundings around the
> > > trunk road) etc etc. I know the planes carry many businessmen taking
> > > advantage of the tax benefits of investing in the region. But are they
> > > producing or is it only assembling products. I don't know the answer.
> > > But we surely need a new language to talk about the region --
> > > certainty "neglect" is not what is happenning any more.
> > >
> > > Hope all is well.
> > >
> > > With warm regards,
> > >
> > > Sanjib
> > >
> > >
> > > Quoting Chan Mahanta :
> > >
> > > > Thanks for sharing the article Baruah.
> > > >
> > > > But I share your skepticism. We have heard these for decades on end
> > > > now. The politicians attempt to take credit for imaginary
> > > > achievements and establishment spokespersons paint rosy scenarios, in
> > > > the air. But what has the reality been?
> > > >
> > > > m
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > At 8:33 PM -0400 5/30/08, baruah at bard.edu wrote:
> > > >>
> > http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-india29-2008may29,0,6712115.story
> > > >>
> > > >> From the Los Angeles Times
> > > >> Northeast India is poised to tap economic potential
> > > >> The eight-state area plans multiple projects to increase its trade
> > > >> with Southeast Asia.
> > > >> By Shankhadeep Choudhury
> > > >> Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
> > > >>
> > > >> May 29, 2008
> > > >>
> > > >> NEW DELHI - India's remote northeast region has been both blessed
> and
> > > >> cursed by its geography. The region is rich in natural resources but
> > > >> is landlocked and surrounded by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and
> Bhutan,
> > > >> leaving it impoverished.
> > > >>
> > > >> The eight-state region may finally get a chance to start living up
> to
> > > >> its economic potential with several projects to enhance connections
> > > >> with Southeast Asia and to increase outlets for such commodities as
> > > >> organic foods, orchids, tea, coal and oil.
> > > >>
> > > >> Now, the only way to move major quantities of goods between
> northeast
> > > >> India and Southeast Asia is through Bangladesh.
> > > >>
> > > >> But authorities in Myanmar and India are nearing final approval of a
> > > >> $100-million river project giving northeast India direct access to
> the
> > > >> Indian Ocean through Myanmar, said Abhijit Barooah, chairman of the
> > > >> northeastern chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry,
> India's
> > > >> premier business association.
> > > >>
> > > >> The project envisages facilitating movement of cargo from India's
> > > >> Mizoram state to Myanmar's port at Sittwe, via the Kaladan River.
> > > >>
> > > >> In addition, talks have begun between companies in northeast India
> and
> > > >> Thailand after a trade-promotion conference in Bangkok in October,
> > > >> said Lemli Loyi, assistant general manager at the state-run North
> > > >> Eastern Development Finance Corp. Loyi expressed hope that the talks
> > > >> would result in increased business and possible joint ventures.
> > > >>
> > > >> India first enunciated a "look east" policy, an economic and
> strategic
> > > >> orientation toward Southeast Asia, in 1992. It had its genesis at
> the
> > > >> end of the Cold War, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having
> > > >> lost the Soviet economic and political support on which it had
> relied,
> > > >> the Indian government embarked on a program of free-market
> > > >> restructuring at home and sought new markets and economic partners
> > > >> abroad.
> > > >>
> > > >> Officials envisaged that the eight northeast states -- Assam,
> > > >> Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and
> > > >> Mizoram -- would emerge as a trading hub for two dynamic regions
> > > >> connected by a network of highways, railways, pipelines and
> > > >> transmission lines. The region is home to about 40 million people.
> > > >>
> > > >> But progress has been slow. The region's isolation dates to the
> 1800s.
> > > >>
> > > >> "Nineteenth-century British colonial decisions to draw lines between
> > > >> the hills and the plains, to put barriers on trade between Bhutan
> and
> > > >> Assam, and to treat Burma as a buffer against French Indochina and
> > > >> China severed the region from its traditional trade routes -- the
> > > >> southern trails of the Silk Road," said Sanjib Baruah, a professor
> of
> > > >> political science at Bard College in New York and an expert on
> > > >> northeast India.
> > > >>
> > > >> The British built railways and roads mostly to take tea, coal, oil
> and
> > > >> other resources out of Assam and into the rest of India and also to
> > > >> Europe.
> > > >>
> > > >> The problems increased with the partitioning of India and Pakistan
> in
> > > >> 1947. Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan in the 1970s.
> > > >>
> > > >> Barooah said trade would be boosted by an expected move by the
> Indian
> > > >> and Myanmar governments to expand the list of mostly agricultural
> > > >> commodities allowed to be traded by land between northeast India and
> > > >> Myanmar, from 27 to 42 items.
> > > >>
> > > >> "The northeast is the closest land mass connecting the dynamic
> > > >> economies of south and Southeast Asia," said Pradyut Bordoloi,
> Assam's
> > > >> minister for power and industries. "Besides deep-rooted cultural
> > > >> linkages, we can reap multidimensional benefits in this era of
> > > >> regional economic cooperation."
> > > >>
> > > >> Bordoloi is closely associated with a campaign to reopen the World
> War
> > > >> II-era Stillwell Road, connecting Assam's town of Ledo to southwest
> > > >> China.
> > > >>
> > > >> "If reopened, this would be the shortest surface route to Yunnan
> > > >> province of China and other Southeast Asian countries hooking onto
> the
> > > >> trans-Asian highways," he said.
> > > >>
> > > >> The road served as the supply line into China during Japan's wartime
> > > >> occupation, but it was shut after India's independence from Britain
> in
> > > >> 1947.
> > > >>
> > > >> Bordoloi said his campaign to reopen the road, initiated after he
> > > >> became a state legislator in 1998, scored a victory when India
> > > >> upgraded the road to a full-fledged national highway, developing it
> up
> > > >> to the Indo-Myanmar border.
> > > >>
> > > >> Officials say infrastructure development, power, bamboo-based
> > > >> industries, orchids and organic foods are prospective areas of
> > > >> cooperation with Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand.
> > > >>
> > > >> But significant hurdles remain, including concerns that booming
> trade
> > > >> relations may fuel rises in insurgency, narco-terrorism and AIDS,
> all
> > > >> of which plague the northeast. Security in the region is tight, with
> > > >> the army out in force to combat armed groups battling for greater
> > > >> autonomy or independence from India.
> > > >>
> > > >> "The official restrictions that prevail in northeast India -- in
> terms
> > > >> of travel, land and labor markets -- are hardly conducive to
> intensive
> > > >> cross-border economic relations," said Baruah, the political science
> > > >> professor.
> > > >>
> > > >> "Both the reality of insurgencies in the region and the security
> > > >> anxiety of the government of India . . . are major obstacles to
> > > >> dynamic cross-border economic ties," he added, calling current
> efforts
> > > >> hardly more than "a bare beginning."
> > > >>
> > > >> Also, Baruah said, it was difficult to imagine a big increase in
> trade
> > > >> given the political situation in military-led Myanmar.
> > > >>
> > > >> India's relations with China, a country it has long regarded with
> > > >> distrust since a 1962 border war, would also have to become much
> more
> > > >> relaxed, Baruah said.
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> _______________________________________________
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> > > >> assam at assamnet.org
> > > >> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> > > >
> > > >
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> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Manoj Kumar Das
> > C 172 GF, Sarvodaya Enclave
> > New Delhi 17 India
> > 0091 9312650558 (HP) 9910972654
> > _______________________________________________
> > assam mailing list
> > assam at assamnet.org
> > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >
> >
> >
> > Umesh Sharma
> >
> > Washington D.C.
> >
> > 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
> >
> > Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> > Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> > Harvard University,
> > Class of 2005
> >
> > http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
> >
> > http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
> > http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
> >
> >
> >
> > http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
> >
> > ---------------------------------
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> > A Smarter Email.
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> Manoj Kumar Das
> C 172 GF, Sarvodaya Enclave
> New Delhi 17 India
> 0091 9312650558 (HP) 9910972654
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