While the policy of \u2018Act East\u2019 was much trumpeted from 2014 when the present Modi government came to power when it moved further from \u2018Look East Policy\u2019; the expected forward momentum ground to a halt after the government suspended the Free Movement Regime(FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border. After arbitrary demarcation of the border, the same people living in contiguous areas such as tribes from Mon and Noklak in Nagaland were separated by an artificial boundary. So also the Kuki-Chin-Mizo communities in Manipur and Mizoram,without their agreement. The FMR was established in 2018 as part of India\u2019s Act East policy, promoting cross-border movement up to 16 km without a visa. Individuals residing at the border need a one-year border pass for stays lasting up to two weeks in the neighbouring country. It aimed to facilitate local border trade, improve access to education and healthcare for border residents, and strengthen diplomatic ties. The FMR was scrapped by the government of India on February 8,2024 under the plea of ensuring the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India\u2019s North Eastern States bordering Myanmar. The reverse Act East came about after the ethnic war broke out since May 2023 between the Kuki-Zo community and the Meitei private militia patronised by the government led by chief minister Biren Singh. The ethnic war has all but destroyed the once resilient Manipur society comprised of various ethnic groups and religious communities. The economy and normal life in Manipur have been hardest hit while social harmony has been poisoned and a vibrant economy destroyed. Unfortunately, the ethnic violence, destruction of properties and sight free roving bands of armed militia were not of concern. What was of concern was to plug influx of Myanmarese or to be precise, Chin-Kuki immigrants accused of being drug smugglers and so FMR was scrapped. The drug trade is speculated to run into a few thousand crore rupees annually. To understand the magnitude of the drug smuggling, it may be pertinent to note that drugs worth more than a whopping Rs 1,610 crore have been seized by the Assam Rifles between July 2022 and July 2023 in Manipur, according to data provided by the paramilitary force. In the financial years 2021-22 and 2020-21, it seized drugs worth Rs 850 crore. The scrapping of FMR may have restricted the inflow of drugs from Myanmar but the fact is this has not crippled drug smuggling from Myanmar. Due FMR, the unrest in Manipur and road blockades by several outfits, drug traffickers have shifted the route to smuggle illegal items through the Mizoram corridor from Myanmar. This was confirmed by Mizoram Director General of Police (DGP) Anil Shukla who said traffickers were mostly using the international border in the state\u2019s Champhai district to smuggle contraband. Within a period, towards the half of the latter part of 2023, security forces and police seized around Rs.122 crore worth of drugs from Champhai district bordering the Myanmar border. Leaving aside statistics, the drug menace poses a very serious threat on many youth especially some as young as ten year olds. Nagaland faces a very dangerous threat from banned drugs that has turned many youths including some high school children into addicts. Drug menace is a threat not only in Manipur or Mizoram but on all states and this calls for a unified effort to eradicate the drug trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While the policy of \u2018Act East\u2019 was much trumpeted from 2014 when the present Modi government came to power when it moved further from \u2018Look East Policy\u2019; the expected forward momentum ground to a halt after the government suspended the Free Movement Regime(FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border. After arbitrary demarcation of the border, the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-412208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}