Economics of Borderland and Lives: Empirical Understanding from Northeast India

Abstract

The twentieth century saw different types of border regimes around the Globe: closed, semipermeable, and permeable (Walter, 2009). Permeability, the degree of openness, is crucial for people living in borderlands. The continuity or discontinuity of these regimes has direct implications for the people of the borderland. Of the six International Borders India shares with neighbours, the Northeastern Region shares borders with all except Pakistan. This region is surrounded by Nepal, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar (Ghosh et al., 2023). The livelihood of the many residents of these areas directly or indirectly depends not only on the domestic policies of India but also on the bilateral relationship between neighbouring countries. One of the most prominent components is the economics acceptance of these relationships. The region’s past has witnessed the trade activities of the Silk Route and the British trade pattern on the frontier. This historical connection has immensely built the region’s current network of trade ideas. This chapter attempts to understand the degree of associations between the evaluations of different policy regimes, for example, look east or act east policy, and the economics of these regions. It also tried to analyse the impact of changing border dynamics on people’s lives.