IMPHAL, October 31: The India’s Look East Policy needs a separate department consisting of an expert to institutionally parenting it, said Prof. N Mohendro while moderating the Emerging Business Opportunities with Reference to India’s look East Policy organized by weekly Journal Shenmitlon at Manipur Press Club Imphal.
During the function, Y Surchandra Singh, MLA Kakching said that Manipur will become, one day, a commercial hub among South East Asian countries through India’s Look East Policy.
The MLA further mentioned that Manipur needs a long vision adding that the wideness of the state highways must be wider than the present one. When the Look East Policy comes to reality, the people of the state will become busy.
People have lost work culture nowadays, and without work culture, the MLA further mentioned, a nation cannot develop.
Citing example in this regard, in 1979-80, the Yunal province of China had less annual per capita income than the North east region of India. But now, they had huge annual per capita income of Rs 2 lakhs in Indian currency. This is possible of people’s work culture in China though they are communist government.
Many foreigners of Japan visited Manipur and asked to export local products like U Morok, local brew, soya-bean etc that the U Morok is sold at Rs. 35 thousand per Kg in Japan, adding that the fermented soya bean is popular in Japan also. So if the State exports in large quantities, the income of the State could be improved in the huge amount, Imatoma, a Japanese, who recently visited Manipur told Y Surchandra.
In health care secter, Manipur has expertise of nurses, doctors, engineers that the neighboring country Myanmar cannot have in this field, said Y Surchandra.
As the resource person of the seminar, social activist Dr Laishram Dhanabir said that the political economy of India must be reviewed in tune with Look East Policy. After the disintegration of Soviet Russia in 1992-93, India starts looking toward South East Asian countries.
He added that the state needs to develop medicine and education tourism as this will surely attract the people of the neighboring countries like Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam etc.
Another resources person, Dr Chinglem Meisnam said that the state needs a proper planning board to monitoring the Look East Policy with more expert team in the field adding that the Look East Policy must be profitable.
As moderator of the discussion, Prof N mohendro said, the state needs infrastructures, planning board and to constitute a department to monitor Look East Policy, adding that the people of State needs work culture. And local tourism must be promoted so that the national and international tourism can be attracted in the state, he said.