Myanmar, our neighbour

The visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Myanmar has brought to focus the kind of relationship India and her people should have with that country and her citizens. India – and for that matter North-east India – shares 1643 km of international boundary with the eastern neighbour. The four states that share international boundary with Myanmar are – Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km). President Kovind has said that India has deep interest in maintenance of peace and stability in Myanmar and that the two countries need to maintain security and stability along their borders. The two countries, at the end of President Kovind’s visit also made a joint announcement through which they vowed not to allow insurgent groups to use their soil for hostile activities against each other side. In a joint statement issued at the end of President Kovind’s official engagements in Myanmar, the two countries also called on the world community to end selective and partial approaches to combating terrorism.

It is significant that President Kovind and his Myanmarese counterpart U Win Myint agreed that terrorism constitutes a significant threat to peace and stability in the region and should be confronted in all its forms and manifestations. They also called for the expeditious finalisation and adoption of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism by the UN General Assembly. The two sides also stressed on the need to maintain security and stability along the India-Myanmar borders, which is essential for the socio-economic development of the populations living in the border areas. These are very important especially for the North-eastern Region, where trans-border movement of armed insurgent groups – ULFA, NDFB, NSCN and so on – as also setting up of camps and bases by these groups in that country have very badly affected life in the region. These groups, most of which constitute of drop-outs who have very little respect for human dignity and development, have done enough damage to life and property of the common people in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in the past several decades. But what is more important to note as the President carried out a five-day tour of Myanmar is that there is very little knowledge and concern about the neighbouring country in the states of the region, more particularly in Assam. It is only occasionally that people in Assam discuss Myanmar, and that too in some literary context or when someone needs to be reminded of Badan Barphukan, the Ahom officer who is said to have been instrumental in inviting the Burmese Army in the juncture of the 18th and 19th century to invade Assam because he – the Barphukan – had a score to settle with the then Ahom king. Otherwise, Myanmar does not figure in high school and college textbooks, and simply does not figure in public discussions and debates related to overall socio-economic development. The word Myanmar is however uttered once in a while when some Union minister refers to Act East Policy, but then nothing much emerges out of that too. It is very important for our high school boards and universities to include lessons on Myanmar – and for that matter on all the five countries with which India shares international boundary in the Northeast. The fact is that development and underdevelopment, socio-political stability and unrest, climate change and environmental degradation in these five neighbouring countries also affect the Northeast. Generations of young people in the Northeast growing up with no knowledge or awareness about Myanmar, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal is not a good sign.

Shame for Assam

Assam is one state which holds distinctions in many fields which unfortunately are for the wrong reasons. One such aspect is child marriages. Assam in fact has seen a spurt in child marriages in the past three years, with the actual reported figures increasing alarmingly from just 32 in 2015-16 to 317 in 2017-18. The figure for the year 2016-17 stood at 96. The districts which have recorded highest number of child marriages in the past during 2017-18 are – Kamrup (59), Barpeta (39), Baksa (26), Nagaon and Goalpara (both 22). The India Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy report recently released by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has said that Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura are among 12 states where child marriage rates are higher than the national average. According to NCPCR, prevalence of child marriage in India is the highest amongst girls belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (15 per cent), which is followed by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes (13 per cent). According to official records of the state Social Welfare Department, every third marriage taking place in Assam is that of a child marriage. The situation is most alarming in seven major districts of lower Assam, where almost every second marriage is said to be that of a child, especially of a girl child. Marriage of girls before they are of 18 years of age is a fundamental violation of human rights. Many factors contribute towards pushing a girl into risk of marriage. These include poverty, the perception that marriage will provide ‘protection’, family honour, social norms, customary or religious laws that condone the practice, an inadequate legislative framework and the state of a country’s civil registration system. Child marriage often compromises a girl’s development by way of resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence. Child marriage also affects boys, but to a lesser degree than girls. In Assam, child marriage is still not considered by the community as a violation of child rights or a crime against children. Social leaders, political leaders, student leaders, religious leaders – none of them are heard addressing this major social evil that should actually put the entire state to shame. It is a matter of shame for the government too, especially when the present dispensation talks of bringing about changes.