This is in series of topics for SSB aspirants on Group discussion and lecturrets which must be supplemented by own time job

1. SSB Group Discussion/ Lecturrette-2:India’s ‘Act East Policy’
BY
Col Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd)
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the latest ASEAN summit in Myanmar’s capital
Naypyidaw this week to unveil India’s new “Act East Policy,” and convince his Southeast Asian
counterparts that his government is serious about boosting ties with the region.
“A new era of economic development, industrialization and trade has begun in India. Externally,
India’s ‘Look East Policy’ has become ‘Act East Policy,’” Modi told the ASEAN-India Summit
on November 12, stressing his government’s attention to the region.
It was a deliberate attempt to signal a more action-oriented policy towards ASEAN specifically
and East Asia more generally, in contrast to India’s original Look East Policy first formulated
under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in the 1990s. The term “Act East“ was first popularized by
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a speech during her visit to India in July 2011, where
she encouraged New Delhi “not just to look East, but to engage East and act East.”
In his remarks to Southeast Asian leaders at his first ever ASEAN-India Summit, Modi
highlighted specific recommendations to advance ASEAN-India economic relations over the
next few years, including establishing a special purpose vehicle for project financing, building
information highways, and inviting ASEAN countries to participate in India’s ongoing economic
transformation. Modi also touched on the South China Sea in both the ASEAN-India Summit
and the East Asia Summit, reiterating the importance for all actors in “following international
law and norms on maritime issues.”
Separately, Modi held productive meetings with individual Southeast Asian states, including
Singapore – currently New Delhi’s strongest partner in the region – and Myanmar, which is the
only ASEAN country India shares a land border with. Modi and Burmese President Thein Sein
both reviewed key ongoing joint infrastructure projects such as the India-Myanmar-Thailand
trilateral highway and the Kaladan transport project; while Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsein
Loong invited Modi to visit Singapore in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of India-
Singapore bilateral ties.
Thus far, Modi’s message has been well received in Southeast Asia and at home. Thail Prime
Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha lauded Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, saying it was also a
potential model for his country. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of the central Indian
state of Madhya Pradesh, said on his Twitter account that Modi’s message linking ASEAN-India
ties to New Delhi’s own economic reforms “shall herald a new era for India.”
Despite this glowing reception, some in India are already cautioning that Modi must quickly
demonstrate that India’s “Act East” policy can produce tangible results to boost ties with
ASEAN. Indian expert C Raja Mohan, now a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research
Foundation, argued in The Indian Express that Modi needs to deliver results on trade, given that

2. New Delhi has been dragging its feet on the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP), expected to be concluded by 2015. V.S. Seshadri, India’s former
ambassador to Myanmar, wrote in The Hindu on November 13 that India and Myanmar should
immediately set up a high-level bilateral mechanism to review progress on infrastructure projects
and broaden the discussion to include “soft infrastructure,” including transit and transport
agreements.