Paper Details

The economic and socio-political environment of Manipur, which is one of the Indian Northeastern states bordering Myanmar with an open 352-kilometer border, has been shaped mainly by cross-border mobility. Throughout history, economic dependence, geopolitical stress, and strong ethnic and family ties have all impacted people mobility across this border. Large regional crises, including the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis and the 2021 Myanmar military coup, have contributed heavily to Manipur's travel history over the past decade, with an influx of displaced people who are looking for refuge. Migration has added to the workforce and border trade but has also raised serious issues of national security, insurgency, land encroachment, and demographic changes. The Indo-Myanmar Free Movement Regime (FMR), initially set up to enable economic and cultural interactions between border towns, has increasingly been criticized for enabling transnational crime and irregular migration. In 2024, this led to policy shifts to enhance border security and limit the scope of free movement. Securitization through military deployments, fencing, and surveillance has formed the essence of the Indian state response to migration. But most displaced are in the legal underground due to the lack of a comprehensive refugee policy, which has contributed to tensions between migrant groups and between migrant groups and native-born populations. Migration has both positively and negatively affected the economy of Manipur. In places like Moreh, migrants have added to border trade, agriculture, and the informal labor market, but their presence has also been a cause of worry about competition for employment and wage depression. The situation is made more complicated by the onset of illicit enterprises like drug running, weapons running, and people trafficking across the Indo-Myanmar border. Security concerns have been heightened owing to the availability of insurgent groups that benefit from the population movements, invoking calls for tightened immigration laws and population tracking. In order to empower Manipur's changing migration patterns to maintain regional peace, economic viability, and protection of the rights of the natives while adhering to humanitarian values, a holistic and inclusive policy framework is necessary.

North-east region, migration, refugees, Look East Policy, Act East Policy, borderland, conflict, Myanmar military coup, Rohingya.