Frontier to Fulcrum: Reimagining Northeast India under the EAST Vision

The transformation of India’s Northeastern Region (NER) is no longer a peripheral concern but a strategic imperative woven into national development and regional diplomacy. This paper interrogates the emerging contours of this shift through the lens of the EAST Vision—Empower, Act, Strengthen, Transform—a guiding framework that departs from past narratives of remoteness to reimagine the NER as a fulcrum of India’s growth, innovation, and connectivity. Drawing on recent policy interventions, this analysis captures how infrastructure investments exceeding INR 5 trillion, digital expansion, and high-tech industrial forays—including India’s first semiconductor assembly unit in Assam—are reshaping the region’s economic profile. Rather than treating the NER as a passive recipient of development aid, this study foregrounds its active repositioning: as a testing ground for green industrial policy, a hub for human-capital-led services, and a geopolitical bridge to Southeast Asia. At the same time, shifting geopolitics—especially political flux in Bangladesh and instability in Myanmar—pose new challenges for cross-border access. This paper critically examines how policy, diplomacy, and decentralised capacities must align to translate EAST into a resilient and regionally integrated future for the Northeast.