ABSTRACT
The people of the Indo-Myanmar border in north-east India belong to the Indo-Mongoloid racial stock and speak languages belonging to the Tibeto-Burman group. North-east India is a triangular landmass with 98 per cent of its boundaries being international. It is connected to India by a narrow strip of land. Contemporary literature defines majority of the Tibeto-Burman communities of north-east India as ‘transnational’. In spite of the political division, the ethnically and culturally similar people inhabiting both sides of the international border have maintained constant cross-border movement. The idea to develop territorial links between India and South-East Asia through north-east India and Myanmar is novel. The objectives of the Look East Policy to liberate north-east India from its economic imprisonment by promoting trade with South-East Asia through Myanmar are more than a decade old.
