Opening up of Arunachal Pradesh

Speaking to WION in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that the Department of Personnel and Training(DOPT) is working on a concept note to provide a separate cadre for the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The DOPT is being headed by Jitendra Singh. This story was first reported by WION when Pema Kahndu had made the demand for a separate cadre for the state. Pema Kahndu told WION that the absence of a permanent cadre leads to a lack of institutional memory which adversely affects developmental activity as officers get transferred out within two or three years.

“Arunachal Pradesh is very diverse. There are 28 major tribes and more than 100 sub-tribes with many languages and hundreds of dialects. Sometimes even I take time to comprehend issues. Then how do you expect a bureaucrat to understand everything in two to three years,” Chief Minister Pema Khandu felt.

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This is one of the few steps that this remote state of the Indian Union is taking to integrate into the national mainstream. For years, it was treated as a buffer state. Its isolation was a security necessity. Today a lot of development is taking place in Arunachal Pradesh which surprises many people. The state seems to be making its presence felt in various sectors, but two prominent sectors are tourism and roads.

Arunachal Pradesh has more tourist festivals than any other state in the country. The state successfully organizes five major tourist festivals a year. They are the Tawang festival, Orange festival, Zero festival, Bascon festival and adventure at Mechuka. Through these festivals, outsiders can taste authentic eastern food and even the local brew called Chang. Interestingly, Tawang is not only a music festival but also allows tourists to sample their village life. Apart from the stunning natural view, it is also a gastronomic delight.

Tawang is located at the height of 3,000 metreswith nearly 40,000 people who visit the festival which has acquired an iconic status. It's remoteness and rich Buddhist history makes it a big draw with both domestic and international tourists. Apart from this, the new Bom la pass is another added attraction. But this town also comes with its irony.

The town of Tawang does not have a sewer system whereas the whole town area is a litter free zone and smoking in public places is prohibited. It is cleaner than most of the tourist hotspots in the Himalayas which struggles to cope with the plastic menace. Chief Minister Pema Khandu says that he started these festivals when he was the tourism minister to promote easy tourism for multiple audiences.

Arunachal Pradesh for all its life had a unique road system. However, the state was not internally connected. One had to come back to Assam to go to other parts of Arunachal Pradesh. The 1962 debacle further cemented the attitude. The idea was to thwart a Chinese invasion mountain by mountain by not allowing them easy access to any part of the state. This is changing slowly.

Arunachal Pradesh is trying to complete a trans-Arunachal project which is 1,700 km long and connects the state internally. Jitendra Narain, Resident Principal Commissioner of AP in Delhi said, "We are trying to tie up with the issue of delay because the terrain is very difficult and is prone to being washed away. There is a stretch of 300 km which we are working upon,"he said.

The Frontier Highway Project and East-West Industrial Corridor are also in the pipeline. These projects would undo years of keeping Arunachal Pradesh as a buffer. The projects will not undo the problem immediately but will mitigate travel hardship which the people of the state undergo.

The case is an example of the desire to connect Tawang with an airport and a railway line. A road trip from Guwahati to Tawang can be anywhere between 14 to 16 hours. Another option is a helicopter which is entirely dependent on weather. A rail track can change everything.

The survey is expected to end by 2020 but the track would have 35 tunnels and one tunnel could be as long as 28 km long. Similarly, a patch of land is also being surveyed for an airport in Tawang. The state is also opening up to various foreign countries. The US government with UC Berkeleyis working in 70 villages in Arunachal Pradesh.

“The idea is to create smart villages and ensure niche market for unique products like textiles. Very soon these products will enter the market,” says Pema Khandu.

There are pending issues also. Bhutan operateshalf-hour earlier than the Indian Standard Time(IST) but Arunachal Pradesh which is further east to Bhutan workson IST. It leads to wastage of precious daylight time which countries across the world exploit to up their efficiency levels and reduce electricity costs.