An important aspect of India's foreign policy from the 1990s has been its
attempt to consolidate its ties of friendship and mutual understanding
with its East and South East Asian neighbours. India's Act East Policy
has initiated a new positive approach towards South East Asia through
its roots which can be traced to India's past history and tradition. While
it began primarily with religious interaction which lead to the spread of
Buddhism in the far-flung areas of South East Asia, economic and cultural
connections followed soon after. Against this backdrop, the present volume
analyses various facets of India's connectivity with the South East Asian
countries, including its linkages with the north-eastern states of India; a
rediscovery of Indian imprinted culture, mainly Buddhism and other
religions in the South East Asian region and beyond; the use of the Indian
diaspora for economic development; and the implementation of various
agreements signed by India with the South East Asian countries. This
volume is an interesting combination of the analytical method of historical
linkages between India and South East Asia with critical observations of the
contemporary dynamics of international politics.
About the Author
Achintya Kumar Dutta, Professor of History, University of Burdwan, has
been teaching history of South East Asia and history of modern India for
more than 20 years and his research interests include economic history and
history of medicine. Professor Dutta is the author of Economy and Ecology
in a Bengal District: Burdwan, 1880-1947 (2002) and Trauma in Public
Health: Tuberculosis in Twentieth-century India (2018). He has also co-edited
Ethnicity, Nation and Minorities: South Asian Scenario (2003) and History of
Medicine in India: The Medical Encounter (2005).
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is a Fellow and Coordinator of the research
project 'Proximity to Connectivity' at the Observer Research Foundation,
Kolkata Chapter, under the Neighbourhood Regional Studies Initiative. She
specializes in South Asian affairs. She was conferred the Kodikara Award
by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, 1998-9. She is the author
of Sanghat O Sashan: Purbottar Bharater Diary (Conflict and Governance:
A Northeast Diary; 2013) and SAARC at Crossroads: The Fate of Regional Cooperation in South Asia (2006), and has co-edited The State of Being
Stateless: An Account of South Asia (2015) and Women in Indian Borderlands
(2011).
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