Rayburn College, Indo-Myanmar Borderland Institute And Indian Council Of World Affairs Concludes Two-Day International Conference

Dated: 6^th March 2026

A two-day international conference on “A Decade of Act East Policy: Grassroot Perspectives from Northeast India” was concluded today at Rayburn College, Lamka, Manipur on the 6^th of March 2026. The conference was organized by Rayburn College (Autonomous) and Indo-Myanmar Borderland Institute, in collaboration with Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.

Delivering the keynote address on the 5^th of March 2026 at the Inaugural Session, Dr. Avinash Paliwal, Reader in International Relations, Department of Politics & International Relations, SOAS, University of London, highlighted the importance of Act East Policy not merely as an instrument of geopolitical and economic cooperation, but also as an instrument of state-building in the Northeast region of India. Dr. Tunchinmangel Langel attended the entire event as a special invitee and representative of the Indian Council of World Affairs and chaired one of the technical sessions.

The conference comprised of an Inaugural Session and Plenary Session by distinguished resource persons on the 5^th of March 2026 and was followed by theme-based Technical Sessions and Special Online Session where faculties, research scholars and graduate students from around the globe presented important papers on the 6^th of March 2026. The two-day event concluded with a Valedictory Session on the second day.

The plenary session saw the discussion of a diverse range of perspectives from policy experts and shapers, government officials with field experience, distinguished professors and practitioners which included  Professor Kishalay Bhattacharjee (Dean, OP Jindal Global University), Sabyasachi Dutta (Executive Director, Asian Confluence), Professor Priyanca Mathur (Jain University, Bengaluru), Zomuana (Member, State Planning Board, Mizoram), Dr. Thongkholal Haokip (JNU), Professor Samrat Sinha (Jindal Global Law School), Dr. Fr. C.P. Anto (Northeast Institute of Social Science & Research), amongst others. The plenary session was chaired by Golan Naulak (Co-founder, Indo-Myanmar Borderland Institute).

The second day witnessed participation of faculties, research scholars and graduate students from different universities which included Oxford University, TISS Guwahati, IIT Delhi, Hyderabad University, Northeast Hill University, Mizoram University, IIT Roorkee, Rayburn College, Churachandpur College, Lilong Haoreibei College, amongst others.

The second day also saw special presentations from Dr. Jasnea Sarma, Ethnographer and Political Geographer of Asia, Senior Lecture and Researcher at Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Dr. Constantino Xavier, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy and Security Studies, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, New Delhi, Guest Faculty, Ashoka University, and Dr. Aditya Kiran Kakati, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden University, which was chaired by Professor Samrat Sinha, OP Jindal Global University.

The two-day event was concluded with a valedictory session hosted by Dr. Samuel G Ngaihte, Registrar and Director of Research and Development Cell, Rayburn College, with a Valedictory Address from Dr. Thongkholal Haokip, special invitee from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The two-day international conference was significant for a number of reasons, which includes the following:

• It was an international conference attended by a diverse pool of specialists which included not only scholars and researchers, but also policy makers and experts, government field workers, senior journalists and authors, institutional builders and community leaders. It brought together a diverse group of presenters and discussants, fostering a rich exchange of ideas.
• The discussions were structured to incorporate grassroots perspectives from the region, ensuring a bottom-up approach that analyzed not just top-down policies but critically described their local relevance and significance for future policies.
• The conference was held in a border region that continues to be directly affected and impacted by policies such as the Act East. Thus, the conference played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between top-down policymaking and ground realities.