Imphal, July 5: Manipur University is planning to bring the people of India and Myanmar closer by opening a Burmese studies centre here for students interested in knowing more about their neighbour. Indo-Myanmar border trade was opened through Manipur?s Moreh township by the then Union commerce minister, P. Chidambaram, more than a decade back.
But Manipur had been maintaining close trade ties with its neighbour long before that.
Instances of cross-border marriages were also not uncommon.
University registrar R.K. Ranjan Singh said the University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the proposal for opening a Burmese study centre though the final go-ahead is awaited.
The approval was granted after a three-member UGC team, led by deputy director Dev Swaroop, inspected the university during a visit here earlier this year.
?We are waiting for the green signal from the UGC to open the centre. We are hopeful the centre would be inaugurated before the university celebrates its silver jubilee in June next year. The funding would be provided by the UGC,? the registrar explained.
This proposed centre would provide the resource and materials for learning the history, culture and language of the neighbouring country, which is ruled by a military junta.
Guest Myanmarese lecturers will be invited to the centre for delivering lectures.
Everything has been finalised, he added.
The centre has been proposed since the borders of Southeast Asian countries are being opened up for promoting trade. Manipur and Myanmar would be important centres for free trade in future, he said.
?Having a good knowledge of the culture, history, language and trade regulations of the immediate neighbour with which India would be carrying on trade is a prerequisite for sustainable participation in the trade. We are hoping to equip people with such knowledge,? Ranjan Singh said.
To facilitate such free trade, India, Myanmar and Thailand signed a trilateral agreement in December last year to construct an Asian highway to link the three countries.
Manipur?s border trade hub, Moreh, would be connected to Maesot in Thailand through Bagan of Myanmar.
Sections of the road are likely to be connected in a phased manner.
Interestingly, the road project has been lauded by an important militant organisation of Manipur.
The proposed centre has found supporters among social activists as well.
Rabei Singh, an activist, said the trading community of Manipur should be fully prepared for the launch of open trade. Otherwise the traders of Manipur would be reduced to mere porters and Manipur a storehouse, he said.
Ranjan Singh said there are one or two private institutes in Imphal that are teaching the Burmese language, but these are not adequate.