Discuss the challenges and opportunities in India–Myanmar relations, and evaluate the role of military cooperation in pursuing India's Neighbourhood First and Act East objectives.

Myanmar is where India's Neighbourhood First and Act East policies meet. It borders four north-eastern states and sits on the Bay of Bengal. The first India–Myanmar Tri-Services disaster-relief (HADR) exercise, RAHAT MITRA (Chennai, November 2026), shows that defence ties now carry much of this relationship [1].

Opportunities

• Trade: bilateral trade reached about US$1.95 billion in 2025–26, up roughly 24% [2]. Projects like Kaladan and the Trilateral Highway can link the North-East to ASEAN.
• Development partnership: a 200-bed hospital at Monywa and over 25 Quick Impact Projects build goodwill among ordinary people [2].
• Maritime vision: MAHASAGAR, announced in Mauritius in 2025, links mutual security with shared growth [3].

Challenges

• Political: since the 2021 military takeover, working with the junta carries a legitimacy cost. China is also competing for influence.
• Border security: insurgency and smuggling led the MHA to scrap the Free Movement Regime in 2024, citing internal security and the population mix of the North-East [4].
• Humanitarian access: in areas hit by conflict, relief handed to the government may not reach every victim.

Role of military cooperation: an evaluation

Strengths

• Legal base: the 2019 MoU on Defence Cooperation covers joint exercises, training and maritime security [5].
• Trust at sea: coordinated naval patrols since 2013, with an SOP signed in 2016, target trafficking, illegal fishing and poaching [6].
• Proven in a crisis: in Operation Brahma (2025), Indian naval ships sailed for Yangon with relief [7]. Total aid was about 1,000 tonnes, backed by an NDRF rescue team and an Army field hospital [2]. RAHAT MITRA's 300+ personnel from all three services practise working together for crises like this [1].

Limits

• Military ties cannot resolve the political crisis or the land-border problem, and they risk making the regime look legitimate.
• RAHAT MITRA trained only the armed forces, while Operation Brahma also relied on the civilian NDRF [1][2].

Overall, military cooperation is necessary but not enough. It secures the Bay of Bengal and earns goodwill, but it cannot substitute for political and economic engagement. Future editions should include the NDRF and NDMA. Defence ties should go hand in hand with development, connectivity and support for an inclusive democratic transition. This would give substance to MAHASAGAR's promise of security and growth for the whole region.