Revisiting North East India In The Era Of Globalisation

Economic development of frontier and remote regions has long been a central theme of development studies. This book examines the development experience in the northeastern region in India in relation to the processes of globalisation and liberalisation of the economy. Bringing together researchers and scholars, from both within and outside the region, the volume offers a comprehensive and updated analysis of governance and development issues in relation to the northeastern economy. With its multidisciplinary approaches, the chapters cover a variety of sectors and concerns such as land, agriculture, industry, infrastructure, finance, human development, human security, trade and policy. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers of economics, public policy, governance and development, geopolitics, geography, development studies, politics and sociology of development and area studies as well as observers and policymakers interested in the Northeast.

Contributed papers presented at a national seminar organized by North East India Council of Social Science Research in Shillong, India.

Globalization has affected a change across the regions of the world and India is no exception. The national economy has become far more integrated with the global economy now. However, there are large parts of the underdeveloped regions that suffer from endemic underdevelopment. The north-eastern region is one such region. The relevance of Globalisation in the context of the North-Eastern Region of India has additional implications in terms of social and political integration. The most important characteristic of the north-eastern region is that all the constituent units (states) are relatively closed ethnic groups. All the states in the region share porous international border. Consequently, both product and factor markets in these states have some international dimension. Given the socioeconomic and geopolitical dimensions in the region, the prevailing pattern of development in these states has also culminated in the form of social unrest and degradation of economic values. This clearly implies that the development policies and programmes have fallen short of meeting the social and economic aspirations of the indigenous population in the region. In this context, the question that arises is how the forces of Globalization and economic growth could be combined together to address the implicit and most relevant questions associated with migration, unemployment and development of trading activities in the perspective of North-Eastern Region of India.

Globalization and Plantation Workers in North-East India is a piece of research study regarding the impacts of globalization among the workers. The impacts have been analysed thoroughly in regard to the case of Darjeeling tea industry along with the industry in relation to other regions of West Bengal and Assam of North-East India. Since this is the first Sociological study on the impacts of globalization among plantation workers, it will elucidate the positive and negative sides of present globalization process in the industry. It has also incorporated a whole lot of the assessment of changes taking place since 1991 of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalization of Indian economy in tea frontiers of North-East India. The work will be a very essential reference book for the researchers who are going to contribute more for the literature on plantation study in Indian in near future.

The North Eastern Region Of India Is Economically Backward In Comparison To Other States. Papers In The Volume Deal With The Problem From Different Angles. The Book Has 6 Sections And More Than 25 Contributions And A Large Number Of Tables And Figures.

From the days of election campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha, Northeast India occupied a special attention to Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. After taking oath as India’s Prime Minister, how his visionary ideas helped Northeast to become a ‘Development’ zone from a ‘Conflict’ zone, is the main crux of this Book. This book tries to test the hypothesis that “state versus community conflict in Northeast India can be managed through integrated thrust over ‘Development’ and ‘Security’ policies”. The idea of connections between security and development thinking is not a new phenomenon, but intermingling both as a nexus and using this nexus for conflict management is a post-Cold War phenomenon. There are already some studies done on countries like Sudan, Sweden, Liberia, Afghanistan etc. – to test development-security nexus as a conflict management tool. But no study has yet done on India, where, in recent times, we see growing emphasis on this approach. In the post-Cold War era, we can underline a change in the mode of conflict management in India’s North-eastern part. While, many theorists and policy-makers exemplify federal solution of violent ethnic identity demands as an ideal tool, both Central and State policies are relying more and more on development-security nexus. From the day of getting office as Premier, Narendra Modi has clearly shown his inclination towards this nexus for bringing peace and stability in Northeast. In different speeches and policy formulations, he seems stubborn towards insurgent groups’ federal demands, and emphasizing and implementing an integrated development plan for North-Eastern Region alongwith the rest of India. His well-acclaimed policies like ‘Act East’, and ‘Neighbourhood First’ also helping in both development and securitisation of Northeast. In this Book, the propositions of this Nexus will be empirically tested in five years of NDA regime (2014-19). Broadly, this Book will delve in the questions like – What do we mean by ‘Development- Security Nexus’?; How the ‘Development - Security Nexus’ is differently imbued with meaning and ultimately employed in India?; What are the ‘new’ policies of Indian Government during Modi-led NDA Government (2014 – 2019)?; What are the development policies and initiatives of NDA Government (2014 – 2019) in development arena of India’s Northeast?; What are the security measures of NDA Government (2014 –2019) in NER?; How far Development-Security Nexus is successful in mitigating or managing conflict in India’s North-eastern part? This Study is qualitative research, in which content analysis technique is applied to study variety of data sources. In this Study, the Governmental documents from different ministries - like Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Ministry of Defence etc. - was interpreted to test the hypothesis. Some reliable non- Governmental sources - like data of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd., Environmental Systems Research Institute and South Asia Terrorism Portal etc. - was also examined for the information and their analysis. As the topic is very much contemporary and we have paucity of secondary sources, print media and multimedia sources were also considered from reliable sources. I hope, this Book will be a benchmark for the society as well as policy making bodies as a comprehensive comparative database of the tested hypothesis that state versus community conflict in Northeast India can be managed through integrated thrust over Development and Security policies.

Preface Acknowledgement List of Table Introduction SECTION I: POLITICAL DYNAMICS OF NORTH EAST INDIA 1. Looking at Contemporary Governance in North East India * Abhijit Choudhury 2. Pangs of Proximity: India's North East and Her Eastern Neighbours * Ishani Naskar 3. North East India Planning in the Winds of Change * Toki Blah SECTION II: NORTH EAST INDIA'S ECONOMY: DEVELOPMENT BOTTLENECKS 4. Challenges of Natural Disasters * Shyamananda Bhattacharjee 5. Development of Infrastructure in Mizoram: Problems and Prospects * James L.T. Thanga 6. The Dynamics of Economic Change and Good Governance: Issues of Development * T.C. Nunga 7. Regional Structure: Income and Growth in India's North East * Rakhee Bhattacharya SECTION III: NORTH EAST INDIA'S ECONOMY: REVIVAL STRATEGY 8. Rethinking Development Paradigms: Issues and Perspectives * Vanlalchhawna 9. Towards a Professional Identity: Soccer as a Career Option in Contemporary Manipur * Kausik Bandyapadhaya 10. An Exploration into the Possibility of Economic Development through India's Look East Policy: A Mizo Perspective * L.H. Rawsea SECTION IV: CONFLICTS IN NORTH EAST INDIA: HINDERING DEVELOPMENT 11. Conflict and Insurgency: Historical Perspective; Threat to Security and Development * Lt. Gen. J.R. Mukherjee 12. Challenging the Nation-State: Secessionism and Insurgency * Sajal Nag SECTION V: ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS AND MEDIA IN NORTH EAST INDIA'S DEVELOPMENT 13. Religion and Colonial Politics: Assam Myanmar and Buddhism * Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakarborti) 14. Mizoram and the Role of the Presbyterian Denomination * Margaret L. Pachuau 15. Challenges before the Media * Subir Bhaumik 16. Educational Indicators of Human Development: An Analysis * Lalhmasai Chuaungo 17. Female Work Participation Rate in Mizoram: An Analysis from Development Perspectives * Lalhriatpuii Contributors Index Northeast India, once perceived as a 'paradise', has now become a 'problem' in perpetuity due to its badly managed economy and an absolute lack of political vision. Side by side, words like 'alienation', 'exploitation' and 'insecurity' are being 'used' across the region to instigate the dangerous problem of insurgency. This has kept the region continuously in a state of flux devoid of political or economic stability so crucial for any meaningful development, negating the effects of whatever little economic development has taken place in the region. Centre's continuous development initiatives under the Special Category Status releases huge amount of development funds without creating necessary credit absorption capacity in the economy and consequently has remained unsuccessful in delivering the results woefully dismal have been the half hearted attempts made by the different State Governments in the region from time to time in the name of development. Most of these efforts were directed only towards extracting more assistance and more grants from the Centre. The book revisits these failed initiatives and re-examine the crucial areas while searching for an alternative. The volume focuses on an integrated approach towards inter-related issues in the entire region with 'development' as the pivotal and overarching factor. The collection of seventeen articles are, categorized into five broad sub-sections, extending from political dynamism to economic intricacies, social conflicts and the role of institutions which gives us an opportunity to come across the thoughts of scholars to trace the roots of and connections between, the problems that plague this region and eventually to forge a common strategy to address the issue of backwardness of this region.

This book sketches a road map of privatisation, accumulation and dispossession of communal land in the tribal areas of North East India from pre-colonial times to the neo-liberal era. Spread over five chapters, this study unfolds the privatisation of communal land in the backdrop of a larger theoretical and historical canvas. It deals with the different institutional modes of privatisation, accumulation and dispossession of communal land, the changes in land use and cropping patterns, the changes in land relations and the land-based identity of the tribal community as a result. The conclusive chapter makes a broader reflection of the grand narrative of privatisation, accumulation and dispossession of communal land in North East India. This title is co-published with Aakar Books. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)