Northeast India A Reader

Northeast India is a multifaceted and dynamic region that is constantly in focus because of its fragile political landscape characterized by endemic violence and conflicts. One of the first of its kind, this reader on Northeast India examines myriad aspects of the region–its people and its linguistic and cultural diversity. The chapters here highlight the key issues confronted by the Northeast in recent times: its history, politics, economy, gender equations, migration, ethnicity, literature and traditional performative practices. The book presents interlinkages between a range of socio-cultural issues and armed political violence while covering topics such as federalism, nationality, population, migration and social change. It discusses debates on development with a view to comprehensive policies and state intervention. With its a nuanced and wide-ranging overview, this volume makes new contributions to understanding a region that is critical to the future of South Asian geopolitics. The book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of contemporary Northeast India as well as history, political science, area studies, international relations, sociology and social anthropology. It will also appeal to those interested in public administration, regional literature, cultural studies, population studies, development studies and economics.

Introduction Bhagat Oinam Dhiren A. Sadokpam Part I: Armed Political Violence 1. Nationalist Ideology, Militarizationand Human Rights in the Northeast Kamal Mitra Chenoy 2. Armed Opposition Groups in Northeast India: The Splinter Scenario Patrick Hoenig & K. Kokho Part II: The Extra-Ordinary Law and Its Impact 3. Violence as AFSPA 1958 and the People’s Movement Against It Malem Ningthouja 4. People’s Conversation on Truth, Justice and Reparation Anjuman Ara Begum Part III: National Questions 5. Assamese Nationality Question Sajal Nag 6. Challenges and Predicaments of Naga Nationalism H. Srikanth and C.J. Thomas 7. Narrating the Nation in Manipur: Reproduction of a Historical Question A. Noni Meetei Part IV: Land and Territoriality 8. Land, People and Conflict: A Study of Manipur and its Neighbourhood Lokendra Arambam 9. Politics of Land Alienation and Problem of its Restoration in Tripura Khakchang Debbarma Part V: Migration and Ethnicity 10. Illegal Bangladeshi Migration into the Northeast: Policy Making, Politics, and Road Blocks Bibhu Prasad Routray 11. Employment, Unemployment, Job Aspiration and Migration: Some Reflections of Tangkhul Migrants to Delhi Marchang Reimeingam Part VI. Federal Politics 12. Salvaging Autonomy in India’s Northeast: Beyond the Sixth Schedule Way Kham Khan Suan Hausing 13. Autonomy for Tribal Communities in India: A Study of the Northeastern States M. Amarjeet Singh Part VII: Locating Civil Society 14. Fast Forward or Living in Permanent State of Nature? Samir Kumar Das 15. Civil Society and Democracy: Absence of the Sovereign in Northeast India Kakchingtabam Naresh Sharma 16. Pang-Sau or Redeeming India’s Northeast from Impoverished Constitutionalisms: After-life of an Essay Prasenjit Biswas Part VIII: Tradition And Modernity 17. Colonial Modernity and Plight of the Receiving Communities Bhagat Oinam 18. In the Name of a Flyover: Development, Resistance, Politics Yengkhom Jilangamba Part IX: Popular Culture 19. Music, Body and Sexuality in Bihu Songs of Assam Utpola Borah 20. Problematizing Cultural Appropriation: Tangkhul Folk-Blues and Socio-Political Aspirations Dhiren A. Sadokpam 21. Poetic Discourse in the Songs of Tapta Usham Rojio Part X: Literary Trends 22. Manipuri Literature in History Thingnam Kishan Singh 23. Growth and Development of Mizo Literature Laltluangliana Khiangte 24. Differing Resistances: Mediating the Naga Struggle in Easterine Iralu’sA Terrible Matriarchy and Temsula Ao’s These Hills Called Home Ashley Tellis Part XI: Women and Gender 25. The Politics of Gendered Resistance: Body and Agency Sukalpa Bhattacharjee 26. We have got things to say: Beyond the Nationalising Narrative of the Bodoland movement Amrapalli Basumatary Part XII: State and Development Policies 27.Building Northeastern Futures, Looking East B.G. Verghese 28. Preparing the Northeastern Economy for the Future Gulshan Sachdeva 29. Critiquing the Development Intervention in the Northeast Amar Yumnam 30. Understanding Underdevelopment: State of Economy in the Northeast Thingnam Kishan Singh 31. Re-imagining the North East in India, Again: Did Geography Sidestep History in Vision (2020)? Rohan D'Souza 32. Post-Development, Democratic Discourse and Dissensus: A Critique of Vision 2020 Prasenjit Biswas Index

Bhagat Oinam is Professor at the Centre for Philosophy at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Concurrent Faculty at the Northeast India Studies Programme, JNU, New Delhi, India. He has worked at several institutes including the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, North Eastern Hill University, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and Centre for Studies in Civilizations (CSC). He has been a visiting scholar at Freie Universität and Tel Aviv University, among others. In addition to several articles published in journals and anthologies, he has co-edited the volume Perspectives on Manipuri Culture (2017) under the CSC series ‘History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization’. Dhiren A. Sadokpam is an independent researcher and journalist based in Manipur. He is currently the Executive Editor of Eastern Quarterly, a journal on India’s Northeast. Sadokpam was also the editor of the Imphal-based English daily, Hueiyen Lanpao. He has worked both in print and electronic media since 1996 and is currently engaged with independent works on media, culture and the political economy of Northeast India.