International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 3, March 2020, pp. 678-685, Article ID: IJM_11_03_069 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=3 ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.3.2020.069

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

PROTECTIONIST MOVEMENT IN : NATURE’S BECKON’S APPROACH TO ‘’ AND STATE’S RESPONSE

Sun Gogoi M.A., M. Phil, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Dibrugarh University, Assam,

ABSTRACT The study of ecological movements has gained ground in academia in the recent past. In developing countries ecological crisis has its own unique features. Unlike the developed countries of Europe and America, in case of the developing countries like India, the goals of economic development are closely connected with the highly revered project of ‘nation-building.’ The developing countries’ relentless effort to promote this project with modernisation, industrialisation and homogenization has generated a series of ecological problems in various parts of the world. Ecological degradation has had adverse impact more on the developing countries than those on the advanced ones. Nature’s Beckon, a green non-governmental organisation (NGO) of Assam has been doing some tremendous jobs for forest and wildlife conservation from the 1980s till date. As a pioneer of New Social Movement (NSM) in the region, the NGO has been playing an inspiring role in growing eco-consciousness among the indigenous people and building public opinion in this regard among both the national and international societies. Nature’s Beckon has been experiencing a series of cooperation and confrontation with the state policies in its conservationist movement. Keywords: Assam, Confrontation, Conservation, Developing countries, Nature’s Beckon, New Social Movement, Non-governmental organisation Cite this Article: Sun Gogoi, Protectionist Movement in Assam: Nature’s Beckon’s Approach To ‘Appropriate Technology’ And State’s Response, International Journal of Management, 11(3), 2020, pp. 678-685. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=3

1. INTRODUCTION By the end of the last century, large tracts of forest land across Assam had been converted to anthropocentric land-use forms. Under such circumstances, a number of green NGOs have come into existence in the state over the recent decades. Among them, Nature’s Beckon is a pioneering one, being active in addressing the ecological issues of the Northeast since its

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 678 [email protected] Protectionist Movement in Assam: Nature’s Beckon’s Approach to ‘Appropriate Technology’ and State’s Response inception in 1982. Its founder director is Soumyadeep Datta, who is an Ashoka Fellow. The NGO was registered under the Registrar of Societies Act, India in 1991 with its head office seated at Dhubri. For the first time in the environmental history of Assam, Nature’s Beckon initiated a state-wide ecological consciousness building programme named the Brahmaputra Barak Valley Natural Environmental Awareness Campaign (1988). The organization is intensely involved in green activism ranging from the conservation of wildlife and their habitats in the sanctuaries, proper maintenance of the national parks and other forests areas of Assam, to the building of awareness among the local communities and common masses. Relentless efforts of this NGO in the late 1980s and early 1990s influenced the government to covert Chakrashila Reserve Forest (recognized in 1966) into the Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary in 1994. Following this success, Nature’s beckon came up with another demand for the protection of contiguous rainforests concentrated in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, the easternmost districts of Assam. The NGO has been staunch enough in its ecological concerns about adversarial outcomes of the expansion of industrial and other anthropocentric projects in and around the rainforest areas, as well as against the prevailing nexus between the competent authority and the anti-social interest groups. In this movement, the organization has been experiencing a variety of responses from the state machinery ranging from scepticism to apathy, and then partial responses in certain fields. Over the 20th century, the area covered by rainforests was shrinking around the globe, and still the process is going on mainly due to anthropocentric activities. These forests have been subjected to heavy legal and illegal logging and agricultural clearance. The issue of protecting rainforests gained international attention in the summer and the fall of 2019, as thousands of wildfires accelerated deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, which is the largest of its kind in the world. The rainforests deposit precious metals and fossil fuel (oil and natural gas). These resources are vital for the developing countries of the world to promote economic growth. Several tribes or indigenous groups belonging to Central America, Central Africa and South-East Asia have been traditionally dependent on the food resources of rainforests. In Northeast India too, several ethnic communities and tribes have had close material and cultural connections with the neighbouring jungles which are on the verge of a decline. This article attempts to explore the various dimensions of the ecological activism initiated by the Nature’s Beckon with special focus on its movement for forest and wildlife conservation in Assam. The activities of this NGO correspond to the Appropriate Technology (AT) Approach to environmental protection. It can be defined as a technology that is designed to be appropriate to the ‘context’ of its use. It can be defined as a sustainable technology requiring fewer natural resources and producing less environmental pollution or degradation. Such technologies can be treated as an alternative to the mainstream modern technology, which are often wasteful and environmentally polluting. In this connection, the appropriate ‘context’ for implementing appropriate technology may include the environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political and economic aspects of a particular territory.

2. GREEN ACTIVISM AND ‘NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT’ IN ASSAM As per the ‘India State of Forest Report 2019,’ the total forest cover of Assamese is 36.11 % (28,327 square kilometers) of the total geographical area (78,438 square kilometers) of the state. The report shows that Assam has witnessed an increase in its forest cover by 222 square kilometers in the last two years. Interestingly, as per the report, apart from Assam and Tripura, all other Northeastern states have showed a decline in forest cover. The government authorities said that the major reason behind this development in Assam has been the aforestation efforts

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 679 [email protected] Sun Gogoi and free distribution of the seedling to the public over the past few years. Though one may not exclusively hail the green NGOs of the state for this increase, it must be accepted that the process of interaction and confrontation between these NGOs and the government policy makers has triggered a new trend of conservationist social movement in the region. The early 1980s, when Nature’s Beckon came into existence, was a very turbulent period in the socio-political history of Assam as the legendary Anti-Foreigner Struggle of Assam (1979-85), popularly known as Asom Andolan, was at its zenith. The state has been witnessing protracted rivalries and violent clashes between different communities and ethnic groups since 1983. That year the armed clash between the Assamese speaking indigenous groups and the Bengali speaking Muslims at Nellie ended with the massacre of the latter, where more 2,000 people lost their lives. In the post-Assam Accord (1985) period, rapidly growing ethno- nationalist mobilizations in the state culminated in armed clashes between the Bodos and Adivasis (1993, 1996, 2014), Bodos and immigrant Muslims (1993, 2008, 2012, 2013), Karbi and Kuki (2004), Dimasa and Karbi (2005), Dimasa and Zeme (2009), Garo and Rabha (2010), followed by several other events of confrontation. Keeping in view several unhealthy dimensions of the social and political mobilizations in Assam over the 1980s and 1990s, Homen Borgohain, a renowned Assamese writer and journalist, in the closing ceremony of the Rainforest Festival of Assam (November 21, 2001), opined that “In the last two decades, Assam witnessed several unlawful activities which posed obstacles in the path of development of the state However, in the meantime the movement for conservation of nature brought in a new outlook for the wellbeing of human race. For the last twenty years, therefore, this movement can be regarded as the greatest movement” (Datta 2012). This first ever rainforest festival of Northeast India was organized by Nature’s Beckon from 17-21 November, 2001 in Joypur (Dibrugarh District) on the outskirts of its rainforests that spills over to Arunachal Pradesh. The NGO saw its great success in involving people at the grassroots level as well as those at the highest strata of policy making bodies (including Tarun Gogoi, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Assam) in the event. Ashoka India, the collaborative network of ‘Ashoka’ (which today is the world’s largest network of leading social entrepreneurs), supported and then recognized the event as a great achievement. The primary objectives of this festival were recognized as follows: a) To introduce the vulnerable status of the rainforests of the Northeast region especially Assam in the both national and international arena b) To build global public opinion for the permanent protection of these forests c) To highlight the potential fields of eco-tourism in the region d) To promote cooperation and teamwork among the indigenous ethnic groups and tribes which have been living around these forests for centuries, and whose material and cultural life has been traditionally being sustained by the forest resources Diverse groups of individuals participated in the festival that included farmers, women, village children, youths, wildlife experts, ethnologists, human rights activists, journalists, representatives of several other green NGOs, and few environmentalists from Australia, Bolivia, Indonesia, Thailand and USA. The event included activities ranging from open meetings to street dramas highlighting the importance of forest conservation, and from ethnic (tribal) dances to exhibition of ethnic products. However, in this connection, if one does not take into account the contributions of Jadav Molai Payeng, the “Forest Man of India” and a Padmashree Awardee (2015), it is likely to be a biased move in assessing the ecological activism of Assam. Payeng is from Island and belongs to the indigenous Mising tribe, traditionally whose settlements are based on availability of water, fish and other forest resources. This “One-Man-NGO” of Assam singlehandedly planted an entire forest creating a real man-made forest of around 550 hectares. Since 1979,

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 680 [email protected] Protectionist Movement in Assam: Nature’s Beckon’s Approach to ‘Appropriate Technology’ and State’s Response over the courses of several decades, he has planted and nurtured trees on a sandbar of river Brahmaputra eventually turning it into a reserve forest, which has become popularly known as ‘’ after him, and is located near Kokilamukh in Majuli. Reportedly in 1980, Assam Forestry Division of took an initiative to reforest 200 hectares of land on the sandbar to prevent extensive soil erosion in Majuli, which has shrunk over the past 70 years by more than a half. Unfortunately the plan was abandoned by the government in 1983, perhaps under the circumstances of growing tensions of Anti-Foreigner Movement in the state. Thereafter, being a voluntary ‘substitute’ of the abandoned government plan, Payeng has been single-handedly attending and extending the jungle during the course of over three decades, who wants to extend his Molai Forest to the Bongaon of Majuli (Fourtane 2018). This personal initiative of Payeng can be branded as a ‘Silent Green Revolution’ of Assam. This ‘Down to Earth’ nature of the ecological movements in the state has the potentiality to initiate a paradigmatic attitudinal shift from “Killing for a homeland” to “Conserving for a homeland,” which shows that ‘political’ is not necessarily ‘dominant’ and ‘effective’ to completely overthrow the ‘social’ and ‘ecological’ in all the aspects of societal life. As environmental NGOs free themselves from traditional politics, change the reference point and privileged means of action, grow in numbers and inter-connectedness, and become increasingly transnational, they contribute to societal change and transformation in another way: They become agents of social learning……Indeed, rather than focusing on traditional politics, how to influence it or how to mobilize for it, environmental NGOs build communities, set examples, and increasingly substitute traditional political action. They become agents of social learning, whereas social movements were actors of political change only (Princen and Finger 1994: 65).

3. ECO-CENTRISM OF NATURE’S BECKON FOR AN APPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH Arturo Escobar, a renowned post-development thinker says that ‘development’ is a discourse, that relies exclusively on the modern Western knowledge system, and its uncritical adoption by the Third World countries is leading to the marginalization, disqualification and extinction of the non-Western or indigenous knowledge systems (Sharma 2014: 243). In a vast multi-racial and multi-ethnic developing country like India, the notion of ‘indigenous knowledge’ often corresponds to the life-world of the relatively marginalized indigenous groups, which are generally labelled as ‘tribal’ people. The Environmental movements in India incorporate the hitherto lesser represented groups like the Adivasis, marginalised rural communities and women. While forcing the governments to introduce affirmative policies in the forms of new provisions and laws, the participants of these movements have largely appeared to be non- violent in their means to secure the goal of . These characteristics and dimensions of the New Social Movements (NSMs) are being reflected in various activities of Nature’s Beckon. The Mission statement of the activist group states that “The mission of Nature's Beckon is working with the people to conserve, protect and increase wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the people.” In this statement, the concluding part – ‘continuing benefit of the people’ may be dubbed as ‘anthropocentric’ by the ‘Deep Green’ thinkers or the radical ecologists, who emphasis on realising the ‘intrinsic’ values embedded in natural world. However, one must not forget that it is the character of ‘interconnectedness’ and ‘interdependence’ that makes a collective mobilization or movement a ‘New Social Movement’ in true sense. Once in Guwahati, a renowned wildlife specialist expressed his disagreement in front of Soumyadeep Datta with regard to the “assertive” and “confrontational” character of Nature’s

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 681 [email protected] Sun Gogoi

Beckon in the arena of rainforest conservation. He was questioned by the specialist – “Why is it necessary to initiate such a strong movement to pressurize the government? Why are there so many instances of conflict? Don’t we can do our work through peaceful discussion?” In response, Datta replied to the specialist as follows: “Yes Sir, perhaps several other individuals think about the matter like you, but why don’t you try to realise the words of our heart. If you do not have a government project in your hands or if you are not being funded by any project, you will hardly pay the jungles a visit. Ask your conscience once – what is the present status of those forest lands where you have done your project or expended your project money? Your connection with the forests is based only on project works which is ‘career-centric’ by nature. On the contrary, our relations with the jungles are based on love and affection. Our “love” (meaning ‘forests’) is being continuously molested and ruined. Then, how can we remain silent after having seen all these evils?” (Datta 2012) It would not be an exaggeration to say that the relentless efforts of Nature’s Beckon finally made the state government to declare a portion of the reserved rainforest areas of the Joypur, Upper Dihing River and Dirok regions on June 13, 2004 as Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary across the boundaries of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts. The sanctuary is occupying an area of 111.19 sq km. This achievement involved a decade long struggle (1995 - 2004) of the NGO. The group, however, considered this achievement only as the partial fulfilment of its objectives and claims that the connected rainforests area of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district are occupying around 800 sq km, which constitute the only surviving largest connected forest areas of the of the Brahmaputra valley (Datta 2012: 110-11). In the mid-1990s, Nature’s Beckon informed several international environmentalist groups about the rich of this area and the urgent need for the conservation of its green cover. Today, the group takes part in the Asian Waterfowl Census, South Asia, which works under International Waterfowl and Wetland Research Bureau (IWRB). From a typical ‘Cosmopolitan’ point of view one may argue that the activists of these organizations are “acting globally so that” the indigenous groups and species may “live locally”. The movement of this NGO is essentially New Social in terms of Soumyadeep Datta’s claim that the group for the first in the history of social movements in Assam introduced the concept of ‘rainforest conservation’. The group organized the first ever movement for the conservation of rainforests as well as for giving permanent protection to these forests in North-East. As reported by the NGO, prior to its initiatives, the people of Assam were never informed by any governmental (including departments of Forest and Tourism) or non-governmental agencies that these connected forest areas of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district possess every essential feature to be regarded as ‘rainforest’ (Datta 2012: 74-75). Apart from emphasising on the global cooperation and communication in the drive for forest and bio-diversity conservation, Nature’s Beckon maintains that the ‘Traditional knowledge’ of the indigenous communities has to play a crucial role in conservation of forests and biodiversity. Traditional knowledge system of the indigenous groups and the forest dwellers has been generated by the experiences of thousands of years that are being transferred by one generation to the other. This consideration of the group corresponds to the ‘Communitarian’ perspective on which upholds that a local community’s intimate psychological attachment to, and the deep knowledge of, its habitat can transmute into a motivational force behind the effort. Communitarians’ emphasis on ‘bio-region’ suits the idea of ‘eco-communitarianism’, which promotes the idea of living sustainably within a particular bioregion on the basis of the local intimate knowledge. The ‘Rainforest Conservation and Livelihood Support Programmes,’ ‘Conservation and Awareness Drive for Five Big Mammals (Elephant, Tiger, Gaur, Water Buffalo and Rhino)’

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 682 [email protected] Protectionist Movement in Assam: Nature’s Beckon’s Approach to ‘Appropriate Technology’ and State’s Response and several other ecological missions undertaken by the Nature’s Beckon during 1996-97 reflect communitarian insights to a considerable extent. The group largely emphasises on the role of indigenous groups and local village communities in preserving the forest areas – ‘The Tribal communities live there where the Jungles exist, and the jungles exist there where the tribal communities live’. If the age-old relations between the ‘tribes’ and the ‘jungles’ cease to exist, it will result in the dilution of both the ‘tribal identity/existence’ and the jungles’ ‘perpetual power of natural production’. The NGO has taken several steps to create awareness about the importance of the rainforests and for the socio-economic development of the indigenous people. It has been organizing village meetings, workshops, capacity building programmes for the local youths, women’s training for sustainable livelihood, joyful learning for children, field training for identifying wildlife and their habitats. Moreover, it has been initiating poster campaigns, nature camps and distributing pamphlets during the photographic exhibitions. Besides, Nature’s Beckon trains the village youths in the arena of resource management and infrastructure building. The NGO presently has several regional units in Assam which came into action from August 2007. These regional units are known as Anchalik (meaning ‘regional’ in Assamese).

Table 1 The List of Regional Units of Nature’s Beckon

Regional Coordinator Regional Unit (Anchalik) District Hanif Ali Sikder Airkata Anchalik Dhubri Abid Azad Atarikhat Anchalik Udalgudi Anup Nath Balipara Anchalik Sonitpur Indukalpa gogoi Badulipar Anchalik Golaghat Rideep Phukon Bogadat Anchalik Dibrugarh Bidyut B. Gogoi Bokajan Anchalik Karbi Anglong James Tirkey Borhat Anchalik Charaideo Kalpa Talukdar Borkhetri Anchalik Nalbari Binod Bhuyan Bornarayanpur Anchalik Lakhimpur Prasanta Dangoria Chabua Anchalik Dibrugarh Debojit S. Gogoi Chelenghat Anchalik Ratul K. Talukdar Chenga Anchalik Barpeta Utpal Hatibaruah Dakhin Pub (South-East) Jorhat Jorhat Anchalik Padum K. Sarmah Dhekiajuli Anchalik Sonitpur Naba K. Chamua Dhemaji Anchalik Dhemaji Hiren Dutta Dikhowmukh Anchalik Sibsagar Anjana Uzir Dimow Anchalik Sibsagar Hemanjali Handique Diphu Anchalik Karbi Anglong Bitupan Sarma Doom-Dooma Anchalik Tinsukia Dipjyoti Das Gauripur Anchalik Dhubri Bhaskar Pathak Goalpara Town Anchalik Goalpara Dibya K. Doley Jonai Anchalik Dhemaji Robin C. Duarah Joypur Anchalik Dibrugarh Arun Mahanta Kakapathar Anchalik Tinsukia Dilip C. Dey Lumding Anchalik Nagaon Rampada Barman Mohish Bathan Anchalik Kokrajhar (BTR)* Nominita Borborah Moran Anchalik Sibsagar Rabindra Barman Rangia Anchalik Kamrup Diganta Moran Saikhawa Anchalik Tinsukia Utpal Borgohain Sapekhati Anchalik Sibsagar Madhurya Gogoi Sarupathar Anchalik Golaghat

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 683 [email protected] Sun Gogoi

Regional Coordinator Regional Unit (Anchalik) District Uttam K. Dey Sepon Anchalik Dibrugarh Golap Sarma Sipajhar Anchalik Darrang Chitaranjan Roy Srijan Gram Anchalik Bongaigaon Jayanta K. Boro Tangla Anchalik Udalguri (BTR) *BTR refers to Bodoland Territorial Region Source: https://sites.google.com/site/naturesbeckonindia/programmes Table 1 depicts the broad network of Nature’s Beckon along the Brahmaputra valley from the easternmost corner (Tinsukia) to the westernmost corner (Dhubri). This green network has been in action only due to the contributions of the regional units of the NGO. The major objective of these regional units is to work independently and individually in their respective localities to protect forest, wildlife and environment. If one looks at the ‘surnames’ of the Anchalik Samanwayrakkhis (regional coordinators) of Nature’s Beckon, it would be easily visible that these coordinators belong to different ethnicity, castes, tribes or religious groups of the state, which indeed shows an all-encompassing character of its conservationist movements cutting across regional, ethnic and cultural borders.

4. CONCLUSION The intensity of ecological concerns has been growing across the world from the 1970s and the green activists have been desperately struggling to incorporate environmental issues into the policy agenda of the state. In the arena of Academia, these efforts have become known as ‘Political Ecology’. Initially, several national governments and NGOs refused to recognize that ecological degradation ought to be treated seriously. Besides, they resisted efforts of the green NGOs to put environmental concerns into the political agenda. In the 1980s, when the activism of Nature’s Beckon was gradually gaining ground in Assam, in the another part of the globe, Ronald Reagan, the then President of the United States of America tried to undermine the environmental concerns in the name of pro-market reform. After the advent of colonialism and modernism, the traditional knowledge systems of various societies were considerably overpowered by the hegemonic western system of knowledge, which has become popular as ‘modern knowledge’. This new sort of knowledge promotes consumerism and commercialization of the natural resources by denying the intrinsic values embedded in the latter. Moreover, the state-controlled process of development backed by the Eurocentric model of modernity presses on homogenization, which it often appears to be indifferent towards the tribes or the indigenous groups which have been living in close socio-cultural connection with the adjacent forest areas since time immemorial. Nature’s Beckon as a green NGO has made a dedicated effort to revitalize those traditional relations between community and jungle around the rainforest areas. Besides, as the pioneer of a New Social Movement in Assam, the group emphasized on including a variety of groups and coalitions including the relatively marginalized categories like the tribes and the women.

REFERENCES [1] Ajay Gudavarthy, “Politics of Post-Civil Society: Contemporary History of Political Movements in India”, Sage Publications, New Delhi, (2003). [2] Amita Baviskar, “Social Movement”, in N. G. Jayal and P. B. Mehta (eds), The Oxford Companion to Politics in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, (2011), pp 381– 390. [3] Andrew Hurrel, “The state”, in Andrew Dobson and Robyn Eckersley (eds), Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (2006), pp. 165– 182. [4] Arun K. Nayak, “Environmental Movements in India”, Journal of Developing Societies, vol. 31 no. 2, (2015), pp. 249-280.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 684 [email protected] Protectionist Movement in Assam: Nature’s Beckon’s Approach to ‘Appropriate Technology’ and State’s Response

[5] Business Standard (2016): “Env conservation group seeks CBI probe into 'fake' rhino horns,”https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/env-conservation-group-seeks- cbi-probe-into-fake-rhino-horns 116082200634_1.html, 22 August. [6] “Contact us – NATURE’S BECKON,” https://sites.google.com/site/naturesbeckonindia/programmes [7] David Arnold and Ramachandra Guha, “Nature, Culture, Imperialism: Essays on the Environmental History of South Asia”, Oxford University Press, Delhi, (1995). [8] Gareth Porter and J. Welsh Brown, “Global Environmental Politics: Dilemmas in World Politics”, Westview Press, Boulder, (1991). [9] Henk E. S. Woldring, “State and Civil Society in the Political Philosophy of Alexis de Tocqueville”, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Non-profit organizations, vol. 9 no. 4, (1998), pp. 363-373. [10] Jurgen Habermas, “New Social Movements”, Telos, vol. 49, (1981), pp. 33-37. [11] Lalita Sharma, “Social Movements in India”, Book Enclave, Jaipur, (2014). [12] Madan Chandra Paul, “Dimensions of Tribal Movement in India: A Study of Udayachal in Assam Valley”, New Delhi: Inter-India Publications, New Delhi, (1989). [13] Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha, “Ecological Conflicts and the in India”, Development and Change, vol. 25, no. 1, (1994), pp. 101-136. [14] Robyn Eckersley, “Communitarianism”, in Andrew Dobson and Robyn Eckersley (eds), Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, (2006), pp. 91– 108. [15] Rahul Karmakar, “Golden langur to get fruits of MGNREGA”, Hindu, 9 June, 2019 https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/golden-langur-to-get- fruits-of- mgnrega/article27699541.ece [16] S. Sharma, M. D. Madhusudan and A. Sinha, “Socio-economic Drives of Forest Cover Change in Assam: A Historical Perspective”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 47, no. 5, (2012), pp. 64-72. [17] Soumyadeep Datta, “Namchangar Anteshpur”, Banphool Prakashan, Guwahati, (2012). (Translation mine from the Assamese original) [18] State of Forest Report, “Forest Cover”, vol. 1, chapter 2, Dehradun (Uttarakhand): Forest Survey of India (Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change), 2019. [19] Sunil Khilnani (2002): “The development of civil society,” in Sudipta Kaviraj and Sunil Khilnani (eds), Civil Society: History and Possibilities, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, (2002), pp. 10-32. [20] Susan Fourtane, “: The Man who Planted an Entire Forest by Himself,” Interesting Engineering, 11 September, 2018, https://interestingengineering.com/jadav-payeng-the-man- who-planted-an-entire- forest-by-himself. [21] Princen and M. Finger, “Environmental NGOs in World Politics: Linking the local to the Global”, Routledge, London and New York, (1994). [22] Timothy Doyle and Doug McEachern, “Environment and Politics”, Routledge, London and New York, (2008). [23] Tiplut Nongbri, “Development, Ethnicity and Gender”, Jaipur: Rawat Publications, Jaipur, (2003).

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 685 [email protected]