Northeast India 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 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. 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. Northeast India A Reader Edited by Bhagat Oinam and Dhiren A. Sadokpam First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Manipur Research Forum; individual chapters, the contributors. The right of Bhagat Oinam and Dhiren A. Sadokpam to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. With the exception of Chapter 31, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Chapter 31 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www. routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-71657-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-48987-7 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of tables x List of abbreviations xi Notes on contributors xiv Acknowledgements xviii Introduction 1 BHAGAT OINAM AND DHIREN A. SADOKPAM PART I Armed political violence 27 1 Nationalist ideology, militarization and human rights in the Northeast 29 KAMAL MITRA CHENOY 2 Armed opposition groups in Northeast India: The splinter scenario 41 PATRICK HOENIG AND K. KOKHO PART II The extraordinary law and its impact 53 3 Violence and terror under AFSPA 1958 and the people’s movement against it 55 MALEM NINGTHOUJA 4 People’s conversation on truth, justice and reparation 69 ANJUMAN ARA BEGUM vi Contents PART III National questions 81 5 Assamese nationality question 83 SAJAL NAG 6 Challenges and predicaments of Naga nationalism 95 H. SRIKANTH AND C. J. THOMAS 7 Narrating the nation in Manipur: Reproduction of a historical question 113 A. NONI MEETEI PART IV Land and territoriality 125 8 Land and ethnicity: A study of Manipur and its neighbourhood 127 LOKENDRA ARAMBAM 9 Politics of land alienation and problem of its restoration in Tripura 139 KHAKCHANG DEBBARMA PART V Migration and ethnicity 151 10 Illegal Bangladeshi migration into the Northeast: Policy making, politics and road blocks 153 BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY 11 Employment, unemployment, job aspiration and migration: Some reflections of Tangkhul migrants to Delhi 168 REIMEINGAM MARCHANG Contents vii PART VI Federal politics 185 12 Salvaging autonomy in India’s Northeast: Beyond the Sixth Schedule way 187 KHAM KHAN SUAN HAUSING 13 Autonomy for tribal communities in India: A study of the Northeastern states 199 M. AMARJEET SINGH PART VII Locating civil society 213 14 Fast forward or living in a permanent state of nature? 215 SAMIR KUMAR DAS 15 Civil society and democracy: Absence of the sovereign in Northeast India 223 KAKCHINGTABAM NARESH SHARMA 16 Pang-Sau or redeeming India’s Northeast from impoverished constitutionalisms: After-life of an essay 235 PRASENJIT BISWAS PART VIII Tradition and modernity 249 17 Colonial modernity and plight of the receiving communities 251 BHAGAT OINAM 18 In the name of a flyover: Development, resistance, politics 265 YENGKHOM JILANGAMBA viii Contents PART IX Popular culture 277 19 Music, body and sexuality in Bihu songs of Assam 279 UTPOLA BORAH 20 Problematizing cultural appropriation: Tangkhul folk-blues and socio-political aspirations 288 DHIREN A. SADOKPAM 21 Poetic discourse in the songs of Tapta 298 USHAM ROJIO PART X Literary trends 309 22 Manipuri literature in history 311 THINGNAM KISHAN SINGH 23 The origin and development of Mizo literature 323 LALTLUANGLIANA KHIANGTE 24 Differing resistances: Mediating the Naga struggle in Easterine Iralu’s A Terrible Matriarchy and Temsula Ao’s These Hills Called Home 333 ASHLEY TELLIS PART XI Women and gender 343 25 The politics of gendered resistance: Body and agency 345 SUKALPA BHATTACHARJEE 26 ‘We have got things to say’: Beyond the nationalizing narrative of the Bodoland movement 361 AMRAPALI BASUMATARY Contents ix PART XII State and development policies 377 27 Building Northeastern futures, looking East 379 B. G. VERGHESE 28 Preparing the Northeastern economy for the future 391 GULSHAN SACHDEVA 29 Critiquing the development intervention in the Northeast 406 AMAR YUMNAM PART XIII Critiques of development discourse 421 30 Understanding underdevelopment: State of economy in the Northeast 423 THINGNAM KISHAN SINGH 31 Re-imagining the Northeast in India, again: Did geography sidestep history in Vision (2020)? 436 ROHAN D’SOUZA 32 Post-development, democratic discourse and dissensus: A critique of Vision 2020 453 PRASENJIT BISWAS Index 465 Tables 10.1 Variation of Muslim population in Assam from 1941 to 2001 (in %) 155 10.2 Progress in fencing the Indo-Bangladesh border (length in km) 158 10.3 Identification and deportation of illegal migrants 162 11.1 Distribution (%) of employment in organized sector in Manipur/India 171 11.2 Branch-wise distribution (%) of employment in organized sector in Manipur/India 172 11.3 UPS unemployment rates (%) and educated unemployment rates for 15+ years (%) in Manipur/India 173 11.4 Distribution (%) of reasons of migration for migrants (by POLR with all-duration of residence) from Manipur to Delhi (NCT) 178 28.1 Economic growth in the Northeast, 19922017 399 28.2 Net state domestic product (NSDP) in the Northeast, % growth (20045 to 201314) 400 Abbreviations AASU All Assam Students Union AATWF All Assam Tribal Women’s Federation ABSU All Bodo Students’ Union ABWWF All Bodo Women’s Welfare Federation ADC Autonomous District Council AFSPA Armed Forces Special Powers Act AGP Asom Gana Parishad AIPRF All India Peoples Resistance Forum AMUCO All Manipur United Clubs Organisations APCC Assam Pradesh Congress Committee APHLC All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference APRSU Andhra Pradesh Radical Students Union AR Assam Rifles ASS Assam Sahitya Sabha BIMSTEC Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation BJP Bharatiya Janata Party BLT Bodoland Liberation Tiger BPAC Bodo Peoples’ Action Committee BSF Border Security Force CAD Constituent Assembly Debates CCS Cabinet Committee on Security CGPI Communist Ghadar Party of India CONSOCOM Consolidation Committee of Manipur CRPF Central Reserve Police Force DGET Directorate General of Employment and Training FACG Folk Art and Cultural Guild