Numbers in India’s Periphery: The Political Economy of Government Statistics by Ankush Agrawal and Vikas Kumar, New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2020; pp 397, `945.
In North East India, forestland in general and shifting cultivation in particular remain the primary resources and means of livelihood for many Scheduled Tribe people. However, the practice of shifting cultivation is not so prominent and is declining owing to the steady shift, transformation,and withdrawal from the labour-intensive shifting cultivation to non-agricultural livelihoods, resulting in an improvement of forest conservation and cover.
The recent clashes between Assam and Mizoram have invited academic discussions on the issue of the border dispute between the two north-eastern states. The article tries to understand the root of the conflict and proceeds to point out the stands of respective governments on the border dispute. It also discusses on the probable mechanisms or the ways out for the settlement of the border dispute between these two states.
The article notes that the north-eastern states have taken many initiatives to implement and localise the Sustainable Development Goals. But achieving the targets require a multipronged approach, concerted and coordinated efforts, and focus on sectors where the region has inherent advantages. Unfortunately, the pandemic has cast some doubts on the feasibility of achieving the goals as per the original timelines.
This paper deals with the expected fiscal transfers to north-eastern states under the Fifteenth Finance Commission award. The analysis reveals that the ratio of central transfers has been declining. However, the structural disabilities of these states necessitates that the union government supplements the finance commission transfers with other budgetary support.
This article is a critical endeavour to situate the Naga homeland movement in the present context vis-à-vis the regional politics of the North East. It attempts to understand and (re)imagine the relevance of Naga homeland politics in the light of its expectations in the neo-liberal era. By revisiting and (re)defining the movement from the establishment of the Naga Club in 1918 to the Naga Peace Accord in 2015, it highlights the policies and procedures that have intensified existing issues and suggests that the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and underground leaders operates by exploiting the Naga issue rather than solving it, while sustaining and reproducing systemic corruption.
An analysis of urban development in post-independence India shows that the country has inherited an uneven regional distribution of city and town formations. No other region illustrates this better than the North East. This complex topic is examined with reference to the “tribal metropolis” of Shillong in Meghalaya, which is experiencing a rapidly changing urban landscape. How urban space is governed in Shillong is analysed. In doing so, contestations by various stakeholders regarding urban expansion and development along with its implications for the tribal population living in the vicinity of the city are examined.
This article traces the genesis of the current standardisation of time and provides a rationale for introducing changes to the Indian Standard Time , and proposes several policy options.
What pushed the National People’s Party to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party that has won only two assembly seats, is the ailment that afflicts all the governments of the small states of the North East. These special category states survive on central grants for as much as 90% of their requirement and are expected to raise the remaining 10%. They, therefore, need a friendly government at the centre.
India’s North-East and Asiatic South-East: Beyond Borders edited by Rashpal Malhotra and Sucha Singh Gill, Chandigarh: Centre for Rural and Industrial Development, 2015; pp xxv+302, ₹500.
Look and Act East Policy: Potential and Constraints edited by Rashpal Malhotra and Sucha Singh Gill, Chandigarh: Centre for Rural and Industrial Development, 2015; pp xxxxiv+286, ₹595.
