Seminar on NE boundary issues underway
Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 7
How does Delhi perceive or understand NE India? How different is that perception from the colonial prisms? Is that perception constructed from a broad development perspective or simply from a security perspective?
And does Delhi continue to look at NE as requiring “pacifying packages” without demanding any accountability?
These were some points raised by Prof (Dr) Kedilezo Kikhi, Department of Sociology and Chair, Dr. BR Ambedkar, Tezpur University, Assam, in the inaugural session of the two-day national seminar on ‘North-East and boundary issue: problems & prospects in the context of globalization’, which got underway here at Eastern Christian College, on Friday.
Delivering the keynote address on the topic ‘Contested borders and borderlands in NE India: conceptualizing and understanding the region,’ Prof Kikhi, said the term ‘Northeast (NE) India’ has to be conceptualized, understood and placed in the background of geo-political and historical contexts.
He said though the NE is geographically isolated from the rest of India, it is a geographically “recognizable entity;” and while each of the NE states have their own special features, the region as a whole also share common characteristics.
Kikhi said the NE has witnessed a continuous movement of people in the form of invasions and immigrations from the south and west, and to some extent from the North East. These movements, he stated took place in waves and at different times.
“Therefore there is the pertinent debate on who is indigenous or who is not? The invaders and immigrants came from different racial groups and spoke languages belonging to different linguistic families. In course of time, they produced a complicated mix of population resulting in a vast amount of racial and linguistic heterogeneity or ethnic diversity,” he said.
Kikhi also said the region has witnessed various conflicts. “We cannot define an ethnic group simply on the basis of geographical-territorial cartography considering the fluidity of population in the region over the centuries amidst constitutional boundary”, the sociologist said.
He also dwelled on social organizations and cultural dimensions, family organizations and kinship structures and various art forms.
Earlier, ECC principal and convenor of the seminar, Dr. Keneisenuo Solo delivered welcome address and co-convenor, G Aloto Achumi, gave a brief introduction on the objective of the seminar.
Resource persons in the first and second sessions presented their view points and research on ‘Border issues, geopolitics and migration’ and ‘India’s Act East Policy and its impact on the North-East Region.’
According to the concept note of the seminar, in a complex region like NE India, where almost all the states share their borders with neighbouring countries, the geographical location becomes a potential security issue to the country.
“This is so because almost all the borders are porous and unfenced, allowing cross-border criminal activities and illegal immigration to happen. Taking advantage of the loopholes in the security of the region, non-state actors often resort to criminal activities like extortion, arms and gold smuggling and drugs trafficking”, the concept note stated.
The seminar, organized by the Department of Political Science & Research Committee, ECC, is sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, NERC.
On Saturday, Prof (Dr) Surendran Purushotham, HoD, Department of History, Madras Christian College, Chennai, will deliver the keynote address on the topic ‘Can remote backyards transform into gateways for a nation: exploring possibilities of growth and development in the North Eastern Region.’
