Contributed papers presented at the Seminar on Reorganization of North-East India since 1947 held in Feb. 1993.

This book maps the evolution of India′s North East into a constituent region of the republic and analyses the perpetual crisis in the region since Independence. It highlights how land, language and leadership issues have been the seed of contention in the North East and how factors like ethnicity, ideology and religion have shaped the conflicts. It also throws light on the major insurgencies, internal displacements, protest movements and the regional drug and weapons trade in the region. It examines ′the crisis of development′ and the evolution of the polity before offering a policy framework to combat the crises. The book includes a large body of original data, documentation and field interviews with major players as well as stakeholders. It is an important reference resource for students of politics and international relations, especially for those involved in South Asian studies and conflict studies. It is also an informative read for decision-makers, bureaucrats dealing with the North East and those involved in counter-insurgency operations in the area.

As India and the world are roiled by questions of nationalism and identity, this book journeys into the history of one of the world's newest and most fascinating regions: Northeast India. Having appeared with the stroke of a pen in 1947, as the British Raj was torn asunder and partitioned into India and Pakistan, this is a region of hills inhabited by myriad tribes. Until colonial rule, they had lived in their ancient ways largely unmolested by their neighbors, who were rather keen to avoid their traditions of head-hunting. Samrat Choudhury chronicles the processes by which these remote hill-tribes, and the diverse other peoples inhabiting the valley of the vast Brahmaputra River below, became parts of the 'imagined nation' that is India. Through the invention of the Northeast, he explores two other ideas of India that remain in daily competition: Bharat, the Hindu nationalist conception of the country, and Hindustan, the Persian-origin name by which India is still known as far west as Turkey. Taking a long view, this absorbing political history chronicles the separate pathways by which imperialism, Christianity and the British love of tea brought each of the contemporary region's constituent states, kicking and screaming, into modern India.

This volume explores the rich pre-history, history, and oral history of the northeast region of India––a land-locked region that is home to over 350 ethnolinguistic communities. Despite its uniqueness and diversity, little is known to the outside world. The book studies the vibrant and diverse socio-political and cultural history of this region through a transdisciplinary perspective, covering a wide range of topics such as the pre-history, medieval and colonial histories of Assam, the geopolitics of the creation of independent states from undivided Assam, oral narratives from Manipur, prehistoric cultures of Meghalaya, the Naga National Movement, Sikkim’s Namgyal dynasty, and Tripura’s transition from monarchy to democracy. It also discusses the invaluable contributions made by Professor Mohammad Taher (1931–2015), who laid the foundation of geography in Northeast India. A compelling exploration of this geo-politically contested space, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of anthropology, archaeology, history, human geography, South Asian studies, and minority studies.