International Seminar on Human Development ... - Assam University

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Organising CommitteePatronProf. Somnath Dasgupta, Vice Chancellor, Assam University, Silchar.ChairmanProf. K V Nagraj, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dorgakona Campus, Assam University, Silchar.Organising SecretaryProf. G Ram, Professor of Sociology, Director, Centre for Studies in Human Development, & Co-ordinator, Equal Opportunity Cell,Assam University, Silchar.MembersProf. Gopalji Mishra, Professor of Social Work, Dean, School of Social Sciences & Chairman, Advisory Committee for Centre for Studies inHuman Development, Assam University, Silchar.Prof. A M Bhuiya, Professor of Arabic, Dean, School of English and Foreign Languages & Chairman, Committee for Equal Opportunity Cell,Assam University, Silchar.Prof. Niranjan Roy, Professor of Economics, Director, Directorate of Internal Quality Assessment & Member, Advisory Committee for Centrefor Studies in Human Development, Assam University, Silchar.Prof. R R Dhamala, Department of Political Science, & Member, Advisory Committee for Centre for Studies in Human Development, AssamUniversity, Silchar.Prof. Ashesh K Das, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science & Member, Advisory Committee for Centre for Studies in HumanDevelopment, Assam University, Silchar.Prof. G P Pandey, Professor of Mass Communication, Dean, School of Creative Studies & Member, Advisory Committee for Centre forStudies in Human Development, Assam University, Silchar.Prof. Dipankar Purkayastha, Department of English, Assam University, SilcharProf. B P Mishra, Retired Professor of Economics (North Bengal) & Advisor to Govt of West Bengal for Higher Education, Ex-Chairman,Centre for Studies in Human Development, Assam University, SilcharDr. Arup Barman, Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration & Member, Committee for Equal Opportunity Cell, AssamUniversity, Silchar.Dr. Ratna Huirem, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work & Member, Committee for Equal Opportunity Cell, Assam University,Silchar.Dr. Nil Ratan Roy, Assistant Professor, Department of Education & Member, Committee for Equal Opportunity Cell, Assam University,Silchar.Mrs. D Mary Kim Haokip, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics & Member, Committee for Equal Opportunity Cell, AssamUniversity, Silchar.Dr. Arunjyoti Nath, Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science & Member, Committee for Equal OpportunityCell, Assam University, Silchar.Dr. Raju Mandal, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics & Member, Committee for Equal Opportunity Cell, Assam University,Silchar.Dr Partha Sarkar, Assistant Professor, Mass Communication, Department of Mass Communication, Assam University, Silchar.Mr Shubhadip Dhar, Assistant Registrar, Finance Branch, Assam University, Silchar.Mr Niharendu Dhar, Assistasnt Regisrar (Estate), Assam University, Silchar.About the OrganizersCentre for Studies in Human Development is an interdisciplinary research-cum-academic centre of Assam University and Equal OpportunityCell is an action-oriented cell of the university organizing various programmes for training and skill-development of the students, scholars andemployees from various marginalized groups in the university and its vicinity and also for community orientation on important social andnational issues. The two offices are jointly organizing an international seminar during 18-20 March 2013 on the theme Human Developmentand the Marginalised Sections in Northeast India: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward. The seminar is sponsored by ICSSR, New Delhi,and supported by IRDC.IRDC is a research wing of CCLP-Worldwide, which conducts research programs on development through education and supportsdevelopmental thinkers in developing countries to resolve the global issues related to education, peace, and sustainability and encouragessharing of knowledge with policymakers, researchers, and communities around the world to bring choice based change through innovativeeducation for sustainability and livelihood. The Chambers of Computer Logistics People-Worldwide (CCLP-Worldwide), a Global CivilSociety, has recently got a special consultative status to ECOSOC-UN in the Year 2012. This organization promotes the <strong>International</strong>Education Charter – a declaration of fundamental principles guiding youth-education worldwide in the 21st century.2
Thematic PerspectiveThe human populations, ever-dispersing within and across national/ geographical borders, all through the historical times, have added to ethniccomplexity of all the societies, especially the large societies like India, USA, Canada, UK and others. Amidst various groups of such societies,one perceives a consciousness of kind or the process of self-identification, ie, one’s labeling based on a single or combination of factors likelanguage, religion, caste, community, race, tribe, region, sect, sub-culture, symbols, traditions, common historical experience, creed, nationalminority, ritual, dress, diet, boundary and national origin which gives a group ethnic or self identity- a set of the group’s distinct socio-culturalpractices learnt through a particularistic socialization. As a result, there emerge diverse ethnic/cultural groups, each, perceiving itself in amajority-minority or dominant-subordinate relationship based on the size of population, settlement pattern, social interactions, culture andeconomy. India makes a society of about 4635 communities, comprising 2,000 to 3,000 caste groups, about 60,000 of synonyms of titles and subgroupsand about 40,000 endogenous divisions (K S Singh 1992). All through the history, Indian sub-continent as a whole has experiencedmultiple overlaying of the populations dispersing in the South and South East Asia. The stepped up trans-border and internal circulation of peoplein search of better livelihood opportunities, especially in the post-Independence period, has given rise to more complex ethnic formations inIndia, particularly in its Northeastern region which comprises eight states; namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. Northeast India abuts with Bhutan and China in the north, China and Myanmar in the east, and India’s anotherstate, West Bengal, and another country, Bangladesh, in the west. It constitutes 7.97% of India’s total area and 3.77% of its total population. Thehilly terrains cover 72% of its total area. A large number of groups interspersed in the diverse terrains form almost all the ethnic varieties of race,life style, culture, language, religion, beliefs and tradition. Mainly five factors compose the ethnic plurality in the region; namely, (i) race (ii)tribe, (iii) caste and /or non-tribe, (iv) language and (v) religion. Historically, the region has witnessed mobile populations of multiple andinterspersed ethnic groups, competing for dominance and development in different locales. This ethnic heterogeneity serves a reservoir for socioculturalrichness, on the one hand, and it pushes certain groups to the social margins, on the other hand. Hence, creating a feeling of relativedeprivation among the groups engaged in interactions for production and governance. In the given ethnic make-up of the region, the actors ofdemocratic politics like political parties and leaders compete for attaining power by mobilizing people’s support on the basis of ethnic identities,on the one hand, and the people compete for their stakes in governance to secure a bigger slice of development (production) on the same basis ofethnic identity, on the other hand. Thus, one comes to witness the politics of underdevelopment and scarcity wherein people use their culturalresource, ethnic identity, as means to attain power, wealth and status, i e, material and non-material gains. The result is perpetuation,fragmentation and conflicts of identities as well as exclusion, deprivation, exploitation and marginalization of certain groups. The marginalizationof various groups is the outcome of cultural (ethnic) dominance over polity and economy. Besides, the region also feels marginalized or alienatedfrom the rest of India.In Northeast India the salience of marginalization is apparent at two levels. First, the region as a whole is the marginalized, both, in subjectiveand objective meanings, i. e., the people of the region consider themselves deprived, excluded and backward as compared to the mainstream, onthe one hand, and many of the people from India’s mainland who have no idea of the region exclude it as an alien land, on the other. Thus, thereis constantly felt ‘otherness’ between the Northeast and the mainland. Second, the communities in the region also construct the notion of ‘other’among them, resulting into marginalization of various groups. The perceived marginalization at these two levels have given rise to insurgency ofvarious groups, resisting against the State and/ or a dominant group whereas the second level of marginalization has additionally been a constantsource of conflict between various groups within the region. In this dynamic situation of homogenization of power with culture, the‘marginalized’ also appears to be complex and dynamic in the region. There is dichotomy of culture and power which can be redeemed onlythrough replacement of a culturally homogenized power by a politically homogenized culture and for such replacement the instrument of humandevelopment can be used. No doubt, during the past six decades of planned development the Indian State has presented development as solution,through use of technology and heavy capital investment, but it could not arrest people’s marginalization and solve the problems of isolation,underdeveloped infrastructure, unemployment and insurgency in the region. In spite of huge funds allocated to the region under every plan, someof which often remain unutilized, special packages, grants-in-aid and grants extended to the Sixth Schedule areas created under IndianConstitution and a separate central Ministry of DoNER, human development till date is not so apparent. Above all, during the period ofglobalization the gap of the region’s states with the rest of India has further widened. Obviously it points to the on-going marginalization of theregion as a whole as well as the implicit marginalization of various groups in the region. Internally displaced Chakmas and Reangs, migrants orimmigrants, tea garden communities, Adivasis, religious minorities, linguistic minorities, small tribes, hill tribes, Scheduled Castes, people inflood ravaged areas etc can be named among many of the marginalized sections which are having low level of human development in the region.This raises questions: What level of human development is obtained in the region vis-à-vis India as a whole? What human3
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