By S. Thianlalmuan Ngaihte
Some studies on elite shows that high levels of education, higher incomes and high standards of living, job security, etc. are important attributes of leaders/ elite. Are these assumptions true in the case of Paite elite as well? Based on data and information collected from survey, the paper examines the social, economic and ideological position of modern Paite elite in Churachandpur.
By Aditya Singh, Saradiya Mukherjee, and Rakesh Chandra
Using data from third round of District Level Household Survey conducted in 2007-08, the study attempts to measure socio-economic inequality by type of maternal care-antenatal care, delivery care and postnatal carein rural Assam, with a focus on inter-district variations. Results indicate that the utilisation of maternal health care in the state is characterised by substantial pro-rich inequalities. The inter-district disparity in socio-economic inequality in maternal health care is also conspicuous. The efforts to increase the average without a component of equity in the programme could actually further aggravate existing pro-rich inequalities. In the light of immenseinter-district variation in the level of socio-economic inequality in maternal health care utilisation, any future efforts by government or any other stakeholders should, not only focus on improving overall utilisation level, but also on reducing inter-district variation in socio-economic inequalities.
By Tame Ramya
The Bangrus live in Sarli Circle of Kurung Kumey district, one of the remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh. Communication system in the district is too bad to maintain regular relation with the outside world. The people live mainly with their traditional health care practices under the given ecological condition. The modern medicine system suddenly made its presence in this area through governmental institutions. The people, no doubt, are traditional, but they accepted the system. While they have grabbed new system without offering conspicuous resistance, the traditional concept of health continues. This paper portrays how the impinging modern medicine system adjusts and reacts with the traditional one in the Bangru heritage.
By Roluahpuia
The Look East Policy (LEP) initiated in 1991 was a real turning point in India’s economic policy. Initiated along with the New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1991, the LEP emerged as an important strategy for India to make foray in Southeast and East Asian countries. The attempt of India to enter into closer economic relationships can be viewed from three different lens – regional and sub-regional integration, proliferation of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and re-orientation of domestic economic policy which altogether are pursued after the launching of the policy. This paper is an attempt to provide a detail analysis of the historical background of the policy. It then analyzed the policy from the three strategies by equating with global happenings.
By Ngamkhohao Haokip
This article discusses the problem of tribe identity among the Kukis of Manipur. Kuki in Northeast India is a national group composed of more than 20 sub-groups. These sub-groups speak different dialects of the same language. In 1956, the Government of India recognised each dialect group as separate tribe. One of them is Thadou. Some among the Thadous do not like to be under Thadou tribe although they speak the same dialect and practice the same culture. This article attempts to assess how far politics of tribe identity affects unity and social harmony amongst the Kukis.
By Raile Rocky
Manipur, the land of jewel, is increasingly turning into the land of conflict zone. Various reasons are responsible for this transition. The complicated multidimensional issues, mostly violent in nature, that afflicts the land accounts for the land being distinct from other states in the region. Historically, the state has witnessed high level of violence, particularly armed insurrection and political violence directed, in equal measure against settlers, against different ethnic groups and the authorities, stemming mostly from ethnic and state subjugation. There has been a continuous engagement on the part of the state to address issues and crisis in the Northeast in general and Manipur in particular but it has remained unresolved till date. Using content analysis and historiography this paper analyses pertinent issues of boundary contestation, insurgency and ethnic identity, the nature of state’s response and its consequences.
By Thongkholal Haokip
The coming of Christianity among the Kukis is now more than a century. Centenary of the gospel among the Baptists was celebrated in March 1996 with a theme “Christ the Hope of the Ages” and the Evangelical Presbyterians in 2010 with “Power of the Gospel” as a theme respectively. Within the twentieth century almost the entire population had been swept by Christianity and now Christians constitute more than 90 percent of the total population. This essay discusses the advent of Christianity among the Kukis and analyse the attempts made by church leaders to unify Kuki churches. It also made an enquiry into the reasons for the failure of such attempts to church unification and its implication on Kuki society.
By Sanjay Kanti Das
State Cooperative Banks provide the necessary financial resources to District Cooperative Banks and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies, and are responsible for their recovery. They have played significant role in the development of rural economy of India. The paper explores and evaluates the growth and progress of State Cooperative Banks in the Northeastern region of India. Further, efforts are also given to make a comparative analysis of State Cooperative Banks in the Northeastern region and India through some selected financial indicators. It is found that all the financial variables (capital, reserves, deposits, advances, demand, collection and over dues) increased with higher growth rate during 2002-2009 on the basic of Compound Annual Growth Rate. The paper highlights the reasons for slow progress of State Cooperative Banking in the Northeastern region of India which is considered as the most backward region of the country. Further, this paper focuses on several pitfalls and shortcomings faced by State Cooperative Banks in region. Finally, it is observed that the State Cooperative Banks in the Northeastern region are not at par with the all India level which is evidenced from the study of some selected financial indicators.
By Alex Akhup
This paper attempts to situate the socio political context of Manipur state as viewed from the experience of Koms (Komrem) in Manipur. Northeast region in general and Manipur state in particular is described by cultural diversity. It is duly classified in the emerging literature as multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-tribe. The ethnic social structure and polity is intrinsically shaped by the ecological context of the region falling within a larger part of the South East Asia. The state building processes in such context has had a unique impact on the embedded social reality often not seen in other parts of the country. Among other things, ethnic identity politics usually defined within the theoretical constructs of self determination has emerged as a prominent state generated socio political process producing shared and contested boundaries of social interaction. In such a context, historiography, theorization and political ideology, in particular, find convergence largely within the domain of colonial constructs and western concept of state politics fanned by dominant ethnic groups: Meitei, Nagas and Kukis. This paper positions a political perspective of co-existence and mutual respect based on the experience of Koms (Komrem); a case for a lived perspective.
By Prasenjit Biswas
Northeast India is doubly displaced within the Constitutional nation-space: as a political-territorial space of the nation, it is still a “periphery”, while as a culturally specific locale its difference is misrecognised. Although the discourse of development normalises the space of difference, in the case of Northeast, it produces a disjunction between the “developmental ensemble” and the lived and the experiential world of multitudes. This disjunction can be thematised in the opening and the closure of the region in the logic of exclusivity in the very operation of the Constitutional mechanism. Suffice it to say that the logic of power privileges a discourse of “top-down” instrumentalist development over and against the primacy of the constitutional forms of justice and equity. The inherently communitarian character of resource distribution and ownership is significantly distorted and altered by the process of “mainstreaming” that the constitutional mechanism simultaneously upholds and debars. The contest between ethnic-communitarian sphere and the civic domain produces a dialectics of containment for both the State and the community.