By Paocha Gangte
In the fitness of things the Kuki Uprising was a fight, though unequal, but prodded by their love of liberty, freedom, self-respect and prestige rather than of anything else will be borne out by various documentary proofs pertaining to this. It brought destruction and dislocation of normal life in the affected areas and sometimes brings fresh idea in the administration and sociopolitical scenario of the same
By S. Thangboi Zou
This paper makes a micro study on the changing livelihoods of the Khuga Dam displaced communities in Churachandpur. It systematically assesses some of the crucial socio-economic constraints by evaluating the peoples’ responses to the changes that have occurred and their ways of adaptation and consequent impacts on the new environment. It is found out that large sections of the people had to adjust with the newly introduced means of livelihoods in their relocated settlements. The construction of the Dam had disrupted and dislocated the once stable means of livelihoods of the people and compelled them to turn to their immediate surroundings for minimum sustenance. Activities like clearing of forests for jhum, cutting and burning of woods for fuel and charcoal, have been largely intensified. Intense pressure has been put on the existing forests and ecological balances. It is questionable that the changed livelihoods of the people would be sustainable in the long run.
By Paominlen Haokip
Belief in the existence of evil or malevolent spirits has been a commonplace feature of the religious belief systems of almost all known tribal societies. Though such a ‘belief’ remains a mystery, for it is not amenable to scientific, empirical explanation, it nevertheless constitutes an important feature of the religious belief system of such societies. In this paper, attempts have been made to provide a detail account of such a belief in evil or malevolent spirits amongst the ethnic ChinKuki groups of Manipur. To this end, specific focus has been given to the belief in a particular malevolent spirit known as Inn-Kaose in local parlance which is believed to be capable of causing human suffering, misery, and misfortunes. Based on in-depth interviews, the paper seeks to delineate the pervasiveness of the belief in Inn-Kaose and how it plays a pivotal practical role in structuring socio-cultural life of the community. It also brings out to the fore the different oraltraditions that explained the origin and evolution of the InnKaose/Lhagao-Boh evil spirits.
By Sanjay Kanti Das
Empowerment in the context of women’s development is a way of defining, challenging and overcoming barriers in women’s life through which she increases her ability to shape her life and environment. Self Help Group-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) of the government of India is designed to alleviate poverty and empower women of the country. However, the success of this SBLP is often debatable. Today large scale disparities in the implementation and proliferation of SHG formation are major concern. A few studies are made on impact assessment of SBLP in Northeast India. This study focuses on the constraints in empowerment of Karbi women in Karbi Anglong district of Assam.
By Rajendra Prasad Patel
Bangladesh is the third largest Muslim populated country in the world and is known for its strongly secular and syncretic culture, robust socioeconomic growth, booming trade and worker remittances, and among the most success- ful rural credit networks in the world. But the country is facing severe chal- lenges from violent Islamist groups because the role of Islam in Bangladeshi politics is high contested, and it has been a focal point, and polarized political climate and institutional repression of Islamic parties have enhanced radicalization dynamics and country has become an emerging breeding ground for violent extremism. Over the past years, 30 people belonging to minority communities, mainly Hindu have been murdered by machete wielding radi- cals. They had also not spared Muslim secular writers, publishers, and bloggers for raising their voices against extremist ideology. These murders accompa- nied the startling news of ISIS recruiters arrested in Dhaka. Bangladesh has a long history of political and electoral violence that have shaped its political culture, protest, boycott and intense oppositional politics are defining a fea- ture of Bangladesh‘s authoritarian and democratic era. The two political events are closely interconnected for the recent rise of violent extremism in Bangladesh, first, the elimination of the caretaker government and secondly, implementation of the war crime tribunal. And that has led to political con- flict between the Awami League (AL), and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has resulted in high level of violence and brutal state response. This paper will analyze the major causes of the rise of extremist groups and democratic governance, and inclusive politics can help mitigate the risk of rising extrem- ism in Bangladesh.
By I. Yaipharemba
Manipur is a land lock state which depends on existing National Highways for importing essential commodities and transportation of materials entirely rest with the incumbent trucks. Highways remain only passes through which, in addition to essential commodities, traveller undertake bus journey to train station like Dimapur or Guwahati. The Tupul-Imphal train line is at construc- tion phase and will take some more years to complete. Jiribam has also lim- ited train service. On air connectivity, Imphal has an airport that is well con- nected with metro cities but bringing essential commodities by aircraft is very limited, as a result highways are very important for the state for flow of com- modities. In a nutshell, average Manipuri depends on road for journey to other states of Northeast and commodities required. By its significance nature ex- isting Highways are the life line for people of Manipur irrespective of Hill or Valleymen. Due to fragile ethnic-political conditions that prevail, the state is prone to bandhs and economic blockades initiate by parties for one or another reason. During economic blockade, vehicular traffic at the Highways is to- tally shut down by supporters and violent attacks at good laden trucks and drivers frequently take place. The truck drivers suffer the most when assaults were inflicted during the journey. The assaults generally damage or destroy vehicles and cause financial issue for the drivers. During normal days, essen- tial items are brought at NH 2 Dimapur-Imphal which is short and well con- structed as compare to NH 37. The NH 37 for Manipur is 220 km in length and is single lane with severe road conditions. However, due to frequent and prolong blockade, essential materials including petroleum products, medical items, eatable etc are brought through NH 37 Jiribam-Imphal with police pro- tection regardless of violent assault from blockade supporters and bad road. The truck drivers thus, play a live saviour role in the critical situation by bringing goods to capital city Imphal, facing numerous odds. Time and again, during blockade while escorting, there is wide presumption that police pro- tection are inadequate and insensitive. Drivers feel the security cover is not enough and more materials can be transport in, if frequency of security convoy is increase. The study attempts to establish the complexities suffer by truck drivers integrating the fundamental of Human Security that concerns with individual safeguarding. This paper is a noble effort of recounting the relentless efforts of unrewarded truck drivers at the mad road ahead.
By Farhat Hossain
The effectiveness of skilled health workforce is most influencing factor to the health status of the population and its ratio to population across space and regions. This paper explores the availability of health care institutions as per Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms and the nature of shortfall and surplus of health workforce in accessing health care services to the people of North-East India. The region is considered to be one of the economically depressed regions in India and has low health workforce-population ratio and unskilled due to absence of training centres. Health Care Institutions consists of Sub-Centres (SCs), Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centre (CHCs) that provide complete health care delivery to the population. The deficit of health care institutions is very high in densely populated states like Assam and it is favourable in lower density states i.e. Arunachal Pradesh. The numerical deficits are greatest in case of specialized doctors and numerical surpluses realised for Para-medical staffs which is likely to affect adversely the utilization of health care services in CHCs in North-East India. The co-efficient of variation for health workforce shows that the regional disparities is widening and worsening because of uneven health workforce availability in the health care institutions.
Key Words: Health workforce, Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), Sub-Centres (SCs), Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs)
By Marchang Reimeingam
Migration rate from North Eastern Region (NER) to the rest of India (ROI) in general and to Bangalore in particular has increased. The rate of migration from NER to Karnataka has declined steadily; however, to Bangalore it has slightly increased. Urban people from NER show higher tendency to migrate to Bangalore which is not the case for migrants from NER to ROI. Migration level from NER in Karnataka as well as in Bangalore is relatively insignificant. Migrants from NER are not choosing Karnataka as migration destination as before. Migrants from NER in Bangalore and Karnataka were dominated by males. Conversely, females dominated migration from NER in ROI. Males, unlike females, continue to prefer and choose Bangalore as one of their favourite migration destinations. NE people, particularly males, migrated to Karnataka and particularly to Bangalore mainly for education and employment. Females migrated mostly due to family migration. Migration from NER to Bangalore for employment and education has increased while migration along with their family has declined recently.
By Moirangthem Monica Devi
In contemporary Manipur, agriculture is the main economic base of the rural society. In earlier times too, such was the economic scenario as observed from various sources and accounts. Both the valley people and the hill tribes were agriculturalists even though their modes of cultivation varied. As the society was predominantly a subsistence based economy, land especially agricultural land was a big part of life. Therefore, the paper will examine the various modes of cultivation prevalent in Manipur. The paper will also be examining how the agricultural land of the kingdom was controlled and the various modes revenue collection systems that the Pre Colonial State used during that period. The paper will further discuss the course of historical development and the changes that British brought into land holding system and land revenue policies throughout the colonial Manipur.
Keywords: Agriculture, land holding, economy, land revenue, Pre-colonial, Colonial, Manipur
By Bankerlang Kharmylliem and Ngamjahao Kipgen
This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional institutions (dorbar shnongs) operating in the urban setting in the context of domestic water distribution in Meghalaya’s capital city of Shillong. The nature of water governance carried out by these institutions is examined to understand their role and contribution to water (in)equity in the city. Based on empirical study, selected localities are undertaken and compared to highlight the role of dorbar shnongs in water governance that are directly and indirectly contributing to water supply. This study focuses on the significance and the role of the local traditional institutions with regards to urban water governance in Shillong.
Keywords: dorbar shnong, traditional institutions, urban water governance, Shillong, social sustainability, water (in)equity