Category: Article

Minorities in Japan and India: A Comparative Study of Ainu and Borok Tribals

Article

By M. Kamlianlal Zou

Minorities are often subjected to unjust exploitation and desisted from social, political and economic opportunities. The government’s machineries and constitutional provisions for protecting the minorities sometimes become a tool in the hands of the dominant group to exploit the minorities. As a result minorities feel alienated, suffer from inferiority complex and may lead to a rebellious attitude depending on the social setting in which differential treatment operates. This paper analyses the difficulties faced by minorities in Japan and make a comparative study between the Ainu of Japan and the Borok tribals of Tripura in India. These two tribals are indigenous peoples, and they maintained an independent kingdom and administered themselves before their ancestral lands were annexed by the dominant community. As a result, they were reduced to a minority and became a stranger in their own land.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782644

Ranking of districts in North East states of India by the use of Standard of Living Index using 2001 and 2011 census

Article

By Phrangstone Khongji

Due to limited literature available to highlight the economic level and status for states and districts of North east India, the present study attempts to capture the same by extracting the information on living standards of people through the eight variables collected during the 2001 and 2011 census. Standard of living index is constructed through the use of principal component analysis, where states and districts in the region are ranked. This study can have important policy implications, concerning directing the resources to those districts of the region which have slip in the rank between the two censuses.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782553

Wari Leeba: The Declining Storytelling Tradition of the Meiteis of Manipur and Tripura

Article

By Sukla Singha

There is a popular notion that ‘literature’ is primarily written or printed. Another western concept is that it is the written word that is legitimate or valid and modern or progressive, whereas the spoken word is a representative of the primitive or uncivilized world. These notions have been challenged time and again by alternative textualities such as oral traditions, paintings and illustrations. The oral tradition of storytelling has been in vogue since time immemorial across many communities of India as well as the rest of the world. These stories would serve as a grand repository of memories and histories of the respective societies through the power of the spoken word. But with rapid urbanization, these stories are faced first with distortion and then with extinction, as the storytellers of the older generation pass away. This paper attempts to understand the storytelling tradition of Manipur, popularly known as the Wari-Leeba (that forms an integral part and parcel of the Meitei culture) as well to find out probable causes of its declining/deteriorating status in the adjacent state of Tripura that is a home to a good number of Meitei population.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782498

Spreading the Dreaded Virus: Social Dimension of HIV/ AIDS in Churachandpur, Manipur

Article

By Johny Lalbiaklian

The problem of HIV/AIDS is not only a medical problem but it is increasingly recognised as a social problem. It is important to examine the many influences in the society that have a bearing on HIV/AIDS. Development of an appropriate respond to HIV/AIDS requires an understanding of the specific society, its history, its culture and its dynamic. Social issues surrounding the risk of HIV/AIDS and its infection are important ones that illuminate a number of social problems and value conflicts within the society. This paper attempts to address the social dimension of the causes and impact of HIV/ AIDS in the district of Churachandpur, Manipur. It is observed that various social activities such as tribal festivals, youth activities and even faith-based festivals play significant role in contributing to the spread of the diseases among the youth. There are diverse responses with regard to the general attitudes towards the infectants where benevolent feeling and sympathy are shown by the families and society broadly.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782396

Increasing Public Value in the Shillong Region of Meghalaya

Article

By Leon Miller

Social networking is increasingly being applied to municipalities to improve social-economic performance, improve the relationship between government and the public, and increase benefits for all stakeholders. The literature on social networking stresses that it increases transparency, reduces corruption, and enhances a locale’s ‘smart municipality’ image. However, in spite of the success of social networking in other global contexts there has been no development of a theoretical model that explains the factors that make it effective for improving social and economic conditions in the Shillong region. This article explains how social networking could be applied to the Shillong region to integrate the resources of society to increase benefits for all stakeholders. Thus, this article contributes to literature on social networking by explaining how the fundamental concepts and principles related to social networking provide the basis for a theory of how the concept can improve social conditions.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12782292

In Search of Diverse Prospects of Existence in a New
Conurbation

Article

By Nikita Banati

Migration is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening since time immemorial. Northeast India is a region extremely rich in natural resources, but still remains relatively less developed as compared to other parts of the country in all fields including education, health, infrastructure, etc. This article discusses the various push and pull factors which lead to the migration of young people from Northeast India to Delhi and map the issues of coexistence confronted by them in Delhi. It also looks into the myriad experiences of migrants from the northeast region in Delhi and the perceptions of the host population about the migrants. Often people’s decision of migrating from Northeast India to Delhi in search of better higher education, infrastructure and job opportunities, which are reasonably lacking in the Northeast region, is a conscious one. It is not an unknown fact that discrimination exists in Delhi. There are various challenges that people from Northeast India face in Delhi, discrimination being one of the most common one. There is a major difference in culture which makes it harder for people from Northeast India to adjust in Delhi.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779838

Horticulture Based Livelihood in Tripura: A Case Study
of Baramura-Deutamura Hill Dwellers

Article

By Vanlalrema Kuki

Traditionally shifting cultivation was once the major occupation of the tribes of Tripura. However with declining availability of land and consistent efforts of the government to reduce ‘jhuming’, alternative vocations like plantation, horticulture, animal husbandry, etc. are being pursued by many hill dwellers currently, with varying degrees of success. The argument in favour of horticulture cultivation is that the weather and climate in the state is conducive and these often being short duration crops fit well into the intensive cropping system providing favourable economic returns to the cultivators. The present study area was selected purposively from the Baramura-Deutamura village in Khowai district of Tripura. The paper examined that income returns from mature crops were highly significant towards ensuring sustainable rural livelihoods while income received from immature crops were insignificant for pursuing sustainability of tribals livelihood in the region perhaps it provides employment all round the year. The roles of intermediaries were learnt highly influencing local market thereby depriving the growers from getting full benefits out of selling.

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DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779782

Fertility Trends in North-East India

Article

By P. Thongkhanthang

Fertility has been declining in all the states with the pace of decline varying according to their level of fertility. It is evident from the data sources that the fertility rate in the region, on an average, has declined faster during NFHS-1 to NFHS2, but slower during NFHS-2 to NFHS-3, and the TFR in rural areas has declined at slower pace than the urban counterparts over the same period. Given the variations in fertility levels and slow pace in declining trend within the North-East, this study suggests that there are large pockets of the population where people have little motivation towards small family and/or have poor access to quality family planning services and modern contraceptives. This demographic problem cannot be addressed in isolation without paying equal attention to general improvement in social and economic conditions along with increasing affordable access to good quality reproductive health services for all. This article uses published data from Census of India, Sample Registration System and National Family Health Survey (NFHS), several time series are compiled: crude birth rates from 1970s and fertility rates from the 1990s.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779740

Human Rights and Land Acquisition: A Case Study of
North Joynagar Village in Tripura

Article

By Khumtiya Debbarma

North Joynagar village is one of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) villages under Jirania Sub-division in the district of West Tripura. At present this village is under the threat of land alienation of the indigenous peoples, though the land acquisition is completely justified under Eminent Domain & Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, despite the government, without free prior informed consent, had acquired the land for public purpose since 2011. This land was, however, not completely acquired by the Government but may be acquired completely and evict the indigenous people at any time. There had been many protests made by the village peoples of Joynagar for protecting their land against acquisition and they are not ready to part away with their land, and would oppose any attempt to grab their land. If their land is completely acquired for the said project, and people being evicted there would be irreparable misery to the people, affecting their socioeconomic, cultural and spiritual life. This paper also discussed the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 and to what extent it protests the interest of victims of land alienation. In this regard, The Land right of the indigenous peoples internationally was also studied so that international pressure can be created on the nation states to grant the rights to indigenous peoples over their land.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779684

Korean Media: A Catalyst of Acculturation to Korean
Culture in Manipur

Article

By Marchang Reimeingam

Consumption of Korean media among the young people in Manipur acted as a catalyst of acculturation to Korean culture, a blend of Western and Korean cultures, is a recent development. Adoption of Korean culture is widely prevalent irrespective of their household economic background, educational level, religion, occupation and ethnic group. These people really craze about the Korean culture ranging from food, hair style, make up, movies, clothing to language. However, many of them do not know even the country of origin, i.e. South Korea.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12779607

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