Northeast India

To prevent the recurring violence in Bodo areas, establish a land record system, improve the presence of both the state civil administration and the law enforcement agencies, and collate credible data on the flow of migrants.

• Namrata Goswami
• December 29, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The Centre must reiterate its commitment to uphold the Constitutional provisions enshrined in Article 371, expand the scope of the Sixth Schedule, and empower the autonomous council institutions in the North-East.

• Gautam Sen
• December 17, 2014
• IDSA Comments

State and non-state elements in India’s neighbourhood have been supporting insurgency in the North-East to weaken the Indian state. In the 1960s and 1970s, insurgents from the region, particularly the Naga rebels, had received moral and material support from China. Moreover, elements in Pakistan and Bangladesh too have been aiding North-East Indian insurgents from time to time.

• Sushil Kumar Sharma
• October 2014
• Journal of Defence Studies

Widespread problems have made the operating environment ‘dysfunctional and inefficient’. Some of this is on account of inscrutable issues like ‘integration of the services with the MoD’ or ‘civil-military relations’ but, in large part, the immediate problem lies with MoD’s inability to resolve more mundane issues.

• Rupak Bhattacharjee
• October 14, 2014
• IDSA Comments

These repeated incidents of border trouble and deaths bring into sharp focus the lack of serious border law enforcement. It is, therefore, critical that we do four important policy interventions fast.

• Namrata Goswami
• August 21, 2014
• IDSA Comments

If the larger goal is to understand the challenges of the North East, it would require a strong national narrative which reconciles its many identities and adds to the peace process. Till development in the North East is achieved the stereotypes will continue to gain traction in policy approaches.

• Shruti Pandalai
• May 16, 2014
• IDSA Comments

It is imperative that the government immigration agencies generate reliable verified data on the number of people coming in from Bangladesh into Assam. It is also the government’s constitutional obligation to maintain the veracity of electoral rolls listing only citizens with the right to vote.

• Namrata Goswami
• May 09, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The verdict exposes a conspiracy to destabilise India’s restive North Eastern region. According to the charge-sheet, all the arms and ammunition were manufactured by Chinese firm NORINCO and the funds had been procured from Pakistan. Contrary to the BNP policy of promoting cross-border terrorism, the current Awami League (AL) government has demonstrated its zero-tolerance towards militancy through the recent verdict.

• Rupak Bhattacharjee
• April 03, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Myanmar and India have followed separate political paths only to find it converging in recent times. Myanmar’s other neighbour China has had a much larger footprint in the country. India has to calibrate its engagement with Myanmar to not just effectively implement its Look East policy but also manage the contiguous border regions of Northeast India given the ground realities.

• Namrata Goswami
• March 18, 2014
• Issue Brief

The recent violent incidents carried out by the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) in the sensitive eastern and north-eastern parts India have serious security implications. Conscious intervention of the centre in concert with the state governments of West Bengal and Assam and even Sikkim, as well as with cooperation of the Bhutan government is required at the earliest.

• Gautam Sen
• February 28, 2014
• IDSA Comments