Topic/
Cultural Diversity in the North East of India and How it is Being Negotiated in an Increasing Fragmented World

Concept Note/
According to reports, there are at least 120 different terrorist outfits (all working from somewhere between India and Myanmar), from the seven states of North East India (Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh). All the outfits have similar goals; they want geographical independent or political self-rule for the ethnic communities they represent.

In an increasingly fragmented world, where Hindus are fighting for their supremacy and Muslims are fighting for theirs, the fight for the rights of an ethnic community sounds valid. The question, however, is whether these demands are feasible.

There are at least 100 different communities in these seven north eastern states, with their own languages and cultures, with their own gods and their own wines and their own clothes. Yet, for centuries, they have lived together, sharing the same geography. Politically, it may not have been an easy coexistence, yet it has been achieved.

The current paper attempt to examine this diversity, how it flourished, and why, now, these communities are clamouring for political isolation.