National Webinar on 'POLITICS OF IDENTITY AND NATIONALITY IN NORTH EAST INDIA'

The National Webinar on Politics of Ethnicity and Nationality was held on the 12^th of July 2020 and for that purpose, three resource persons were invited from different parts of the state as well as beyond the state also. It was a joint collaboration with the department of Political Science of our institute.  The first resource person was Professor Meeta Deka, former head of the department of History, at Gauhati University had been expertise in the field of social movements, peasant struggles, gender studies and border communities.  Prof. Deka has taught at St.Anthonys College ,Shillong for 12 years and she has been in the department of History,Gauhati University since 1997 . She is the author of two books ‘Students Movements in Assam’ (Vikas Publications , New Delhi -1996)  and ‘Women and Social Change : Assam and Beyond’ is published by the Sage, New Delhi-2013 .Prof.Deka’s contributions to the field of research includes 15 Ph.D and three M.Phil scholars till date .She was President of the Oral History Association of India ,Bengaluru (2016-17). Prof.Deka has delivered lectures in the department of Political Science and International Relations , University of San Diego ,United States of America 2011, at the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa , University of Witwatersand ,Johannesburg ,2018 as well as at universities and colleges of Bangalore , Mumbai , Sikkim ,Hyderabad and the North East . Prof. Deka had observed the topic ‘Politics of Identity and Nationality in the North East India’ particularly from the historical genesis of the problem which had been creating troubles and ill conceived notion of identity as the departure from the hegemonic mainstream political society. 

Another speaker for the webinar was Dr.Rupam Saikia ,Director of the College Development Council , Dibrugarh University as well as the Chairperson , Centre for Juridical Studies ,Dibrugarh University . In his academic career he has earned brilliant name particularly in the M.A. and LLB examinations. He has done his doctoral research in the field of international law and it was studied from the interdisciplinary perspectives .  Dr.Saikia has the twenty years experience in the  academic and administrative responsibilities and he is now the executive member of the selection  committee of the different central institutions particularly the IIT Guwahati .Dr .Saikia elaborately emphasized on the complexities of naming north east as the homogenous entity and which is quite heterogeneous in respect of language , culture ,beliefs and since the struggle for freedom the states of the north east has been continuing their efforts to eke out a separate identity amidst the federal structure as constituted by the 1940s. The evolution of the constitution of India also meant the evolution of the reservation of the special status for the people of the north east particularly the different identities of the tribes (both the hills and the plains) .In the context of the scheduled status under the constitution of India ,the role of Gopinath Bordoloi was prominent whose efforts did led to the sixth schedule  which was included in the Articles 244(2)and 275(1).Through the sixth schedule district councils and regional councils were decided to be formed in order to represent the interests of the scheduled tribes .Dr.B.R.Ambedkar played a significant role in securing the rights to the tribal  groups of the north east. The identity of the state had been secured through the decision of the provincial congress committee to abstain from joining in the grouping plan as formed through the Cabinet Mission . In the post –independence phase of politics ,the struggle for different ethnic communities to get their autonomy within the radius of the Indian constitution also reflects the strength of the constitution and its democratic spirit of consensus.

The third speaker was Dr. Gorky Chakraborty of the Institute of Development Studies , Kolkata ,Calcutta University .He has the wide experience in the fields of north east India’s studies and in different capacities prior to his involvement in the IDSK he contributed to the research in the specific subject of the North East. Dr.Chakraborty tried to see the problem of the ethnicity and identity through the aspect of the heterogeneity .The aspect of heterogeneous is important in order to understand the varied conditions of living and culture of the people and how those have contributed to the process of acculturation . The material formation as well as the evolution of the society got reflected through the people’s consciousness regarding the problems they have been facing in their everyday lives .