Interrogating Development
State, Displacement and Popular Resistance in North East India
1st Edition
Published on 30. October 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
180 pages
978-0-7619-3575-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book, the first in a series on the North-East, focuses on development-induced displacement of population in the region in the post-colonial period. Despite state-sponsored development initiatives, the North East still remains highly underdeveloped and politically disturbed. Various development projects initiated by the state led to massive displacement of population within the region, which has virtually gone unnoticed. The author has made use of extensive empirical data to document this massive displacement.
Recently, the Government of India had decided to construct 145 mega dams to tap the hydroelectric potential of the region in order to convert the North- East into India's power house. Fearing negative effects like massive displacement of population, environmental degradation and the erosion of the rich biodiversity of the region, people at the grassroots level have built up resistance movements against such mega projects. This is a significant shift in the politics of the region, which had been ethnocentric so far. Emergence of popular resistance outside the conventional party system, based on new political cleavages is strengthening the democratic consciousness of the people living in these areas, which marks a significant shift in the politics of the region.
Recently, the Government of India had decided to construct 145 mega dams to tap the hydroelectric potential of the region in order to convert the North- East into India's power house. Fearing negative effects like massive displacement of population, environmental degradation and the erosion of the rich biodiversity of the region, people at the grassroots level have built up resistance movements against such mega projects. This is a significant shift in the politics of the region, which had been ethnocentric so far. Emergence of popular resistance outside the conventional party system, based on new political cleavages is strengthening the democratic consciousness of the people living in these areas, which marks a significant shift in the politics of the region.
Reviews / Votes
Interrogating Development is simultaneously an impassioned critique of a development process that leaves so many victims in its wake, and a rigorously empirical account of the causes and magnitude of that victimisation. -- Journal of South Asian Development This book is an endeavour to comprehend the complex relationship between state-sponsored development projects and consequent massive displacement of population in North-East India in general and Assam in particular. In the absence of a detailed study till now this study is likely to be the first of its kind to attempt at understanding the problem in a detailed manner. -- Journal of Rural Development [This book is] an attempt to document the displacement caused by the various developmental and other projects in the North East, and the responses from the various quarters to such displacement. Hussain achieves this purpose quite well....recommended reading for all who are concerned about the costs of development, particularly government officials and politicians at all levels. -- Daily News Analysis The book is certainly a treasure for teachers and students in social work to learn about the displacement issues and popular resistance in North East India. It can be used in teaching subjects such as social problems, community organization and of marginalized populations, development issues and social planning. The book will prove invaluable for sociologists, environmentalists, political scientists, policy makers, development workers, NGOs, social activists, researchers and human rights workers. -- Perspectives in Social WorkMore details
Series
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Thousand Oaks
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Weight
211 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7619-3575-9 (9780761935759)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Monirul Hussain graduated from Cotton College, Guwahati and completed his MA from AMU, Aligarh. He did his M.Phil and doctoral research at the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and the post doctoral research at the University of Oxford. He was recipient of Commonwealth Fellowship in 1999 and South Asia Regional Fellowship (Senior) from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), New York in 2004. He has contributed papers in national and international journals on society and politics in North East India. His book The Assam Movement: Class, Ideology and Identity (1993) received critical appreciations from far and wide. This book is regarded as an indispensable source for understanding Assam's colonial and post-colonial society and politics. He co-edited two volumes on Religious Minorities in South Asia: Selected Essays on Postcolonial Situation (2001) in addition to another volume entitled Coming Out of Violence: Essays on Ethnicity, Conflict Resolution and Peace Process in North East India (2005).
Professor Hussain had been a Visiting Fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford and Visiting Professor at the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Currently, he is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Gauhati University. Besides teaching at MA level and guiding research at doctoral level, he is now engaged in research on ethnicity, human security and forced migration in North East India.
Professor Hussain had been a Visiting Fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford and Visiting Professor at the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Currently, he is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Gauhati University. Besides teaching at MA level and guiding research at doctoral level, he is now engaged in research on ethnicity, human security and forced migration in North East India.
Content
Introduction
Imposing Development: Introducing the Incomplete Dossier of Displacement
Hard Hitting Reality: Development-Induced Displacement of Population in Post-colonial Assam
Development, Dam and Displacement: Resistance from the Threatened
Conclusion: New Politics of Development: Interface Between the State and the People
Bibliography
Index
Imposing Development: Introducing the Incomplete Dossier of Displacement
Hard Hitting Reality: Development-Induced Displacement of Population in Post-colonial Assam
Development, Dam and Displacement: Resistance from the Threatened
Conclusion: New Politics of Development: Interface Between the State and the People
Bibliography
Index