1st Edition
Autonomy and Democratic Governance in Northeast India
This volume studies the various forms of ethnic autonomy envisioned within and outside the purview of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It explores the role of the British Indian administration and the Constituent Assembly of India in the introduction and inclusion of the schedule and the special provisions granted under it. Drawing on case studies from the states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Sikkim in Northeast India and Darjeeling in West Bengal, it examines whether the practice of granting autonomy has been able to fulfil the political aspirations of the ethnic communities and how far autonomy settles or eases conflict. It also discusses sub-state nationalism and if it can be accommodated within autonomy, and studies the views of the central government and state governments towards such autonomy.
An important contribution towards understanding India’s federal structure, the volume will be indispensable to students and researchers of politics, democracy, Indian Constitution, law, self-governance, political theory and South Asian studies.
Section I: Understanding Autonomy
1. The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India: Emergence and Development
Jangkhongam Doungel
2. Revisiting Sixth Schedule and Demand for Separate States in Northeast India: A Paradox of Political Autonomy
Mayengbam Nandakishwor Singh
3. State within a State: Analysing the Issues and Challenges of Autonomous Councils
Ashutosh Tripathi and Gautam Kumar
Section II: Autonomy and Electoral Politics
4. Contextualising Democratic Governance in Bodoland: Changes and Challenges
Ankur Jyoti Bhuyan, Tarun Gogoi and Partha Pratim Borah
5. Challenging Predicaments of Electoral Politics of an Autonomous District Council:
The case of Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), Assam
Nironjoy Islary
6. The Working of the Autonomous District Councils in Manipur in Theory and Practice
Thangkhanlal Ngaihte
Section III: Traditional Institutions, Autonomy Movement and Cooperatives
7. Traditional Institutions, State Recognition and Democracy in Sikkim: Reconciling Tradition with Modernity
Durga Prasad Chhetri
8. Subject and Citizen: The Autonomy Question and Dzumsa in Sikkim
Sunil Pradhan
9. The Crisis within: Can the Autonomous District Councils survive in Meghalaya?
Dhiraj Kumar Borkotoky
10. Autonomy Movements of Bodos and Chutias of Assam: A Comparative Study
Pallabi Deka and Tribedi Chutia
11. The Trajectory from Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council to Gorkhaland Territorial Administration: A Fragile Administrative Autonomy in Darjeeling
Kabindra Sharma, Sanghamitra Choudhury and Debojyoti Das
12. Understanding Autonomy Movement of the Misings in Assam
Bhaskar Pegu
13. Autonomy and Democratisation through Cooperatives: Change from Within
Aloke N. Prabhu
Biography
M. Amarjeet Singh is Professor and Honorary Director at the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, where he teaches courses on social conflict, and society and politics of India’s Northeast. His research interests include conflict studies, identity politics and migration studies. He has worked at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, and the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.
