A Resurgent Northeast: Narratives of Change

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A Resurgent Northeast: Narratives of Change portrays a picture of transformational change sweeping across the remotest and least known corner of India. Geographically distant and ethnically distinct from the rest of the country, the people of this frontier land faced monumental neglect from the capital for nearly seven decades as a result of Nehru's approach of minimal governmental intervention in this region. But this has changed over the last decade. Indifference has given way to active engagement. Northeast India is brimming with renewed hope.

Drawing upon his experiences as a policymaker and administrator in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, Ashish Kundra chronicles the journey of the people of the Northeast as they emerge from the long shadow of strife. The book strikes a personal chord through conversations that capture the pulse of a new Northeast.

Ashish Kundra is an Indian Administrative Service Officer of the 1996 batch from the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territory cadre. Over the last twenty-six years, he has served in various leadership roles in the governments of Chandigarh, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Daman, Dadra Nagar Haveli and New Delhi. He has also worked with the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry as his Private Secretary. Currently, he is working with the Delhi government as Principal Secretary, Transport, and is driving the transition to electric mobility in the national capital. He served in the Northeast for eight years, which was the source of inspiration for this book. An electronics engineer by training from IIT-BHU, Ashish also writes opinion pieces in national dailies on Northeast India.

A COUPLE OF years ago, Ashish Kundra brought up the subject of writing a book on Northeast India. By then, he had finished three stints as a civil servant in the region-two in Mizoram and one in Arunachal Pradesh. Unlike most officers who work in these parts, he demonstrated a genuine affection and empathy for our people. His understanding of the complexity, diversity and challenges of this part of India was not that of an armchair bureaucrat, but someone who travelled to the remotest corners of the state. I encouraged Ashish to write this book, which will serve as an inspiration for other civil servants who get posted in this region-by choice or by chance. A Resurgent Northeast: Narratives of Change makes for a brilliant read. It is as much a personal narration by an officer, as it is a beautiful prose of the unfolding dynamics of change.

For most part of independent India's existence, its Northeast has lived in the shadows of the mainland. Geographical isolation, compounded by a deep emotional chasm, left our people alienated from the rest of India. My late father, a former chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, would often share his angst at the apathy and political neglect handed down by successive regimes in the Central government. The stepmotherly treatment left a whole generation of Northeasterners scarred. Decades of violence in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland created fissures, which took time to heal. The Northeast also faced the brunt of the wars with Bangladesh and China. In fact, Arunachal Pradesh was the theatre of the 1962 war with China. It is only now that we are emerging out of the dark corner that defined our existence. This book, therefore, comes at an opportune time.

Winds of change have swept the mountains and valleys of the cight states that make up this region. Peace prevails in most parts. The last decade has been a transformational period. For the first time, we see a genuine effort by the Central government to bridge the development deficit. During his address at the golden jubilee of North Eastern Council this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the eight states 'Ashta Lakshmi', while spelling out his vision of an eightfold path for their development. Massive doses of infrastructure investments are visible in tangible gains. The quality of this infrastructure-roads, bridges and airports are comparable now with the best examples in the rest of India. Stalled hydropower projects have gathered momentum and are firmly on track of implementation. Aspirational youth are no longer reticent and are buzzing with a new spirit of enterprise. Connectivity has opened new opportunities for eco-tourism and agri-economy. This is a story deserves to be shared with the rest of the world.

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ chose his Nobel Prize acceptance I speech to make a statement before the world. Standing before a global audience, he mocked the Western construct that led to 'The solitude of Latin America'. He argued that,

It is only natural that they insist on measuring us with the yardstick that they use for themselves, forgetting that the ravages of life are not the same for all, and that the quest for identity is just as arduous and bloody as it was for them. The interpretation of our reality through patterns not our own serves only to make us even more unknown, ever less free, ever more solitary.

Marquez's impassioned speech shone the light on a flawed European perception of Latin American reality. Had he been born in India's Northeast, his speech would have followed a similar script, except that he would have pointed a finger at mainland India.

The idea of this book germinated in my head from a dismal self- acknowledgement of my ignorance about the most beautiful part of our country. Twenty years ago, a civil service quirk landed me in Mizoram. Much younger and far less travelled then, for me it was nothing short of a cultural shock. In the crowded Bara Bazaar of Aizawl, I discovered a new reality. Apart from the evident dissimilarity in physical appearances, an air of distinctiveness was palpable. Women dominated the marketplace and even the usually staid civil secretariat wore a feminine look. The egalitarian society stood out in sharp contrast to the class divide, which I was so accustomed to in north India. Drivers, maids, cooks ate at the same table as their wealthy employers. People changed roles seamlessly. A chief minister listening respectfully to the sermon of a church elder on Sunday could be the elder's boss on Monday. The sense of community in Mizoram has no parallel in the mainland. All Mizos, young and old, are members of the all-powerful Young Mizo Association (YMA). which serves as the glue which binds their society. In joy and sorrow, in sickness and health, in victory and defeat, the community rallies behind the individual. Politeness is a highly valued cultural trait. unlike the more familiar Punjabi rambunctiousness. Along the highway, one would find shops without shopkeepers. Neatly packed vegetable bundles with prices affixed on top were left unattended for the convenience of passers-by. This cultural contrast sparked a curiosity in my mind, overlying the burden of guilt of ignorance. I also sensed a mistrust, bordering on disdain, for the people of the plains. The reasons behind that mistrust lies buried in the pages sof their lived history. A generation of Mizos had faced the brunt of repression at the hands of the Indian Army, deployed to quell an insurgent movement. Grouping of villages along the roadside to cut off supply lines to insurgents was deployed as a conscious military strategy. A sense of loss and being uprooted from their homes lingers in the minds of Mizo people.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages