Give India's Northeast and borderlands their rightful place in the national story |
This is the silver jubilee year of the creation of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER). Then-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee established it to deal with the apathy and ignorance towards Northeast India. Sadly, in the decade after that, this ministry became a victim of government apathy. Thankfully, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a 152 per cent increase in the ministry’s budget allocation, from Rs 2,332 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 5,892 crore in 2023-24.
However, the development of any region is also linked to aspects such as recognising the identity of the people. This is true not just for people from the Northeast but also for other border areas. Efforts are needed on the societal front because measures taken by governments will always have limitations. People from border areas, including the Northeast, continue to face much ignorance and insensitivity. To correct that, we need to transform the DONER Ministry into the OWNER Ministry, “Our Wonderful North East Region”. Recent incidents, such as racial abuse and threats being hurled at young women from Arunachal Pradesh in Delhi, are a stark reminder of the responsibility of all our compatriots in this respect.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has done well in stating that “There is absolutely no place for hatred, discrimination, intimidation or racial abuse in Delhi,” adding that “such behaviour will not be tolerated”. The broader solution is beyond the domain of law and order. Mere legal measures cannot bring about true national integration. What is needed is the cultivation of a deeper understanding of the people of the Northeast. A well-thought-out policy backed by a plan of action can help fill the knowledge gap. The idea of “one people” demands shared identity and shared ethos.
For the Northeast as well as border areas like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman-Nicobar and Lakshadweep, we need a comprehensive policy and plan to ensure the emotional integration of the people. Such efforts need to be oriented towards the next generation. Here is an agenda for that:
Revise school textbooks to have lessons on border areas: Directives could be issued to all states to ensure that in classes V to X, students have at least one lesson pertaining to the Northeast — these should cover History, Geography, Social Studies, and English, as well as the regional language.
Establish university departments of border area studies, on the lines of Latin American Studies, African Studies, and Eurasian Studies departments. This will also boost knowledge creation in an academic sense. Border area studies could be a mandatory subject for students appearing for competitive examinations of the UPSC.
Mandatory service in border regions for IAS/ IPS : Spending at least two years in any of the border areas should be made mandatory for all IAS/IPS officers from other states. This will provide them an opportunity for experiential learning about these regions.
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Mandatory sister-school/college linkage: School-level learning leaves a deep impact on people’s lives. Let one school from every district in non-border areas enter into a sister-institution relationship with a school from a border area. Let the two then collaborate on a variety of projects.
Celebrating freedom fighters and other heroes from border areas: Our border areas, especially from the Northeast, have produced many heroes who were freedom fighters, litterateurs, artists and thinkers. From Lachit Borphukan to Bhupen Hazarika, from freedom fighters like Moji Riba of Arunachal Pradesh and Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi of Assam to Rani Gaidinliu of Nagaland, there are many whose biographies could inspire people from all parts of the country. Celebrating anniversaries of such heroes nationally would help weave a common national ethos.
The writer is a national executive committee member of the BJP