Strategy for Northeast India: Post Independence Scenario

With the adoption of Five Year planning in post-Independence India, a new era set in to develop the ‘weaker sections’ of the people of the country by emphasizing education, community development and tribal upliftment. This became forceful in 1957 with Nehru's ground-breaking idea of panchsheel, where he spoke about tribal protection encompassing ethno-cultural preservation, land rights, equality and freedom. Ever since, the Indian government has been trying to bring the marginalized sections of society into the mainstream by initiating various tribal development plans and programmes, and also through its ‘reservations’ policy, which marks steps towards ‘positive discriminations’. Through such positive discrimination, certain number of places are reserved for scheduled tribes in public services and in higher education. Governments at both the state and the central levels in India have special Tribal Sub Plan programmes which inject substantial financial resources into tribal upliftment. In this regard, in Northeast India, Government policies were oriented towards the preservation of its rich ethno-cultural identity while introducing modern economic mechanisms for development.