Separatism in North East India

India is a country in South Asia. India is home to two major linguistic families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families. A large number of the inhabitants who speak Tibeto-Burman languages, lived at North East India. Hinduism and Christianity are the predominate religions in this region. This region had a population of 38.6 million in 2000. North-East India is racially, linguistically and culturally very distinct from the other states of India. This region consist of seven states (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura) and linked to the Indian mainland by a tenuous 21-kilometer wide "Siliguri Corridor"(Chicken's Neck). The reference Seven Sisters is symbolic of their relative isolation from mainstream Indian culture and consciousness.

Historically the north-east region was never a part of mainland India. Consequently, the struggles for self-determination took various forms as independence to greater autonomy. Tibeto Burman people in this region also explained as sub-humans to be kept in isolation, or as 'primitives' living in remote and backward regions who should be "civilized". Consequently, the official and popular perception of them is merely that of isolation in forest, tribal dialect, animism, primitive occupation, carnivorous diet, naked or semi-naked, nomadic habits, love, drink and dance. Thats why, there are some racial discrimination in India, such as harassment of Northeast people by police, public and the house owners. It talks of widespread discrimination against people of north eastern origin in Delhi. There are also economic discrimination against minorities here.

Today (October 30, 2008), Eleven(11) bomb blasts have taken place in Assam. The blasts took place on Ganeshguri, Fancy Bazaar, Dist court area, Dispur Road and Paan Bazaar. 2 blasts in lower assam, 4 blasts in guwahati. killing at least 33 people and wounding 200, police said. Local television channels showed people lying on the streets soaked in blood as police and civilians tried to help.No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb blasts. But, as we know Assam has been a focus of a separatist insurgency for decades. Separatist movements are also intensified in Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur. By the early 1980s, the whole region was gripped by large-scale violence. If the Nagas and the Mizos fought for a separate country and finally settled for a separate state within India, the smaller ethnicities such as the Bodos or the Hmars fight for autonomous homelands. There are around 30 separatist groups fighting for the causes of various ethnic groups in north-east India. It has now become routine for separatist rebel groups in the northeast to call for boycott of all important days in the Indian national calendar. Separatism in this region impact the socio-economic structure of the urban and rural life of the region.

The integration of Northeast region and the other states in India is a big challenge. Communication and contacts are the best integrators of societies.