Global Governance and Indias North-East
This book maps the convergence of governance and connectivity within Asia established through the spatial dynamics of trade, capital, conflict, borders and mobility. It situates Indian trade and governance policies within a broader Asian and global context.
Focussing on Indias North-East, in particular on Indias Look and Act East Policy, the volume underscores how logistical governance in the region can bring economic and political transformations. It explores the projected development of the North-East into a gateway of transformative cultural interaction among people, just as the Silk Road became a conduit for Buddhism to travel along with musical instruments and tea.
Comprehensive and topical, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of political studies, international relations, governance studies, development studies, international trade and economics and for think tanks working on South and Southeast Asia.
Ranabir Samaddar belongs to the critical school of thinking and is considered as one of the foremost theorists in the field of forced migration studies. He has worked extensively on issues of forced migration, the theory and practices of dialogue, nationalism and post-colonial statehood in South Asia and new regimes of technological restructuring and labour control. He is currently the Distinguished Chair in Migration and Forced Migration Studies, Calcutta Research Group.
Anita Sengupta is an area studies specialist engaged with the study of the Eurasian region. Her areas of interest include issues of identity politics, migration, gender, borders, critical geopolitics and logistics. She is a regular commentator on debates on Asian affairs. She has been Director, Calcutta Research Group and is currently Director, Asia in Global Affairs Kolkata.
Global Governance and Indias North-East
Logistics, Infrastructure and Society
Edited by
Ranabir Samaddar and Anita Sengupta
First published 2019
by Routledge
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2019 selection and editorial matter, Ranabir Samaddar and Anita Sengupta; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Ranabir Samaddar and Anita Sengupta to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-1-138-34270-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28614-8 (ebk)
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Contents
RANABIR SAMADDAR AND ANITA SENGUPTA
I
Imagining spaces through mobility
PRIYA SINGH
ANITA SENGUPTA
IMAN MITRA
II
Geopolitics, logistical hubs and connectivity
SUBIR BHAUMIK
IMAN MITRA AND MITHILESH KUMAR
III
Governing connectivity: logistics, infrastructure and society in the North-East
RANABIR SAMADDAR AND SNEHASHISH MITRA
SOMA GHOSAL AND SNEHASHISH MITRA
PAULA BANERJEE AND SUCHARITA SENGUPTA
SUCHARITA SENGUPTA AND SAMIR K. PURKAYASTHA
This volume is the culmination of a three-year research project on A Social Mapping of Infrastructure, Logistics and Indias Look East Policy that was conducted by the Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. Calcutta Research Group expresses its gratitude to Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and particularly to Stefan Mentschel for supporting the project. He along with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung team in Delhi ensured research support over the three years that has resulted in the timely completion and publication of this volume. Research on the ten themes, on which this volume has been based, was done by Iman Mitra, Mithilesh Kumar, Paula Banerjee, Priya Singh, Samir K. Purkayastha, Snehashish Mitra, Soma Ghoshal, Subir Bhaumik and Sucharita Sengupta. The editors wish to thank them for their contributions and timely submission.
A large research collective has been part of the project and has reviewed and commented on the research. The research has been enriched by the insightful comments of Akum Longachari, Anandaroop Sen, Anjan Chakraborty, Anup Shekar Chakraborty, Arpita Basu Roy, Arup Sen, Atig Ghosh, Atul Mishra, Bishnu Mahapatra, Byasdeb Dasgupta, Debarati Bagchi, Dilshaad Hossain, Dolly Kikon, Gopal Krishna, Gurudas Das, Hari Vasudevan, Ishita Dey, K. M. Parivelan, Lipi Ghosh, Madhuresh Kumar, Manish Jha, Meghna Guhathakurta, Monirul Hussain, Mouleshri Vyas, Pradip Phanjoubam, Raj Kumar Kothari, Rakhee Bhattacharya, Rishi Jha, Ritajyoti Bandhopadhyay, Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Sanjay Barbora, Sanjay Chaturvedi, Sebak Jena, Sharmista Banerjee, Sibaji Pratim Basu, Sujata Ashwarya, Suratha Kumar Malik, Swaran Singh, Swatilekha Bhattacharya, Tongam Rina and Vijayalaksmi Brara.
Special lectures on the theme were delivered by C. Raja Mohan, Nimmi Kurian, S. Akbar Zaidi, Kanak Mani Dixit, Brett Neilson and Nelli Kampouri. We thank them for enhancing the academic content of the project and deepening our understanding of logistics, infrastructure and governance.
The editors wish to thank the staff, researchers and members of Calcutta Research Group for their support and Shatabdi Das for assisting with the editorial work.
They also wish to thank Routledge and the anonymous reviewers from Routledge for their constructive comments.
Paula Banerjee is Vice Chancellor of the Sanskrit College and University and former Director of the Calcutta Research Group. As part of her work on borders and women, she has authored numerous papers on women in conflict situations in North-East India. She has published extensively on issues of gender, forced migration and peace politics.
Subir Bhaumik is a veteran BBC journalist and author on Indias North-East. He is a former Queen Elizabeth House Fellow of Oxford University, Fellow at East-West Center in Washington and Eurasian Fellow at Frankfurt University.
Soma Ghosal is assistant professor in Political Science at SRSVM Kamarpukur Hooghly. Her areas of interest are the strategic and political dynamics of the North-East of India and the bordering areas of Myanmar, keeping in view the greater vision of holistic development of the region.
Mithilesh Kumar is an assistant professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Patna.
Iman Mitra teaches history at Shiv Nadar University, New Delhi. He has edited the anthology
