“How can be mainstream the North East?” is a question often asked about the North East Region of India. The question reeks of a host of preconceived notions about the region. India is like a kaleidoscope made of its diversified arts, cultures, races, languages, religions, etc. In that sense the North-East is an integral part of India and doesn’t need any more mainstreaming than South India, Saurashtra or Punjab or Odisha would. However, the region needs integration to the mainstream is a popular notion.

A Perspective on Mainstreaming:

• The idea of India as a nation is enshrined in the Constitution which lays down political principles, framework for governance, powers of the government, rights and duties of all the citizens. Thus defined, we can safely assume that each state or region in the country is part of the Indian mainstream in varying degrees.
• For example, The North Eastern region which has a better literacy rate than many other regions of the country can be said to be more mainstreamed in that aspect whereas it may compare poorly in terms of infrastructure facilities like road and rail connectivity, power, industrial development, etc. The people of North East India are also perceived to be relatively alienated from the rest of the country in the socio-political spectrum.
• The fact that insurgency has affected all but one of the states doesn’t help in dispelling the notion. However, most of the people in North East are avid and proud citizens of India.

Migration Scenario

The last three decades have seen a remarkable growth of migration from the North East to different parts of the country mostly in search of higher education and job opportunities. This has enabled intermingling and interaction in a process that has thrown up a host of issues and puts to test long held notions on both sides.

Factors of Migration

• The Shukla Committee concisely pointed out that the region is confronted with four deficits, ‘a basic needs deficit, an infrastructural deficit, a resource deficit, and, most important, a two-way deficit of understanding with the rest of the country which compounds the others’.
• An intricate interplay of the first three deficits creates an atmosphere in the socio economic fabric of the region to provide a big push for migration. The main push factor has been the lack of quality educational infrastructure which forces parents to look for better educational avenues. Besides, the spectre of insurgency and socio political unrests that disturbed peace in the region vitiated the atmosphere.

Life of a Migrant

• Most students hail from small villages and towns with strong community bonding. Suddenly, he is left to fend for himself in a totally different environment and way of life. While trying to cope by seeking out people from similar backgrounds, they often end up ghettoizing themselves.
• Their different physical appearance and social mores also make them stand out and become vulnerable targets for social profiling and discrimination. Increasingly, case of abuse, molestation, rape, racial attack, and killing started surfacing in some cities like Delhi and Bengaluru. Reports of human trafficking from the North East also become a pressing concern. There was a risk for the ‘deficit of understanding’ to be widening over time rather than being bridged.

Safeguarding the Vulnerable Migrant

• The murder of Nido Tania, a 19 year old student from Arunachal Pradesh in Delhi in September 2014 roved to be watershed moment.
• Government of India set up the Bezbaruah Committee to look into concern of the persons hailing from the North-Eastern states who are living in different part of the country, especially the Metropolitan areas, and to suggest suitable remedial measures which could be taken by the
  Government.
• Welfare Committee formed in many cities across the country on the basis of the committee’s recommendations are today functioning as s channel of communication as they jointly work with local authorities in dealing with issues concerning migrants from the North East.
• Such safeguard mechanisms are, by themselves, unlikely to completely stop crimes against migrants but it will act as a deterrent to potential lawbreakers.
• Secondly, it also generates awareness about the underlying issues and the necessity for concerted efforts to narrow the two-way deficit of understanding. Increasing intermingling and interaction between people groups can aid in bridging gaps if it is allowed to happen within a framework with adequate safeguards.
• Involvement of social organisation and change imperative, with the government machinery and law enforcement agencies acting as facilitators.

The Way Forward

• Setting up of Department of North Eastern Region and the North Eastern Council by Government of India has been instrumental in forging a concerted effort to look into developmental issues of the North East. The current focus of the government to upgrade infrastructure in the region through various projects for improvement of roads, rail, and inland waterways and air connectivity and
  communication network is a welcome change.
• Besides, Government is implementing various schemes for development, upgradation and promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises in the region. The Look East policy of the government has a huge potential to transform the development landscape by providing the growth engine and ensure that the states fully partake as growth centres and not merely participate as a conduit for flow of trade from other parts of the country