India's neglected North East

In my many years of defence reporting i have observed that India's North east is seldom highlighted by mainstream media and political parties. so while the north east produces the best athletes in India but it is the "politically important states" which always remain in the news.

the case i want to highlight is that economic blockade which happened in one particular state in north east. the blockade was only marginally highlighted by mainstream media. so most people were not even aware of the blockade. Had such blockade happened in haryana or UP/Bihar the matter wd have remained in highlights 24/7 for months altogether.

Frankly speaking, for a common man India practically starts from Gujrat and ends at Kolkatta. period. wat lies east of kolkatta is conveniently forgotten. no wonder the insurgency level and feeling of alienation is very high. Most people are highly charged up about Kashmir but they dont have any knowledge of north east.

years of central neglect, corruption and insurgency (which is a result of neglect and corruption) had put North east in different league as compared to rest of India in economic progress. so while u have shining towers in bangalore and chennai, people still lack basic infrastrucure in north east.

most people i know in north east are fiercely patriotic. in fact more patriotic than me. i did have friendship with couple of girls from nagaland/arunachal/manipur/assam and found them to be extremly patriotic but sadded by inconsiderate attitude of rest of indians.

but there is hope, the govt is investing lot of money in north east and infrastrucure is improving slowly. several people from north east are joining armed forces and serving the nation which in itself is a welcome development. only recently i met a soldier in IAF from nagaland.

India's north east is a tourism heaven waiting to be explored. ministry of tourism is running several programms to improve tourism.

but wat is required is that we do our bit to know abt india's north east. wen we discuss india, we should start with Gujrat and end with Arunachal pradesh/nagaland. National integration requires effort and we all have to do our bit.

Thank you for opening this thread. This is a much needed topic.

Also, please don't take it personally, when you open threads, at least make sure the opening post and the title are written properly. So instead of writing 'india's neglected north east,' write 'India's neglected North East.'

mate ur suggestion is good. even i know this but sometimes in hurry, we ignore these basic aspects.

there is no denying the racism faced by people of the northeast ,even though they are people from our own country.

they are called -----as and -----is and are routinely looked upon as
' different ' because of their ' mongoloid ' physical characteristics.

more importantly their women are considered easy prey for satisfying ones lust .

in the cities of like delhi where they come as students , -----i girls are always considered ' easy '.

the father of this discrimination is no less an august personality than the first prime minister of india , mr jawaharlal nehru , who ,ever since the naga rebellion always considered the ' mongoloid ' races as unworthy to be trusted even while he was mollycoddling the muslims who had split india apart.

the -----as are considered good material for waiters in chinese restaurants where their ' chinese ' appearance comes in handy to give the restaurant a authentic ' chinese ' feel.

in a strange paradox of fate ,they are joined in these restaurants as waiters by the tibetians who have fled chinese oppression-- only to find themselves looked upon as 'chinese ' by the ignorant common indian.

the problem is compounded by the fact that the north east has been cut off from india due to the creation of bangladesh and is connected to india by a small corridor which carries a single railway and highway.

that too the railway is a single track railway , that is the coming and going trains are literally are on the same single track.

if two trains are coming on opposite directions , one train has to wait at a point where there is a temporary bifurcation on the bifurcated line and let the other pass.

of course if one train is delayed at a point ,all hell breaks loose as neither the coming and going trains can move.

no wonder the mumbai - guwahati express never comes and goes on time.....

the north east is sometimes referred to as india's far east .

It is wrong to say the rest of India are ignorant about NE. Manipur blockade might have been ignored by media as Manipur is Congress ruled, the mainstream media is known to concentrate on Gujarat and Modi. Never mind if hunger deaths take place in Orissa or farmer suicides go through the roof in Maharashtra.

One of the most popular cops in Bangalore was Mr HT Sangliana, an IPS official from Mizoram assigned to Karnataka cadre. A Kannada movie named named `Sangliana` was also made on him depicting the story of the super cop. Mr Sangliana is reported to have filed a case against his own wife for using his official car for buying vegetables from market. Mr Sangliana was for a long time Police Commissioner of Bangalore, after retirement he represented Bangalore North in Lok Sabha on BJP ticket in 2004. He fell out with BJP on Nuclear Deal and joined Congress. He was defeated by BJP candidate P.C.Mohan in the same constituency by 59,665 votes. Mr Sangliana is a Christian.

Isn't the entire route from New Jalpaiguri to Guwahati double track? I think it was, but then, it has been many years since I have been and I cannot recall correctly.

maybe you are right . but the tracks inside assam are certainly single track and this affects their connectivity to rest of india .

article in TOI---

TOP ARTICLE | Man In The Mirror - Times Of India

i wd agree with Ash doc's view on this subject. a common indian is often ignorant abt North East.

@ parijatala: its wrong to assume that rest of india knows abt North East. perhaps ur decision is based on the knowledge of members of this forum. but wat we have on this forum is a group consisting of knowledgable members with shared passion for defence and strategic affairs. we are and cannot hpe to be reperesentative of common indian man on this topic.

NEW DELHI: Citizens from the northeast became targets of what amounted to racial profiling on Wednesday , as cops stopped and questioned any person with "Tibetan features" in a bid to preempt protests during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit.

Reports of harassment came from markets, residential areas and streets. In some cases, citizens were stopped on the street and taken to the police station for questioning.

"Three of us were going to Hauz Khas when our auto was stopped near Humayun's Tomb. When we said we were from Manipur , the cops asked us to show our passports. I am an Indian living in Delhi for four years. Why should I carry my passport? I was made to feel unwelcome in my own country," said a 25-year-old woman who did not wish to be named.

Some employees at eateries in Khan Market were even taken to the police station. "Around a dozen people from north-eastern states who are employed in various eateries and shops in Khan Market were picked up for questioning. Most of them were released immediately after they provided their identification papers. Three girls who did not have any papers on them were taken to the police station, from where they were later released as their employers vouched for their credentials ," said Sanjeev Mehra, Khan Market association president .

Elderly men in auto rickshaws and cars were hauled away by cops. One woman, hailing from Nagaland and working in an eatery in Khan Market described how she managed to report to work. "I live in Majnu ka Tila but was stopped there. At first I managed to leave my house saying I wanted to buy vegetables. I was stopped again near Khan Market but I told the cops to do their duty and let me do mine. But now after the days' work, I am wondering how to go back home," said the 35-yearold .

"The BRICS summit has been accorded top security status . There is a very high threat from Tibetan elements and we are just trying to ensure that no Tibetan national comes to the venue and does an act that embarrasses the nation," said special CP (law and order) Dharmendra Kumar.

Kumar said 84 Tibetan activists were arrested in six hours from the Chinese president's route and the Parliament Street area. In such an atmosphere, Kumar said police had to question and verify the antecedents of a large number of people. " We are just trying to stop any potentially violent act," he said.

Source

i have posted a thread about India's neglected North East. this confirms the same.

on another note it is time we pay more attention to training of our police men. their standards are horrible.

i jus cant imagine wat those people must have felt in their heart wen he asked them for passport

They would have felt like the Jews of Germany during the holocaust. For people who are still delusional, "Yes, we are a police state."

What happened was wrong, but put yourself in the shoes of the cops who have to stop anyone from Tibet and going and burning him/herself. How do you know if someone from NE looking like a Tibetan is NOT a Tibetan.
But then we have never been good in PR or man man management skills esp out government departments to do it in a more polished manner.

They way Police Operate is just Wrong so does in other places..

This is not the way, If same thing happen in other community it may result in Media show-down..




Police and Paramilitary forces need modify there tactic when handling Civilians, Perhaps learn from Indian Army..