INDIA#S NORTH-EAST

In many senses Indias Northeast has been an enigma to the rest of the country. Beginning with the earliest challenge of the nationbuilding process in India this highly diverse and multicultural region has through its multiple identity movements and militant separatism thrown up several major issues which have resulted in redrawing the parameters of the Indian nationstate and helped to redefine the idea of nationalism itself. This selection of essayscommentaries written over some three decades analyze the complex processes of the nationstates engagement with the demands for autonomyindependence raised by the small nationalities of the northeastern region but also focuses on the contradictions and new equations that have been emerging both within these movements and in the States response to them. The factors behind the rise of ethnic nationalist assertions the role of civil society the rise of exclusivist politics and the question of citizens rights are other issues that figure prominently in the discussions.