Conflict, State Intervention and Development Strategies: A Case of Nagaland in Particular, Northeast in General

Abstract

Nagaland has the oldest surviving armed movement in India, a conflict that has affected the Naga ethnic groups and peoples in its political neighbourhood, like the state of Manipur. This paper seeks to examine the conditions that have led to greater exposure to strife and consequently changed people’s lives and introduced new uncertainties in one of India’s remotest regions where identity politics is most pronounced. I propose to use data that demonstrates how security deployment in the region and development indices matched with fund inflows from New Delhi to lay out the scenario making vulnerabilities visible. The paper questions if the government sincerely pursues the resolution of conflict. Militarisation came to stay since the 1950s when the Naga armed movement was at a peak and continues to this day, defined by the continued imposition of the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) act. Conflict in Manipur is inextricably linked with the armed movement in Nagaland, and its people face similar and even worse, manifestations of a flawed development strategy imprisoned in security considerations. It seeks to examine the nature of a development strategy adopted by the state and its consequences. It is a development paradigm with a security strategy overlay that does not adequately address issues like conflict-inflicted psychological trauma to a population. In Assam, there was a repeated failure of government structures to either prevent or repair relationships among communities. Conflict between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and between Bodos and Adivasis has led to a disaster wherein people languished in refugee camps on land they called their own. The development strategy by the Government of India even after Nagaland became a full-fledged state in 1963 is still influenced by continued conflict despite relative peace after ceasefire agreements with armed groups. The results are manifested in Nagaland contributing less than 10% of the revenue of its annual central budgetary support from New Delhi. A sociopolitical climate and a form of federalism changed a traditional society with strong social structures in such a way that resulted in one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in India. The paper will examine the causes for failure of government in the sensitive eastern Nagaland. Indiscriminate funding over the decades resulted in the increased corruption and dubious links between local government (State structure) and armed groups (non-State structures); one often feeding off the other. This paper examines its impact.