Seminar on New Issues in Studies in Forced Migration
(Guwahati, 12-13 February 2010)

There has been some amount of academic work on forced migration in the East and Northeast, though insufficient. There have been some reflections on the need for appropriate policies for the protection of the rights of the victims of forced migration. We can particularly mention the following issues:

• Issue of border and boundary conflict, security, and migration (this includes the refugee problems also);

• The strong presence of internally displaced persons in the region due to various conflicts; the internally displaced persons are present in large numbers owing to several development projects also.

• In recent years displacement has occurred due to natural disasters and environmental degradation leading to resource conflicts.

The proposed workshop will take a stock of the phenomena of forced migration and the work done on them. It is important to note at the outset that the North East is neither homogenous nor an even region as it is assumed to be in the rest of India. It is a highly heterogeneous and uneven region. Communication is still difficult; freedom of movement to a large part of the region has been restricted by the state and non-state actors. In such a situation, it is an arduous task to prepare a status report on the situation of displacement in the entire region. Perhaps the best way to present it would be to deal with each situation individually with equal importance given to each of all the three categories of the displaced and draw some broad conclusions about the region. Ethnic conflicts became endemic in postcolonial North East India. Here, ethnic conflict includes the conflict between the state and ethnic insurgent groups and inter ethnic and intra ethnic conflicts. Development projects also are very often linked with the problem of displacement. The development projects of the North East region have directly affected the poor and the powerless indigenous population groups both in the hills and plains. Absence of adequate resettlement and rehabilitation policy for the displaced has led to further pauperization,

In this context we cannot overlook eastern India in studying the north east. The east, serving as the pathway to the north east for the rest of India, giving rise to the ‘mainland’ debate, and often providing the lenses to see the north east too, has had its own peculiarities. There lingers a memory of injustice and lack of official accountability and it defines relations between the parallel power structures. Peace has therefore been elusive. Factors leading to involuntary migration of people from this part have also been numerous. Forced displacement has given birth to ethnic conflicts and relations have soured between the north east and the east with the former blaming the latter many a time for creating trouble in their land. Resource distribution has been a pivotal concern and the conflicts and problems have been manifest across social categories like gender, ethnicity and governance. There have been numerous grassroots level political movements in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal that have raised questions of power, justice, resource distribution, development and public participation. Environment has also been a major concern in the east and north east of India. There have been environmental disasters like the Aila as well as slow but steady degradation of habitat due to population influx and developmental projects. People fled their homes and land, leaving behind life and dignity. There have been cries for relief and the state often has failed to deliver in times of need. While some of the issues mentioned here have already received attention from social scientists, there are other constitutional issues, such as constitutional and legal relating to protection, immigration, citizenship laws, so much so that the entire juridical discourse needs to be examined in this context. Such an examination calls for philosophical, sociological, legal and political tools of analysis.

The proposed workshop will begin with a panel discussion on media and issues of forced migration. In this region as elsewhere in the country media has acted as an important factor in bringing to light the phenomenon of displacement representation and misrepresentation also.  The panel will throw some light on evolving public discussion on it. The theme of the panel discussion will be on “media and victims’ right to communicate”.

The structure of the proposed workshop will be as follows:

• Opening panel discussion on media and forced migration;

• Stock taking on existing research on forced migration with emphasis on East and Northeast;

• The phenomenon on conflict and development induced displacement;

• The question of border and trans-border flows;

• The concept of disaster and policies of disaster management

• The 2-day workshop will be divided into 6 sessions (three sessions each day – one panel session and 5 other sessions on 5 sub-themes mentioned above)