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Seminar on New Issues in Studies
in Forced Migration
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)
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