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ABSTRACT
Along with military expeditions and social and anthropological surveys, road-building projects were prominent strategies of the British in India when it came to dealing with tribes and territorialization of the frontier regions. Roads for territorial expansion and resource extraction were the core agenda of the colonial project in Northeast India. The post-colonial Indian state on the other hand built roads in the region for securing the borders, promoting national integration, and linking external markets. This article posits that road building has always been an act of power, which has at different times been aimed at smoothening relationships, securing borders, (dis)connecting people, enabling trade, creating spaces of contestation, or diluting boundaries between varied ethnic groups. The article analyzed the colonial state-making project through road construction and linked to the contemporary Indian state approach to infrastructure development in tribal-dominated areas of Northeast India.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank anonymous reviewer for her/his insightful comment on my draft. I express my sincere thanks to Prof. Bodhi SR, Prof. Ajantha Subramanain, Prof. Sai Balakrishnan, Amy, and Andrew Lathuipou for insightful discussion and commenting on my earlier draft. My heartfelt gratitude to Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University and Arvind Raghunathan and Sribala Subramanian for the post-doctoral fellowship.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Retrieved from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/pm-inaugurates-countrys-longest-river-bridge/article9713200.ece (accessed on 27 October 2017).
2. Ibid.
3. L.I. Lenin, Eight All-Russia Congress of Soviets Part II: Report on the Work of the Council of People’s Commissars, 22 December 1920. Retrieved from
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/8thcong/ch02.htm (accessed on 3 October 2017).
4. Reeves, Border Work.
5. Navaro-Yashin, Faces of the State.
6. Uribe, Frontier Road.
7. Haokip, ‘On Ethnicity and Development,’ 218.
8. Scott, Seeing Like a State.
9. Baruah, Confronting Constructionism.
10. Padel, ‘Adivasis Economies May Be the only Hope for India’s Future.’
11. Hutton, The Angami Nagas; Mills, Lhotas Nagas; Furer-Haimendorf, The Naked Nagas.
12. Census 1921.
13. Census 1931.
14. Ghurye, The Scheduled Tribes.
15. Xaxa, ‘Tribes as Indigenous People of India.’
16. For details, see Xaxa. State, Society and Tribes.
17. See note no. 15, 1524.
18. Xaxa, ‘Tribes and Indian National Identity.’
19. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed.
20. Harvey and Knox, ‘Otherwise Engaged,’ 80.
21. Harvey and Knox, Roads: An Anthropology of Infrastructure and Expertise. 4.
22. Dalakoglou and Harvey, ‘Roads and Anthropology,’ 461.
23. Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics; Barry, Technological Zones; Sloterdjic, Terror from Air; Deleuze, ‘Postscript on the Societies of Control.’
24. Cited in Larkin, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure.
25. Thévenot 2002.
26. For a detailed discussion of hill peoples in Southeast Asia, see Scott, Seeing Like a State.
27. Roy-Burman, Demographic and Socio-Economic Profile of the Hill Areas of North East India.
28. Béteille, ‘The Concept of Tribes with Special Reference to India.’
29. Hasnu, ‘Colonial Road Construction in Northeast India c. 1824–1891.’
30. Inoue, Integration of the North East.
31. Xaxa, ‘Colonial Capitalism and Underdevelopment in North Bengal.’
32. Guite, ‘Against State, Against History.’
33. For details, see the expedition reports/diaries of Lt. Vincent (Citation1949), Peal and Brodies (Citation1853), Moffatt (Citation1853), Capt. Butler (Citation1855), Lewin and Edgar (Citation1850), Woodthorpe (Citation1873), Reid (Citation1976), Johnstone (Citation1896), and Shakespear (Citation1912), among others.
34. Wilcox, Memoir of a Survey of Assam and the Neighbouring Countries, executed in 1825–26–27–28, 27.
35. See note no. 32, 9.
36. I shall discuss the aspect of political highways in the later part of the article.
37. See note no. 16, emphasis added.
38. Dzuvichu, ‘Roads and the Raj.’
39. See note no. 6.
40. Dalakoglou, ‘The Road from Capitalism to Capitalism,’ 577.
41. Foreign and Political Department, National Archives of India, New Delhi-A. September 1873, Nos. 219–29 (as cited in Dzuvichu, ‘Roads and the Raj,’ 473.
42. See note no. 38.
43. R.G. Woodthorpe as cited in Dzuvichu, ‘Roads and the Raj,’ 484.
44. Based on the oral history of Poumai Naga Tribes. The present author had the privilege of interacting with village elders and gather shared oral history of their respective villages in the form of stories, folklores, and lived experience, among others.
45. In order to check the movements of Nagas toward the plains of Assam and as a measure to stop the raids, a pass system was introduced experimentally. The passes had to be obtained from the Deputy Commissioner of Naga Hills located at Samoogoodting. The Annual Administrative Report of 1867–68 stated that the pass system ‘will bring the officers at Samoogoodting in direct contact with men from every village in the hills, and enable them to obtain correct information in regard to the traffic carried on by them, and, in cases of outrage, lead to the immediate identification of the parties concerned’ (Citation1868: 251).
46. Roluahpuia, ‘Media in Conflict or Conflict in Media,’ 1.
47. See note no. 38.
48. Kohima is the capital of Nagaland state and was the district headquarters under the colonial administration.
49. Mao is a gateway to Manipur and at present it is in the state of Manipur.
50. F&PD. External. A, December 1886, Nos 39–41 as cited in Dzuvichu.
51. See note no. 29.
52. Shimray, Ethnicity and Socio-Political Assertion.
53. Ralte, ‘Colonialism in Northeast India.’
54. Baruah, ‘Confronting Constructionism,’ 325.
55. See note no. 30, 18.
56. The memorandum submitted by the Naga club strongly expressed their desired to govern themselves independently in the aftermath of British departure from India. It stated that the Nagas were never subject to neighboring kingdoms nor conquered by them. For details, see Naga memorandum to the Simon Commission (Citation1929).
57. See note no. 30, 19.
58. The creation of Nagaland and Mizoram states is a pointer in this direction. Naga tribes were divided by arbitrary state boundaries across the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and even Myanmar. Hence, the Naga movement for integration of all Naga-inhabited areas/territories reinforces the shared history and imaginaries of a Naga nation. Similar is the case of the Mizos. Challenges to the nation-building process in India are exemplified in the various insurgent and secessionist movements prevalent in Kashmir and Northeast. For details, see Bhaumik (Citation2009), Misra (Citation2000), and Baruah (Citation1999).
59. Das, ‘Evolution of the Road Network in Northeast India,’ 102.
60. Rao, ‘Reorganization of Northeast India.’
61. Today the region called Northeast India encompasses the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim.
62. Ramesh, North East India in New Asia, 1.
63. Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India, put forward the famous Panchsheel principles in his Foreword to Verrier Elwin’s book A Philosophy for NEFA (1957).
64. These limitations or constraints include Article 371 (A), (B), (C), Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, and other persistent issues like insurgency, law and order problem, ethnic strife, lack of infrastructure development, and various secessionist movements in the region.
65. Part of the mission statement of the BRO is ‘To support the armed forces meet their strategic needs by committed, dedicated and cost effective development and sustenance of the infrastructure’. Retrieved from
http://www.bro.gov.in/index2.asp?lang=1&sublinkid=7&slid=894&projectid=9 (accessed on 21 December 2017).
66. According to the 2011 Census, ST comprise 68.78% of the total population in the state. There are 16 Tribes in Arunachal Pradesh.
67. Bhatia, ‘China’s Infrastructure in Tibet and POK-Implications and Options for India.’
68. See note no. 59.
69. Ibid, 103.
70. Mohan, ‘China Roadmap Is India Wake-up Call.’
71. Goswami, ‘Strategic Road-Building Along the India-China Border.’
72. Ibid.
73. The SARDP-NE aims at improving road connectivity between state capitals and district headquarters as well as remote places of the Northeast region. It envisages the two/four-laning of about 7530 km of National Highways and two-laning/improvement of about 2611 km of state roads. This will ensure connectivity for 88 district headquarters in the Northeastern states, to the nearest National Highway by at least a two-lane road. The program has been planned in three phases (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Annual Report 2016–17).
74. The ITBP, apart from guarding the Indo-China border, is also entrusted with strategic road construction. Currently, the ITBP is constructing eight stretches in Arunachal Pradesh (five roads, of total length 271.04 km). The BRO has the responsibility of constructing 1326.77 km of roads in Arunachal Pradesh. For details, see Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) http://www.mdoner.gov.in/node/1269.
75. Goswami (Citation2012) has pointed out that one of the biggest complaints of the 120,000 Indian troops stationed in the eastern sector is also the lack of road infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh.
76. The S.P. Shukla Committee Report (Citation1997) identified four main deficits that confront the Northeast: (1) a basic needs deficit, (2) an infrastructural deficit, (3) a resource deficit, and (4) most important, a two-way deficit of understanding with the rest of the country which compounds the others.
77. In 2000, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee while visiting Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, announced a sum of Rs 10,271 crores for the economic development for the state. His predecessors Shri Deve Gowda and Shri I.K. Gujral also gave Rs 6100 crores and Rs 7000 crores, respectively, as a special economic package for the Northeast region.
78. The Defence Ministry gave its approval for the highway in 2016.
79. Bhaumik, ‘Why India Is Planning a New Road Near the China Border.’
80. Cited in Bhaumik.
81. Ministry of External Affairs. Government of India. Retrieved from http://mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/20541/IndiaMyanmarThailand+Joint+Task+Force+Meeting+on+the+Trilateral+Highway+Project (accessed on 21 January 2018).
82. Many parts of Manipur (Kuki and Tangkhul Naga areas) and the Lushai and Naga Hills have direct links with Burma/Myanmar, where many of their ethnic kin live. The Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo Hills maintain close relations with Sylhet, the Lushai Hills with Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Tripura with Comilla, Noakhali, and Sylhet, all in Bangladesh (Haokip, India’s Look East Policy and the Northeast, 97–98).
83. The LEP was launched in 1991 by the Narasimha Rao’s government. The policy aimed to develop multifaceted relations with countries of Southeast Asia. These included (i) renewing political contacts, (ii) increasing economic integration, (iii) forging security cooperation as a means to strengthen political understanding, and (iv) enhancing India’s political role in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region in general and Southeast Asia in particular. The essence of India’s LEP was to revive the stagnant diplomatic and trade relations with Southeast Asia, which the Northeast region was to facilitate as the ‘Gateway to these countries’.
84. Bhaumik termed the region as India’s Trouble Periphery.
85. Cited in Srikanth, ‘Look East Policy, Sub-regional Connectivity Projects and North-East India.’
86. Ibid.
87. The GoI budgetary allocation in 2016–17 for the National Highways Authority of India was to the tune of Rs 27,653 crores. The SARDP, which includes the Kaladan multi-modal transport project, was given Rs 500 crores. In contrast, the total budgetary allocation for rural roads development was Rs 19,000 crores, of which Rs 1398 crores was earmarked for Northeastern states.
88. See note 85, 48.
89. Personal interview with Mr. Shohou (named changed) at Senapati on 21 May 2014.
90. (Sinha, Citation2017).
91. See note no. 59, 101.
92. Kikon and D. McDuie-Ra, ‘English-Language Documents and Old Trucks,’ 779.
93. For details, see Shakespear, History of the Assam Rifles.
94. Retrieved from http://www.assamrifles.gov.in/newwindow.html?2030 (accessed on 26 January 2018).
95. Operation Bluebird is one such example.
96. The AFSPA 1958 gives impunity to the Armed Forces in the so-called disturbed areas as declared by the GoI. For instance, Section 4 of the Act reads as follows: Any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the armed forces may, in a disturbed area (a) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of Public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary, fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death…. Section 6 states: 'No prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government, against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the power conferred by this Act.'
97. See note no. 92.
98. See note no. 27.
99. Pedersen and Bunkenborg, ‘Roads that Separate,’ 556.
100. Ibid.
101. See note no. 18.
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Raile Rocky Ziipao
Raile Rocky Ziipao is the Arvind Raghunathan and Sribala Subramanian South Asia Fellow in Harvard University. He obtained his PhD and MA from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. His research interests include socio-anthropology of infrastructure, tribal studies, and Northeast India studies.