The Bishnupriya Manipuris in North East India (Society Economy and Development)

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Bishnupriya Manipuris constitute a linguistic minority community lives in North East India, mainly in parts of Assam, Manipur, Tripura and also Bangladesh. They are believed to have occupied Manipur at a very early date and their headquarters were at a city called Bishnupur. However, a great majority of the community fled away from Manipur and took refuge in Assam, Tripura, Cachar and Sylhet during 18th and 19th century due to internal conflicts among the princes of Manipur and Burmese attack. Since then, the Bishnupriya Manipuris have been in disadvantage position having no homeland of their own. This community has been fighting for its identity and existence and surviving on economic hardships.

Taking close look at the various socio- economic and development issues, the contributors discuss at length the development status, moral values, problems of rural youths, social norms and women, festivals and social cohesion, role of BMDC, health problems etc. with chapters on the contributions of Sri Sri Bhubaneswar Sadhu Thakur, Gitiswami Gokulananda and Poet Senarup Sinha on Bishnupriya Manipuris.

The present volume highlights various dimensions of society, economy and development of the Bishnupriya Manipuris in North East India.

HARENDRA SINHA (b. 1968) obtained his M.A. (Political Science) and Ph.D. degrees from Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam. He is presently working as Associate Professor in Political Science, Government J. Buana College, Lunglei, Mizoram. He has authored the books Bureaucracy and Rural Development in Mizoram, Empowerment of Women in NE India (eds.), Decentralization and Rural Development in NE India (eds), Health and Development in NE India (ed.). Development Constraints in North East India (ed.), Women in Mizo Society (eds.), Women in North East India (eds.), People and Health in NE India (ed.), Millennium Development Goals in NE India (ed.), NE India: Emerging Issues of Development (eds.) Political Theory, Indian Government and Politics, Major Political Systems, Political Sociology, Indian Political Thought, Western Political Thought, International Relations, Public Administration, Indian Foreign Policy, Human Rights and contributed number of research papers, regularly contributes papers in edited books, national and international journals.

North-East India, comprises of eight states- Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim, is a politically vital and strategically vulnerable region of India as surrounded by five countries. The economy is agrarian. Little land is available for settled agriculture. Along with settled agriculture, jhum (slash-and-burn) cultivation is still practiced by a few indigenous groups of people. The inaccessible terrain and internal disturbances has made rapid industrialization difficult in the region. Despite the vast natural resources available in the region, the main stumbling block for economic development of the region is the disadvantageous geographical location.

Northeast India is also considered as one of most culturally diverse regions of the world, a land inhabited by more than 200 fascinating tribes. Diversities in terms of Mongoloid ethnic origins, linguistic variation and religious pluralism characterize the region. The hill states in the region like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland are predominantly inhabited by tribal people with a degree of diversity even within the tribal groups. Besides the tribal people, many other non tribal ethnic groups of people also inhabit the region. Due to ill-planned economic development policies, there is evident regional imbalance and backwardness in all spheres of life in the Northeastern states. Poverty, lack of employment opportunities remain the major problems even after more than sixty years of independence. Despite efforts at policy formulation to cater to the developmental needs of the Northeastern states, nothing significant has yet come out during the last several years. As per the North East Vision 2020 Document, the per capita gross state domestic product (GSDP) of North East India is 31 percent less than the national average. To reach all India level of per capita income in 2020, the GSDP of the North East region will have to grow at 11.8 percent annually. All the states come under special category, thus, the region is heavily relying on the central funs for development. Economic backwardness was one of the main reasons for insurgency and ethnic discontent. Ethnicity has been growing rapidly which have resulted frequent conflicts on various issues of ethnic identity and independence.

Bishnupriya Manipuris constitute a linguistic minority ethnic group lives in North East India, mainly in parts of Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Bangladesh. They are believed to have occupied Manipur at a very early date and their headquarters were at a city called Bishnupur. However, a great majority of the community fled away from Manipur and took refuge in Assam, Tripura, Cachar and Sylhet during eighteenth and nineteenth century due to internal conflicts among the princes of Manipur and Burmese attack. Since then, the Bishnupriya Manipuris have been in disadvantaged position. Having no homeland of their own, this community has been fighting for its identity and existence and surviving on economic hardships. The objections from the Meitei Manipuri to use the term 'Manipun either as a prefix or as suffix by the Bishnupriyas, further worsened the issue of their identity till the Supreme Court of India recognised Bishnupriya Manipuri language as a separate entity in the family of Indo-Aryan languages in late 1990's only.

The present volume is an attempt in the aforesaid direction. The book 'The Bishnupriya Manipuris in North East India: Society Economy and Development is a collection of nineteen papers and the introduction presented in the ICSSR Sponsored National Level Seminar organized by Government J. Buana College, Lunglei, Mizoram, held at Silchar College, Silchar, Assam in December, 2014. The papers presented in this volume have covered various dimensions concerning socio-economic development and status, moral values, problems of rural youths, women and health, social cohesion, sanitation etc focusing on the Bishnupriya Manipuris of North East India. The introductory chapter gives a mirror view of what the contributors have discussed and analyzed in their scholarly papers.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages