The North East Frontier and its tribes were an enigma in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the post-independence era, efforts were undertaken to integrate the frontier region with the nation. The government deployed frontier officials who... more
The North East Frontier and its tribes were an enigma in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the post-independence era, efforts were undertaken to integrate the frontier region with the nation. The government deployed frontier officials who came to the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) as an integral part of the official machinery programmed to integrate the region and the people. Some of these officials while carrying out their duty of integrating the region and people with the nation, lost parts of their own indigeneity. One such case is of Harkom Scofield Pariat from Meghalaya who came to NEFA as an agriculture inspector in the early 1950s and retired as a civil servant in 1989. This chapter is a semi-biographical work on late Pariat through which we could disseminate the very early perspective of a frontier official on NEFA, its people and the implication of their duty in their life. The work is based on secondary sources, interviews and family records.
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In the nineteenth and twentieth century, the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh witnessed the British policy of creating native agents such as Kotokis, Jamadars and Gams to facilitate colonial political control in the valley. The injection... more
In the nineteenth and twentieth century, the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh witnessed the British policy of creating native agents such as Kotokis, Jamadars and Gams to facilitate colonial political control in the valley. The injection of such native agents interfered with the indigenous political setting of the valley. The present paper tries to discern the factors behind the policy of creating native agents, its process and the effects it had on the tribal society of Siang Valley.
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In 1943-1944 the colonial authorities banned the supply of salt to the people of Bagra village due to an episode of resistance and non-cooperation by the people against forced porter conscription. The event highlights the local... more
In 1943-1944 the colonial authorities banned the supply of salt to the people of Bagra village due to an episode of resistance and non-cooperation by the people against forced porter conscription. The event highlights the local perceptions and responses to changing developments from a non-state perspective. The event ignites a local Congress movement and thus suggests the export of notions of Gandhian politics to the hills from the neighbouring Assam plains. Since there has been no work done on this event to date, this paper is an attempt to resurrect the event and insert an important sub-section on the history of British-tribals relations in the 1940s, a period in Arunachal’s history often neglected.