Evolutionary Arc of India's Edge

A Resurgent North East by Ashish Kundra, reflective of extensive fieldwork, is a deeply observed, passionately argued narrative that illuminates the complex past, contested present, and transformational potential of India's eight sister states in the North East—through the eyes of an insider scholar-administrator

- Sanjeev Chopra

It is with a sense of great pride and ownership that I introduce this absolutely riveting read: A Resurgent North East: Narratives of Change by Ashish Kundra, whom I had the privilege to train at the LBS National Academy of Administration in 1996. He was one of the most smartly turned out and well-informed officer trainees, and three decades into the job, he has honed his skills—both as a scholar as well as an administrator.

Therefore, unlike many other commentaries on the North East which are based either on helicopter visits or desktop research, this narrative is backed by a sense of acute observation from extended field visits, conversations with important stakeholders, extensive readings and years of administrative experience.

The introduction, starting with the Nobel acceptance speech of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, sets the tone, for it talks of ‘quest of identity,’ ‘the ravages of life,’ ‘interpretations of reality’ and aspects of the unknown and the solitary. And just as his address gave a new lens to the world to fathom the hitherto ‘unknown’ and the ‘solitary,’ Kundra’s work on the North East, or Zomia, or Ashtalakshmi, offers 13 templates to examine the narratives of change that the region has witnessed over the last eight decades.

North East, Zomia or Ashtalakshmi

But before delving further, let us examine the terms Zomia and Ashtalakshmi. While Zomia is the name given by the Dutch scholar Willem van Schendel to describe the ‘majestic highlands straddling the Tibetan plateau, Myanmar, parts of China and Southeast Asia, Ashtalakshmi, or the eight manifestations of Lakshmi, the provider of wealth, is the expression which is currently used to describe both the tangible and the intangible heritage of the eight states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim—which are referred to as the North East.