History

North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh, like the Chittagong Hill Tracts from whence Chakma was traditionally administered as an excluded area with minimum interference. The British policy in this area was one of non-interference. Taking over the administration of this turbulent and wild country was not rewarding enough. Following independence, Nehru made little changes to NEFA's administrative policy, opting instead for a philosophy of Minimum Interference based on anthropologist and Nehru’s adviser on tribal affairs Dr. Verrier Elwin's "A Philosophy for NEFA." Nehru had said,

I am not at all sure which is better way of living, the tribal or our own. In some respects I am quite certain there’s is better. Therefore, it is grossly presumptuous on our part to approach them with an air of superiority to tell them how to behave or what to do or not to do. There is no point in trying to make to them a second copy of ourselves.

The policy of Minimum Interference was designed to strike a balance between the two extreme positions of isolation of the tribal people of NEFA on the one hand and total unscientific assimilation of these tribal people with outside world on the other. NEFA was more of an administrative unit designation rather than a proper name for an important and integral portion of India with its own identity. The Chinese aggression drew the attention of the rest of the subcontinent in the region in 1962 and stunned the country's policymakers and prompting a significant shift in the India's administrative policy toward this area. Nehru’s policy of “minimum interference” drew flak from the opposition parties. This policy was criticised as “Museum of Specimen Approach‟ and was blamed for non-integration of the area and non-assimilation of the tribal people with rest of the country, to fatal consequences. Nehru’s government was cornered by the opposition and the NEFA was transferred from the Ministry of External Affairs to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the IFAS officers were merged with the IAS and the IPS, and the isolationist policy was reversed. People's political participation at all levels was widely believed to be the greatest method to integrate the region with the country. ^{[4] [5]}

Education

Culture

Areca Nut Industry

Chakmas are engaged vastly in Areca Nut plantations. In the last few decades Chakmas moved from agriculture to Areca Nut plantations. Regions like Diyun in Arunachal Pradesh vastly export Areca Nut to the other parts of the country.

Geographic distribution

Bibliography

• National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh & Anr, 1996 AIR 1234, 1996 SCC (1) 742 (Supreme Court of India, 9 January 1996).

Notes

References