The book, a collection of occasional papers written at various times for seminars, conferences and journals, is a study of the sequences of development in Meghalaya, a state of the north-eastern region of India inhabited by the Khasi-Jaintias and Garos, two scheduled tribes in constitutional terms.
The author analyses the implications of change through a process of modernization and development in a society where the peoples' lives are interwoven into their traditional systems. It is a study of the sequences of development, of tradition, continuity and change.
Dr. Soumen Sen, the author of the book, is the Head of the Centre for Literary and Cultural Studies, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. His area of interest, and consequently his work, centres mainly around studying social, political development and folk-culture of north-eastern hills India, especially of Khasi-Jaintia Hills, where he has been working for more than two decades. He has published a number of articles in journals and participated in many seminars, national and international. He is a founder-member of the Governing Body of North-East India Council for Social Science Research and member of the Editorial Board of its journal. His earlier publications include Social and State Formation in Khasi-Jaintia Hills: A Study of Folklore and Folklore in North-East India (Ed.).
This is not a book but a collection of occasional papers written at various times for seminars, conferences and journals. While putting them toge-ther, I could realise their miserable overlapping. But despite this deficiency, the papers put together, I felt, might offer a unity of theme and a point of view. Hence their publication in a volume. 1 was, however, quite conscious that it could have been more definitive if written in a planned format.
The theme that I expect to emerge out of these papers is a sequence of development noticed in an erstwhile underdeveloped area, that is Meghalaya, the twenty-first state of the Union of India, that came into existence first as an autonomous state in 1970 and then as a full-fledged state in 1972. Prior to 1970, the area was a part of the state of Assam and had two districts, the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills and the Garo Hills. Now the state has five districts, three in Khasi-Jaintia Hills and two in Garo Hills. The two dis-tricts of Khasi Hills are inhabited by the Khasis, the Jaintia Hills by the Jaintias who call them-selves Pnars and prefer to be identified as a distinct ethnic group and the two districts in Garo Hills are inhabited by the Achiks, better known as Garos to the outside world. The Khasi-Jaintias and the Garos are scheduled tribes in constitutional terms.
The people of Meghalaya, like the people else-where in the country, are now busy in improving their material conditions, in effecting social change and political development. How far the attempt has succeeded, what are the implications of change and what should be the viable planning mechanism in this area are some of the vital issues that demand serious attention and the entire process requires to be studied in a sequence. It needs to be a study of the tradition, continuity and change putting the notions of modernization and development to test. The social components of the People's lives, interwoven into their traditional systems, are to be taken into account. people's participation and reactions should also form part of such a study.
The present volume, it is felt, is a attempt in that direction. A close look at the situation as obtained in the hill societies of Megha-laya will bear out the truth in the arguments presented. A more detailed and carefully designed study may, however, bring to light further facts. I have only raised the issues and cherish a modest hope that my arguments may reveal the implica-tions of the discrepant nature of development and progress.
I am indebted to the organisers of the seminars and conferences and the editors of journals at whose instance the papers were originally written. I owe the idea of the book to my wife and colle-ague Shrimati Gouri Sen and my young colleague Shri Abhijit Choudhury of St. Edmunds College, Shillong. Abhijit also suggested the title. Shri W. Nongrum and Shri R.D. Shabong have typed the manuscript. I thank all of them. I am grateful to publishers for taking so much interest in my work and publishing my book including the present one.
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