Jamia - Centres - Centre for North East Studies

Introduction
Faculty Members
Events

Introduction

Sanjoy Hazarika Saifuddin Kitchelew Chair and Professor Centre for North East Studies, ATWS, JMI

Positions held:

1. Current position from February 2009 onward 2. Managing Trustee, Centre for NE Studies and Policy Research, Guwahati/New Delhi 3. Visiting Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi 4. Chairman, Governing Board, Society for Development Communications (publishers of the environmental magazine Down to Earth) 5. Member, Executive Board, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative 6. Consulting Editor, The Sunday Guardian
Goals:

The aim of the Centre is to make it the hub of multidisciplinary activities on issues concerning the North-east, both in Jamia Millia Islamia and across New Delhi, bringing together research scholars, academe and students, policy makers and professionals, political figures (including members of Parliament) and independent groups. The goals include better understanding of these issues by undertaking rigorous research and field workas well as organization and conduct of national and regional seminars, lectures, workshops and interactive discussions.

As part of this effort, the following activities have been undertaken:

1.	The Chair has given a series of lectures on the North-east at ATWS which began in August 2009 and will continue in 2010. These have been developed under three broad themes: State and the North-east; Migration and the Sixth Schedule. Six lectures have been already given and four are scheduled.

The following are the lectures given so far:

An Overview: the principal issues (August 21, 2009); The State and People: (i) conflicts (11 Swept. 09); The State and People: (ii) rights and responses (18^th Sept. 09); Illegal Migration (6 Nov 09) and Movements (20 Nov. 09)

2.	Academic Contribution: books

	a.	(i)	Chapter on ‘Ships of Hope’ in Water, culture, politics and Management (Longman/Pearson/IIC) published October 2009
		(ii)	The State Strikes Back: India and the Naga Insurgency, East West Centre, Washington DC, USA.
		(iii)	a major book on the NE is under preparation, to be published by Penguin India

	b.	Research Papers
		(i)	India in Transition, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, USA

	c.	International/national conferences/seminars/workshops organized by Centre
		July 27-28, 2009 Governance and Security: India’s North-east and Bangladesh (two days); national conference; Organized in collaboration with the Indian Council of Social Science Research : participants – 70 October 27 screening of acclaimed Assamese film maker Jahnu Barua’s film, Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Mara at CIT, JMI, and chaired interaction of director with audience thereafter Oct. 28 chaired talk by Mr. Barua at India International Centre on the need for a New Time Zone for the NE, collaboration, IIC Nov. 7 Such a Long Journey: AFSPA, Irom Sharmila and the search for peace and dignity in the North-east, CIT, JMI: and event that Prof. Hazarika chaired with speakers from Lady Shri Ram College, Jawaharlal Nehru University and singers, a one-act play as well as a half hour film on the situation in Manipur Nov 26, 2009: The Paranoia of Unpredictability: Is democracy possible in Burma/Myanmar? -- in association with the Euro-Burma Office, Brussels (60 participants)

3.	Proposed workshops/seminars:
	In the first quarter of 2010, the following National Workshops/seminars are proposed: the role of Muslims in the independence movement in Assam; the case of Arunachal Pradesh in the China-India dispute; the challenges of ethnic identity formation and conflicts in the NE: the prism of the 6th Schedule. The First Annual Saifuddin Kitchelew Lecture is also proposed in this time frame.

4.	1. International/National Conferences/Seminars/workshops attended
	i. participated in World Social Science Forum in Bergen, Norway, May 10-12 2009. and chaired a plenary session on the Future of Civil Wars ii. 1 July 20, 2009 Lecture at the Defence Staff Services College, Wellington Tamilnadu at the invitation of the General Commanding, Lt.-Gen.HS Klair on the theme: The roots of insurgency in the North-east where 300 senior level officers of the Indian army, air force and navy attended, as well as senior course participant officers from several countries. Gen Klair was the discussant in this lecture which formed part of the staff course for senior officers of the armed forces in this prestigious centre for training and development of the armed forces iii. 7 August 2009- Hill States Task Force , Planning Commission, Meeting at Almora as member, chaired by Secretary, Ministry of Tribal affairs, GOI iv. Sept. 8-10 Singapore: discussion with India and China group of experts, organized by the Centre for Peace and Conflicts Studies, New Delhi, on a project to discuss Confidence Building Measures between the two countries v. . iv. Sept. 22-23, 200, New Delhi: Women in Conflict Zones: Survivors and Peace Makers’ spoke on, ‘How can women’s voices be brought into the peace process’ Organized byWomen’s Feature Service (WFS) and The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vi. 15th October to 22rd October, 2009: a set of 8 major lectures and presentations on the following themes for the Semester at Sea program.of the University of Virginia, US, aboard the MV Explorer (between Mauritius and Chennai) to about 550 students and 50 faculty members from different universities of the US and abroad who took part in this unique programme: themes: two keynote lectures on -- India: a writer's perspective; separate classroom lectures on 1. Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh and the India-China dispute; 2. environment and the media 3. Human rights, refugees and migrants 4. Governance and democracy 5. the crisis of mixed migration (with a focus on NE India) 6. Anchored an India night where the entire semester students and faculty were briefed about India and its major cultural, social, economic and political issues. vii. Nov. 8-10, Shillong, Meghalaya: Training workshop on “The Impact of Conflict on Women in Nagaland and Assam”; Heinrich Boll Foundation-Centre for NE Studies and Policy Research of Guwahati viii. Dec. 10-12, 2009: Lectures at Seminar organized by The Ant/Idea on Expanding Elbow Room for civil society in the North-east, Guwahati ix. Dec. 19 2009: Lecture at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai: The North-east – Fractured Image organized by the Centre for Mass Communications, TISS x. Jan. 12, 2010 Lecture on Inclusive Growth and Inclusive Rural Health at annual international conference of Federation of Assam and Seven Sisters at Guwahati, inaugurated by Chief Minister of Assam xi. 17^th-19^th January, 2010, Dhaka, Himalayan Sub-Regional Cooperation for Water Security, Organized by Bangladesh Institute of Peace and security Studies and Strategic Foresight Group, Mumbai
	The Centre, located in ATWS, collaborates with ATWS in all aspects of its activity, including the conduct of conferences, workshops and seminars as well as future planning activities. It proposes collaborations with the Department of Social Work and the Department of Political Science.

Documentation Centre:
	The Centre lays great emphasis on a strong Documentation Centre that will at the heart of research and a better understanding of the region and its issues. Towards that end, a large number of books and literature relating to the North East, ranging across the spectrum of social sciences and including economics and culture, as well as history and environment, have been purchased from leading publishers for the Documentation Centre. Magazines, newspapers and journals from the region are also being subscribed.