Centre's peace process in NE opens up avenues for rapid development

Shillong, Mar 19 (UNI) The Centre's effort to engage various militant organisations from the Northeastern region in peace talks has yielded results in minimising tension and opening up new avenues for rapid development, Meghalaya governor M M Jacob said.

At a national seminar on 'Cultural Pluralism and Identities: Rethinking Culture and Politics in Northeast India' at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Indian Culture (SAIIC) here yesterday, he said without the practice of dialogue and conversation, many of the differences could not be sorted out, as violence only promotes fragmentation and conflict.

As far as the region was concerned, Mr Jacob said the constitutional recognition to various tribes and communities was accorded in the sixth schedule of the Constitution, but articulation of ethnic and cultural interests surpassed these institutional mechanisms.

''The constitutional value is to accommodate interests of every social group equally, with due emphasis on their comparative stage of development. It is therefore not necessary to go for a militant articulation of one's right, rather it is necessary to argue for a change through negotiation of such rights and interests'', the Governor said.

Urging social thinkers to focus on cultural pluralism in the context of Northeast and the country as a whole, he said, ''Several development thinkers seemed to often ignore issues of cultural identity while they concentrate more on economic and material development''.

He said such policies would undermine the determining influence of cultural factors in carving out a successful strategy for human development.

The two-day seminar was organised jointly by the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla and SAIIC, Shillong and was attended by several social scientists and linguistic experts from all across the country.

Prof Milind S Malshe of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai delivered the keynote address.

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