Northeast India: Developmental Initiatives and Structural Constraints

About the Monograph

This monograph examines the development trajectory of Northeast India since Independence, arguing that the region’s economic stagnation stems from deep structural and historical constraints rather than inadequate policy support or public expenditure. It traces how colonial extraction, Partition-induced isolation, and postcolonial planning fostered dependence on Union government transfers through mechanisms such as Article 275(1), Special Category Status, and Finance Commission grants. Adopting a political economy perspective, it analyses how restrictive land systems, labour market limitations, scarce capital, weak entrepreneurship, and limited cross-border cooperation have hindered diversification and industrialisation.  The findings challenge the view that the Northeast’s underdevelopment can be resolved solely through greater investment, connectivity, or financial support. It argues that sustainable development requires deeper structural and institutional reforms sensitive to the region’s unique social, political, economic, and ecological realities, as development is fundamentally shaped by contests over land, identity, power, and opportunity.

Abouth The Author

CV. Dr. Pushpita Das is Research Fellow and the Coordinator of the Internal Security Centre at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. Her areas of interest include border security and management, coastal security, drug trafficking, migration and India’s Northeast. Dr. Das has written extensively on her areas of research including two books titled, India’s Internal Security: Role of State Governments (2024) and India’s Approach towards Border Management: From Barriers to Bridges (2021); two Monographs titled Illegal Migration from Bangladesh: Deportation, Fences, Work Permit (2016) and Coastal Security: the Indian Approach (2013); and a number of occasional papers, articles and commentaries in journals and books.