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You are here: Home arrow Articles arrow English Articles arrow Ethnicity, Autonomy and Governance - The Maras: A Case Study
Ethnicity, Autonomy and Governance - The Maras: A Case Study - The Maras: A Case Study Print E-mail
Written by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Sushil K. Pillai, PVSM   
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
Article Index
The Maras: A Case Study
Autonomy
Ethnicity
Governance
Conclusion
End Notes
Page 5 of 6


Conclusion

Autonomy and ethnicity have diverse faces and masks. They are not ends in themselves but part of a continuum. A paradigm shift in perception and policy-making occurs when they are viewed as part of the problem and not the solution. Autonomy as practiced by us is accommodative but it is firmly controlled by the Centre and the States, politically and bureaucratically. Autonomy to an ethnic group on the Indian side cannot afford to ignore the condition of the same ethnic group across the border. One has to necessarily strive towards achieving a far greater inter-government coordination.

The psychological integration of the NE with the rest of the country is of critical importance. One also has to upgrade the policy and institutional structures to render effective such integration. The involvement of civil society is an essential ingredient of good governance. The function of effectual governance should be to provide instrumentalities for this vis-à-vis obtaining, dissemination and feedback of information, transparency as also coordination. The guiding principle, as Ghai aptly describes, is that, autonomy be chosen not because of some notion of preserving sovereignty but in order to enable different groups to live together to define a common public space.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 25 July 2006 )
 
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