• With more and more insurgent groups from the Northeast joining peace talks with the Government of India, the region has been witnessing a drastic decline in insurgency in the last five years.
• Home Ministry data from 2019 shows that insurgency in the Northeast region is continuously declining since 2014.

Magnitude of the problem

• The North-east region is a very special region which is also home to more than 100 tribes.
• Starting from the British era, these hilly regions were being treated as excluded areas which made these people violent in terms of demanding their rights and insurgency is one of the methods of demanding such rights.
• They evolved into the political unit slowly and it gave rise to insurgency further.
• As of now, the space for these ethnic communities is declining and as a result their dominance in the particular region is also declining which automatically leads to decline in the violent activities like insurgency.

What has been done so far to contain the insurgency issues ?

• There are 3 reasons due to which there is a decline in the insurgency and they are as follows

1. a) The improved security relations with Myanmar and Bangladesh have contributed to the declining trend especially in the Manipur region.
2. b) There has been renewed hope which is created due to peace talks held between large groups and the Government.
3. c)  The social factors like people’s aspects have been met largely by the government.

Eg: employment opportunities, alternative source of income etc.

What are the challenges ahead ?

(i) The major challenge lies in creating economic and geographic connectivity between north-eastern states and its neighbours.

(ii) The passing away of senior leadership creates instability and vacuum of power because the hierarchy is not very clear.

(iii) The external relations with the neighbours is very important for providing alternative sources of income to various groups.

Thus, the people’s aspirations need to be looked upon while dealing with these challenges.

Way Forward

• Since it is a battle of aspirations, a sense of political empowerment should be built up among the ethenic communities.
• The issue of insurgency should not be treated as a law and order problem and people should be rewarded with economic and social prosperity.
• A structured counterinsurgency framework is the need of the hour.
• There is a need for cultural integration along with economic integration.
• Rather than going for the military route, dialogues with people can be proved as a better option.

Conclusion

• The dialogues and engaging has gone a long way in resolving the issue but still there is a need for a long term political solution for getting rid of such violent issues.

Reference:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaUjyJL6_yA