ABSTRACT
The Himalayan disaster was the background to the final months of Jawaharlal Nehru's regime. By a hair's breadth India's inherited, but disputed, eastern frontier had been saved. Principally this was so by unilateral action on the part of the Chinese and by support from the Western powers. In the aftermath of the debacle at Se-Ia in NEFA, however, Nehru had to try to restore his government's credibility in Assam. This was a herculean task in itself; trust had been destroyed for generations to come, and on top of it all, he had to set the stage for another attempted settlement in Nagaland.
