ABSTRACT
The State of Assam possesses a very marked individuality. Geomorphologically, Assam itself consists of three entirely distinct regions, belonging to all three of the structural macro-divisions. Those are the ranges of the Assam/Burma border belong to the extra-Peninsular mountains: the Assam or Brahmaputra Valley is an extension of the Indo-Gangetic trough; while the Shillong Plateau is essentially an outlier of the Peninsula, separated from it. The most individual feature of Assamese agriculture is the great extension of tea estates. The final sweep of the Himalayas is still relatively little-known and its physical–and its political–affinities are the subject of dispute. It is administered centrally as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) or Tract and is eventually to be integrated with Assam. NEFA policy for the tribal people seeks to be enlightened and to avoid for its proteges the tragic fate so often experienced by such peoples suddenly exposed to 'civilization'.
