ABSTRACT
The Northeastern region of India is increasingly emerging as a resource frontier, a provider of resources for the global market. This in turn has transformed and redefined the region’s economic, environmental and developmental interests. Resource mobilization has created new spaces in every constituent state within the region, with economic benefits for some and deprivation for many others. Often communities have expressed serious apprehension about their identity as they have seen the developmental endeavours alienating them from their common property resources and traditional set-up. This has triggered widespread protests. Conflict, however, has also provided an opportunity for the local people to exercise their agency. Moreover, the fluidity of movement of people and goods in the region has created a bridge of connectivity, in terms not only of the challenges endured by ethnic groups but also of the possibilities for sustainable cross-border learning and durable solutions. Thus, human mobility, resource flows and spatial linkages which discern the region have made it imperative to look beyond its borders. The Introduction not only delves into the challenges faced by the region around the multiple but interconnected issues of identity, development, environment, migration, land alienation and borders but also gives the readers a glimpse of the chapters and the main concerns raised through them.
