Media Fellowships

Concept Note on proposed C-NES Media fellowships for Assam and NE: a call for support from NRAs and NRNEs

The Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research was founded in 2000 to work, research, document, lobby for policy changes and disseminate information on crucial issues related to the region. C-NES has a distinguished Board of Trustees, including Dr. VA Pai Panandiker, the founder of India’s first major independent think-tank, the Centre for Policy research in New Delhi, Jayanta Madhab, former CMD of NEDFi and a former director of the Asian Development Bank, and Mr. Niketu Iralu, a prominent social activist from Nagaland.

Some of our work is having a visible impact on policies at the state and central levels such as better perception of migration issues (work permits and ID cards), better use of our resources (more boats on the Brahmaputra and leasing IWT vessels out to private entrepreneurs) and developing inclusive policies for ethnic groups.

There is an Advisory Council which includes figures from the academic, social, media, environmental, cultural, nongovernment, business and professional sectors such as Patricia Mukhim of Meghalaya, Arnab Goswami, the NDTV news editor, Bhagat Oinam, a prominent young academic from Manipur, Mr. LC Jain, the development economist who drafted economic policies for Assam based on the Assam accord, and Mr. Denghnuna, former Secretary, government of Mizoram.

I am Managing trustee of CNES and a former correspondent for The New York Times, an author of several books on the region as well as an independent documentary film maker (I have made films for Doordarshan, including an acclaimed mini-series on the Brahmaputra river in 1999 which is still being repeated on various DD channels!). Currently, I am also Consulting Editor of The Statesman, publishing its North East Page every Saturday in all editions.

As you will agree, despite many initiatives and efforts over decades, the North East remains one of the least understood areas of the country and many gaps remain in the public mind and particularly among media persons about the challenges  and difficulties it faces as well as its many complexities.

My special interests related to issues of migration, local governance through involvement of stakeholders, grassroots innovations, documenting  the Brahmaputra and the livelihoods of people along its banks, reducing confrontations and conflicts in the North East through dialogue. C-NES and those of us associated with it focus on both field work as well as advocacy for policy change through a process of dialogue and dissemination. As you are aware, one of our principal focuses has been on the Brahmaputra, documenting and developing policies which can regenerate the livelihoods of those living by it and dependent on the river and consequently transform the economy of the region by tapping natural resources in practical ways, such as improvedboat communications, better cattle for the khutis and cattle herders on the chars and saporis leading to better milk production -- not through massive interventions such as big dams and river linking.The approach is participatory, involving local groups andcommunities, heeding their voices and views.