DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN SECURITY IN NORTHEAST INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF KOKRAJHAR IN ASSAM

Abstract

The world today witnesses the issues of human security because of the existence of poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, hunger, disease and many others. Like that the state of human security is also vulnerable in Northeast India with the existence of poverty, underdevelopment, resistance, ethnic conflict, identity conflict, insurgency, militarization, unemployment, health and environmental insecurity. The unending separatist struggle has continued in the region since the late 1940s which are making it the longest-running separatist fight in South Asia. Kokrajhar district of Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD), Assam deserves a special mention in this regard because the region is very much affected by socio-economic and political problems. It is also the epicentre of ethnic conflict and violence where at least six ethnic conflicts occurred since the 1990s. As a result, a large number of innocent people including women and children were butchered and were left homeless. Hundreds of women became a victim of gang rape and police torture. To be precise, people of the region are not free from fear and free from want. Therefore, the problem under investigation is to analyse the root causes of human insecurity in Kokrajhar district of Assam. A democratic government which guarantees a number of fundamental rights, a broader range of personal freedom, freedom from fear and freedom from want to its citizens reduces the danger of state repression by preventing a wide range of actions which governments use against their citizen. Democracy and Development both appear to have positive effects on the protection of human rights, since economic development provides countries with resources to alleviate the worst forms of suffering. Democracy provides a mechanism for the expression of grievances. But, the question of the security, safety or rights of the individual in a democracy is not fundamentally new. What is new, however, the increasing number of challenges to human security. The term human security speaks about the security of income, employment, food, health, education and environment. The violation of the physical integrity rights of the people is also common in democracies during political turmoil, involvement in international and civil wars. In fact, democratic institutions can play an important role in ensuring human security to the people. The role of democratic institutions in ensuring human security in Kokrajhar- the epicentre conflict and violence in Assam will be analyzed here.