Ethnic Crisis and demand for self-determination in North-East Region in the special context of Assam

Almost all societies today are multicultural and likely to remain so far the foreseeable future. It is best seen as a perspective of human life instead of political doctrine or a philosophical theory of man out the world. We grow up within a culturally structured world where we recognize our social relations in terms of its system of meaning out significance and place considerable values on their cultural identity. That is why, one of the most difficult and pressing question of the political era we are entering at the down of the 21st century in where a modern constitution can recognize and accommodate culturally diversity or not. The question can said to characterize the coming era, for when it is not described in relation the preceding period, as a post imperial or post-modern age, it is often described in its own terms, as an age of culturally diversity. The question is not whether one should be for or against cultural diversity. Rather, it is the prior question of what is the critical attitude or spirit in which justice can be rendered to the demands for cultural recognition. This is in so far as culture's relation to itself shapes and is in term shaped by its relation to others and reinforces each other. A culture can't appreciate the value of other cultures; it appreciates the plurality within it. Since a close relationship of culture defines its identity in terms of its differences from others and jealously guards it against their influences, it feels threatened by and avoids all contact with them.

The same is the situation in Assam where the demands for cultural recognition by diverse ethnic groups have received a great deal of attention and has been a living phenomenon in the region. Assam is one of the most heterogeneous states in the country with more than a hundred ethnic groups living in the state and the state government has been playing divisive politics, instead of inclusive politics over the years. A number of Autonomous council has been created on a basis of ethnicity, but instead of solving the problems, have gradually given rise to new problems and created more rift. Even if the govt. creates more than a hundred autonomous councils for all the ethnic groups of the state, the problems would not be solved in so far as the people of one ethnic group don't live together in any particular area in the besetting multicultural Assam. Introduction: Almost all the societies today are multicultural and like to be remaining so for the foreseeable future. It is best seen as a perspective of human life instead of a political doctrine or a philosophical theory of man out the world. We grow up within a culturally structured world where we organize our social relations in terms of its system of meaning out significance and place considerable values on their cultural identity. That is why, one of the most difficult and pressing question of the political era we are entering at the dawn of the 21st century in whether a modern constitution can recognize and accommodate cultural diversity or not. The question can be said to characterize the coming era, for when it is not described in relation the preceding period, as a past imperial or post modern age, it is often described in its own terms, as an age of cultural diversity. The question is not whether one should be for or against cultural diversity. Rather, it is the prior question of what is the critical attitude or spirit in which justice can be rendered to the demands for cultural recognition. This is in so far as culture's relations to itself shape and their internal and external pluralities presuppose and reinforce each other. A culture cannot appreciate the plurality within it. Since a close relationship of culture defines its identity in terms of its differences from others and jealously guards it against their influences, it feels threatened by and avoids all contact with them.