Development Strategies for Barak Valley (Assam)

Development Strategies for Barak Valley (Assam) emerges from a Brainstorming Session on "Development Strategies for Barak Valley : Constraints and Prospects" organized by the Institute of Northeast India Studies in collaboration with the Department of Economics, Assam University, Silchar, on 29 April 2008. The objective of the discourse was to focus on the problems and prospects of economic development and, more importantly, the appropriate strategies for Barak Valley, which consists of three districts, viz. Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj, and is economically one of the most backward parts of the country. Sandwiched between the hills on three sides and the international boundary with Bangladesh on the fourth, this predominantly Bengali-speaking area is geographically, historically and culturally a distinct region within the State of Assam. Although its economy was shattered by the partition of India in 1947 when the major part of the valley went to East Pakistan and its road, rail and waterways to the rest of the country were snapped away, the governments at the centre and of the state have not so far shown any visible concern for rebuilding the economy of the valley through any special scheme or programme which the area more than deserved. The group of intellectuals involved in the brainstorming session, therefore, endeavoured to bring into focus the plight of more than three million people who live in the valley and to suggest appropriate strategies for its economic development.