Ethnic, Rural and Gender Issues in Contemporary North-West

India's North Eastern region is a gateway to South -East Asia. Owing to its strategic geo-political importance in the Indian sub-continent, the areas has attracted over the years, specialists from different fields especially sociologists and anthropologists. Earlier, Christian missionaries and scholarly-oriented British administrators also tried to project through their writings, the traditional life styles, customs, rituals, religious beliefs, etc. of this region. Undoubtedly, the North-Eastern region still poses challenges as well as vast scope for study in its multifarious facets. In recent years, the Government of India consciously pursued what we call the 'Look East Policy' to give a fresh impetus to India's close ties with South - East Asia and East Asia. Discovery of North-East India, it is hoped, will be well received by the academics and the scholarly community in India and abroad for making an in-depth study of this region.