This paper is about north east India, a region that has emerged through a difficult journey of struggles, conflicts, acrimony, with little support from the Centre and a population that kept to itself, holding its affinity to its own land based practices and cultural norms. Indeed, so strong were these groups, especially in the hill areas, about their own identity, that the entry of ‘foreign’ entry was fought tooth and nail in the 19th century. Despite the strong stand off, the region experienced unprecedented movement of a work force, which was brought by the British colonialists towards investment on jute production, timber and tea industry.Of course, the rapid expansion of the industry and its highly labour-intensive nature meant that a large source of labourers were required.This was indeed an important investment in the British expansionist policy of north east India.
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