A few of those who walk through Kolkata’s Park Street and its intersection with Chowringhee and Russell Street might be aware that the work done at three premises in this area shaped the history of South, and also a good part of South-east Asia. They are, chronologically, the old Survey of India building, an organisation, established in 1767, which introduced modern mathematics and science of topographical survey and mapping in India — its great trigonometric series spanning the country are some of the best geodetic control series available anywhere in the world.

Second is the Asiatic Society at No 1 Park Street, which was established in 1784 and associated with legendary scholars like Sir William Jones, James Princep and many others who founded the discipline of indology, revived Sanskrit and Pali, deciphered the Brahmi script and the inscriptions on the Asokan pillars; and most importantly, found out that Gautam Buddha was born and preached in India.Indeed it was the Asiatic Society that enabled us to reconstruct the institutional memory of our forgotten civilisation, languages, cultures and traditions and “discovered India”, as it were, to create the idea of a nation.

The third is the present location of the Bengal Club on which stood the residence of Lord Macaulay, who was responsible for introducing English education with support from Raja Rammohan Roy. That led to a new awakening, and exposure to European enlightenment and the ideas of democracy,rule of law,freedom, science and technology. Coming back to the Asiatic Society,it rescued us from a closed worldview and lack of interest in other cultures and societies that kept India behind for so long. In this background, it is significant that long before the British annexation of Assam in 1826, the Asiatic Society published in its journal, a Description of Assam in 1790.

Thereafter between 1801 and 1899, altogether 55 articles were published on Assam and the North-east, mostly by British administrators on subjects like land, tribes, customs, traditions and languages of the North-east tribal people. Some of those papers led to painstaking field research, also by officials, which produced invaluable source material for understanding tribes such as the book on the hill tribes of Assam by CS Mullen,the grammar of Lushai language (from Mizoram) by Lorrain and also,knowledge of the flora and fauna in the North-east. The focus on the North-east continued and it received a boost after the Asiatic Society was declared an “institution of national importance”.

In the recent past,the Society has organised seminars in Kolkata and Guwahati and other cities in the North-east. These were attended by researchers and resulted in several ongoing research projects. Such initiatives got a real push last year with the election of Dr Satyabrata Chakrabarti as the general secretary of the Asiatic Society, who had also served in the North-east. That was evident in the importance he attached to a workshop held in Kolkata on 17-18 February on, “The emerging areas of North-east studies”.

It was a commendable effort for its focus on strife-torn Manipur and a wide range of subjects along with the traditional areas of the Society’s interest — archaeology, philology, historical and anthropological research. Professor JB Bhattacharya, former vice-chancellor of Assam University and a distinguished scholar of the North-east, acted as a kind of mentor for the seminar and made it purposeful. Altogether, 19 presentations were made in four broad groups.

First, diverse ethnicity, social dynamics and prospects of formation of a democratic state in Manipur in the background of the socio-political and cultural construct of the North-east, covering land relations, roots of militancy, disaffection and the issue of minorities and “others”, which not only obstruct the formation of modern democratic states but also the region’s development. Second, historical studies on land grants in Assam in the pre-colonial period, the journey of the Ahoms to the Brahmaputra valley, coins and coinage of the North-east in ancient times, art history and archaeology.

Third were the problems and prospects of the region’s economic integration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Four, the challenge of climate change,conservation of forests and bio-diversity, and the task of putting in place a North-east and state-specific science and technology system within the framework of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013.And finally, a discourse on the “sociolinguistic profile of languages of the North-east” as no seminar on the region can ignore the mind-boggling diversity of its languages.

The synopsis presented at the workshop will be the basis of papers to be finalised by April so that the Asiatic Society can consider further research in selected areas.However, the subjects covered were so topical and presented ideas so competently,that some of those initial findings deserve notice. First, the Act East policy is yet to make an impact on the Northeast as surface connectivity is at the under-construction stage. Also, the regional economy is unable to produce high quality and value-added products for want of a serious effort to formulate a regional science and technology system, and policies geared to make innovation the key element in the development of industry.

Therefore, there is a need to expand border trade as a short-term strategy by improving the infrastructure along the borders with Tibet, Myanmar and Bangladesh after reviving old trade links, which were disrupted after Partition. There is, however, quite a good scope for the North-east in the service sector as with suitable improvements, the region’s strong network of English language-based higher educational institutions and medical facilities could meet demands of such services in its close neighbourhood.

Next,to combat climate change, a sub-regional approach is needed by covering Myanmar and Bangladesh and drawing up a common strategy for conservation and use of natural resources. Second, the real cause of militancy is “state failures” in primarily providing civic and development services to citizens in a just and effective way for which the states cannot blame the Centre. Also, the high cost of implementation of any project in the North-east has been causing a recurring growth loss of about 1.5 to two per cent and this can be effectively addressed only by the states.

If this shortfall is removed by improved governance — something well within the capacity of the states as services in the North-east are wholly manned by local personnel — the region could move to a higher growth path, provided the states and the North Eastern Council succeed in firmly putting in place a science and technology system-based skill and entrepreneurship development capabilities.That would enable states to wean away the youth from suicidal militancy.

The fascinating papers presented in the workshop on the history, languages and numismatics of the region leave one convinced that the North-east has always been integral to the idea of India. There is thus a lot of scope for the Asiatic Society to document the inherent unity in the pre-modern religious beliefs and practices of the tribes of the North-east with the syncretic ethos of the civilisational values of “Bharat”. These initiatives from the Asiatic Society are, therefore, commendable, timely and merit support from the Centre.

The writer is a retired IAS Officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre and has served as a Scientific Consultant in the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.