University of Madras, C-NES to collaborate on North-east research

The University of Madras is interested in collaborating with a premier research centre and think tank of the North-eastern Region of India to enable better learning, exchanges and field research of an area which remains largely unfamiliar to many Indians, especially students and teachers, more than six decades after Independence.

Dr. G. Thiruvasagam, Vice Chancellor of the University, told an audience of faculty members, students, activists, film makers and independent research groups on Sept 23 that he hoped that such collaboration would emerge to create better understanding of the concerns of different parts of the country.

“You have brought the lifestyles, the colours and the difficulties that people face in those areas alive,” he remarked after inaugurating an exhibition of photographs on the Impact of Conflict on Women in Nagaland and Assam organized by the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research in association with the Department of Politics and Public Administration of the University. The report is available on the C-NES website at www.c-nes.org.

The two-day event, spread over both the Marina and Chepauk campuses of the University, drew about 250 students, teaching faculty, professionals, independent researchers as well as media to a set of events based on a report by C-NES, ‘Bearing Witness’ revolving around the life experiences of women conflict victims in the two North-eastern states.

On the first day, the report was released by Prof. V. Suryanarayanan, a respected academician specializing in Sri Lanka and South Asia, and a former member of the National Security Advisory Board. A screening of the documentary, ‘A Measure of Impunity’ directed by Maulee Senapati followed by a panel discussion on the report where prominent scholars and others participated. They included theatre activist and member of the English Department Dr. Mangai, Dr. Swarna Rajagopalan of the Prajnya Trust and T. Imchen, a student of the host Department.

“It was very powerful, I really was deeply moved and so were many others,” Prof. Suryanarayanan said after the film.

Dr. Rajagoplan described the report as “courageously researched”; it was a flowing narrative that was well-written and cogent, underlining critical issues and choices facing women in conflict situations in the region and elsewhere.

On the second day, the Vice Chancellor opened the exhibition formally and responded to an offer from Mr. Sanjoy Hazarika, who is Managing Trustee of C-NES and also Director of the NE Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. Mr. Hazarika said that a convergence of interest could develop in an active collaboration between the two NE Centres and Madras University: he proposed that an orientation and research methodology section be held through the Jamia Centre while field work on a range of issues could be facilitated through the NE Centre, with head office in Assam.

“The North-east is reaching out; we are not here to complain but seek to address its diverse problems and, through an open presentation, develop a better understanding of these challenges,” he added.

“We should consider the offer seriously and take it up, with the Centre and the University,” said Dr. Thirivasagam, while appreciating the initiative by the Department of Politics and C-NES.

The opening of the exhibition was followed by a moving one-woman, one-act play, ‘Thagippu’ in Tamil by the theatre group Marapachi, on the crisis in Manipur, of human rights violations as well as the courage of women activists there and those resisting a predatory State elsewhere. After a question and answer session, a second screening of the documentary was held with more questions being raised of the director, Maulee Senapati, and the producer Sanjoy Hazarika.

The two sides propose to develop a formal framework of collaboration which will enable the ideas to be encapsulated in a precise programme of training, research and field work. This will benefit students, faculty and others, creating a deeper understanding of a complex region and its challenging realities.

The Event, which was sponsored by the Heinrich Boll Foundation of Germany, now moves to Kolkata (29 Sept to 1 October) because traveling to Mumbai (Nov 15-16), Guwahati (Oct 23-24) and Kohima (Oct 29-30).