“The Northeast has always been explored in terms of its cultural aspect. We are trying to learn more about its social and political situation,” said Bhagat Oniam, an associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Oniam is also one of the organisers of the seminar.

The seminar will be attended by 38 representatives from various universities in Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Meghalaya. They will discuss issues related to insurgency, alienation, empowerment and development of respective areas.

JNU Vice-Chancellor B B Bhattacharya will chair the event, while Mrinal Miri — former vice-chancellor of the North East Hill University, Shillong — will give the key note address. The seminar is being organised by the North East India Study Programme (NEISP) at JNU, which was set up in 2006 under the School of Social Sciences with the purpose of carrying out research on the region.

“The Centre had in 2003 dictated to all its ministries that ten per cent of all annual expenditure should be devoted to programmes related to the Northeast. NEISP is part of those recommendations. However, we have not been able to do much work until now due to lack of funds,” Oniam said.

“As professors at JNU, we expect new ideas and views, which will provide an impetus to our research work on the Northeast,” said Tiplut Nongbri, the Convener of the NEISP. Tiplut added the move was initiated because the Northeast was slowly becoming a major area of research at JNU.

“A lot of students and professors are extensively researching on various aspects of the area,” she said.