North East region is often described as the cultural mosaic of India consisting of diverse tribal communities, linguistics and ethnic identity. Often these identities transcend the territorial and social boundaries drawn by the state government and community at large. The region is geographically isolated from the mainland by 22 km long known as the chicken neck. People of North East experiences discriminations in the mainland in the forms of sexual violence and other social and economic dimensions. Social exclusion is the leading cause of conflict and insecurity in the region. As NE is located in the vulnerable zone where about 90% of its borders are international boundaries connected to Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Adding to its vulnerability are unemployment, gender based violence, human trafficking, conflict and oppressive social structure.
The economy is purely an agrarian where 70% of the people’s sources of income derive from land and forest. Government policy and framework has not been able to provide the basis of sustainable development process especially good transport and other infrastructure facilities. The conflict situation and trend of globalized economy has hit hard the people in the north east especially the poorest and internally displaced communities.
The working group of CENRs have extensively conducted trainings and workshops for the rural communities affected by oil and gas drilling and by other extractive initiatives on livelihood security, labour rights, skill development, and other alternative income generating activities. Village level consultations are held to discuss on community level policy and strategy to protect and manage their resources. Initiatives has been started to map community land using GIS/GPS.
To bring about standard framework of Community Development Agreement, series of community level meetings and consultations has been held. Stakeholder’s engagement approach has been recommended for the overall social and economic development whereby local participation is place at the centre.