Natural Resources Contested in Autonomous Councils: Assessing the Causes of Ethnic Conflict in North-East India

Constitutional arrangements for peripheral areas in India reflect the national government’s instrumentalist attempts at decentralising bureaucratic and administrative control in far-flung (essentially hill) areas. Karbi Anglong is one of the two hill districts in Assam where there are special constitutional provisions for indigenous ethnic groups to elect and run their own councils. The constitutional provisions allow for nominal control over forest and land by allocating certain areas of the territory to the Autonomous Council, which then re-allocates these areas to its political constituencies. This article explores the reasons why, despite the constitutional efforts at decentralisation of powers to Autonomous Councils, violence between different ethnic groups and the state continues to define the civic and political discourse in Anglong district.