Development strategies of the Indian state in the Himalayan Borderlands of Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to examine the concretisation of the Indian state in the borderlands of Arunachal Pradesh through infrastructure building as development strategy. The paper argues that this strategy is an exercise in undoing this imagery of remoteness, constructed during colonial and immediate post-colonial years through continuation of colonial exclusionary administrative regulations, for transformation of what existed as a frontier region into a securitised border. The paper explores the twin development strategies of expansion of road network and construction of hydropower projects by the Indian state towards this borderland. Further, the paper delves into the environmental implications of these developmental projects in the Himalayan borderlands. Based on the fieldwork conducted in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh the paper examines the nature of ongoing development projects from the perspective of local aspirations.