Cattle Smuggling Is Still On (Full Report Coming Soon...)

This paper will focus on the aspect of culture survival of the local/indigenous/folk/marginalized peoples in this era of global market economy.

2019

Indian Railways has taken various steps to prioritize investment in important areas. Indian Railways seeing stiff competition from other modes of transportation, the Government of India is initiating various transformative measures to keep railways on track. These measures are focusing on prioritizing investment in important areas like Dedicated Freight Corridors, high speed rail, high capacity rolling stock, last mile rail linkage, port connectivity and attracting private and foreign investment. It is holds that the tremendous prospects in the short, medium and long term as it undergoes rapid modernization. In the upgrading railway infrastructure has become a core focus for the Government. Electrification of railway route from Katihar to Raninagar Jalpaiguri and from Maldah Town to Kumedpur sections had been in an advanced stage. The project for electrification from Raninagar Jalpaiguri to New Bongaigaon and then from New Bongaigaon to Guwahati was entrusted with Rail Vikash Nigam ...

This paper is based on my field work in 4 correctional homes/prisons of West Bengal where in I have tried to explore the conditions of women from Bangladesh and Myanmar (Rohingya) who have been incarcerated in India under the Foreigner's act for 'illegally' crossing over the Indo-Bangladesh borders. I engage with the subject by critically inquiring into what is 'illegal' here? What does border mean to the people who for economic and myriad reasons are forced to migrate? How legitimate is it to brand them within categories? Drawing from my interviews in the prisons and historically looking at the issue through the lens of partition of the Indian subcontinent, this paper argues that migration through these borders have remained natural through time immemorial and thus we need to reorient our thoughts instead on the volatile construction of artificial 'borders' that have resulted into dividing homes and hearts. Are the migrants 'illegal' in this context or is it the new modern state that renders human flow as illegal' and capital flow as 'legal'?

1. Chhitmahal: The Defacto Stateless of the Indi-Bangla Border by Atig GHosh 2. On the Edge: Women-Life and Confinement by Sucharita Sengupta 3. Continuum of Violence: The Case of Indo-Bangladesh Border by Paula Banerjee Atig Ghosh: Ghosh’s paper explores the lives and livelihood practices of de-facto stateless people in chhitmahals or enclaves along the border of India and Bangladesh. Sucharita Sengupta: Sengupta’s paper looked at the experiences of Bangladeshi women in Indian prisons arrested on the charge of cross-border migration without necessary documents. Paula Banerjee: Banerjee’s paper studied different forms of violence as an endemic attribute of border existence with specific focus on the Indo-Bangladesh border.