The tribes of the North East were unsure of being incorporated within the new administrative machinery after independence because they were conscious of their:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Distinct identity and traditional autonomy
Option (1) Distinct identity and traditional autonomy — Correct. The hill tribes were conscious of their distinct identity and traditional autonomy. So after independence they were unsure of being incorporated within the administrative machinery of Assam.
Option (2) Shared language and common religion — Incorrect. The tribes of the North East are many separate groups, and their worry was losing their own identity and self-rule. A shared language or a common religion is not the reason given for their doubt.
Option (3) Forest rights and mineral wealth — Incorrect. Forest rights and mineral wealth are economic and ecological concerns of tribal movements, seen in the loss of forest lands and the mining projects of Jharkhand. The unease of the North East tribes came from their sense of identity and self-rule.
Option (4) Educational and economic backwardness — Incorrect. Backwardness in education or income is not the reason given. The tribes feared losing their traditional autonomy, which is a matter of identity and self-rule.
NCERT (2026-27): “The North East “The rise of ethnicity in the region is thus a response to cope with the new situation which developed as a consequence of the tribe’s contact with a powerful alien system. Long isolated from the Indian mainstream the tribes were able to maintain their own worldview and social and cultural institutions with little external influence. …While the earlier phase showed a tendency towards secessionism, this trend has been replaced by a search for autonomy within the framework of the Indian Constitution (Nongbri 2003: 115).” |