The contours of Assams development and security reveal acontinuumof turbulence
and conflict. Over the centuries, Assamassimilatedlarge number of ethnic groups,
and remained the keystate of IndiasNorth-East. It anchors other smaller states
of theregion in termsof connectivity, geography, economy, history andsociety.
ExceptTripura and Manipur, all other states in North-EastIndia werecarved out of
Assam during the 1970s and 1980s duetoethno-identity politics. During this
period, continuousmigrationfrom Bangladesh threatened its economic,
cultural,politicalexistence, and the psyche of the indigenous people ofAssam.
Allthis resulted in the historic Assam movement, whichgradually gottransformed
into an insurgency. The ever presentviolence foreverchanged the destiny of Assam
for worse withmulti-layered securityproblems. The states economy which
wasleading in the first fewdecades after