The project on Women and Borders in South Asia seeks to explore one of the most pertinent problem plaguing the region. This segment ties with the preceding section on the basis of a critical examination of the democratic theory in the post-colonial context. It means that besides taking the context of globalization into account the study proposes to draw in the experiences of two kinds of margins—the viewpoint of women who stand at the margin of patriarchy, and the viewpoint of border, where normal democratic rules and privileges seem to stand suspended, as if in a permanent exception. This segment therefore visualizes a research programme that configures the border both in metaphor and reality, and aims to take a hard look at the interface of gender and democracy, which has been in recent times investigated by feminist theorists and historians elsewhere and to some extent in India by feminist thinkers and historians. 

The core of this segment is informed by the understanding that borders not only represent attempts at sanitising an area or a territory, but they also represent paradoxically the lines of hatred, disunity, informal connections, voluminous informal trade, securitized and militarized lines, heavy para-military presence, communal discord, humanitarian crisis, human rights abuses and enormous suspicion, yet immeasurable informal cooperation. Borders become the site where this contest over inclusion and exclusion is played out. They demarcate the inside form the outside, and the singular from the pluralistic space. Yet borders are not only lines but borderlands—that is to say these are area where people live, pursue economic activities, and lead civilian lives attuned to the realities of the borders. Human security in the borderlands would mean first security of the civilian population along the borderlines. 

 Now in this background, the proposal seeks to examine: What happens to women on the borders, and what is the significance of this situation of double marginality for a critical study of democracy? This segment thus concerns itself with women living in these borderlands, which Edward Said had once termed as the “the perilous territory of not-belonging”. It will investigate how women negotiate their differences with politics and polities, albeit democratic, which deny space to differences based on location or gender. Women living in the borders form the collective subject of this proposed segment, not merely because they belong to these perilous territories or the borders, but because women also form the borders. Women belonging to both settled, immigrant communities, and those living in the enclaves face many kinds of marginalization. Such marginalization affects women in areas such as Northeast India, Kashmir, Rajasthan and many other regions, as India has over 17 border states. Till date however no study has been conducted keeping this particular problematic in mind. Thus such a research work, inspired by ethnographic methods and historical studies, will not just feel a gap in the existing literature on governance but it will also have definite policy implications. This segment proposes to conduct ethnographic research, workshops as well as some archival study. The work will build on select case studies.

First Research Workshop on Women and Borders in South Asia on 1^st August, 2009 in Bhuveneshwar 

The session began with Paula Banerjee and Samir Kumar Das extending a welcome to the participants to the series of discussions on Women and Borders in South Asia. This was followed by a round of self introduction of the participants.

The opening session was chaired by Asha Hans.

 Ranabir Samaddar in his introductory remarks pointed out that while questions of citizenship are discussed in our academia, they are not addressed from the perspective of the borders. Rarely do we find studies on borders connected to globalization. In this connection he mentioned that the other segment of the research programme, that ICSSR is supporting, is Globalization and Sustainability of Rights. In more than one way the issue of women and borders are connected to the question of rights. In fact, the impact of rights under present conditions is an important concern. He hoped that this research project will open up such new research themes.

He further held that borders in a banal sense imply translation, though not  in the sense it is used in cultural studies. Translation signifies transgressing the roles and the impact of transgression on socio-economic and political life of the country. The subject decides to cross the border mostly as labouring subject, involving the whole question  of translation. The articulation of the labouring subject in borders is crucial to understanding border studies. How these particular forms of labour becomes general labour  moving from the language of use value to the language of exchange value. Without keeping the dynamics of market in mind, this crucial way in which border helps in transgression will be missed out. Therefore, the language of the market is a key factor in transgression and articulation of labour.  It must be remembered that capitalism itself produces subject.

Borders produce collective subjects. It is crucial to examine how collective subjects are produced if one studies borders against the backdrop of globalization. This is important because in the study on history of immigration and subject formation the nationalist historiography did not take cognizance of social histories . Border plays an important part in primitive accumulation, affected through non-economic means. On the other hand, when one thinks of it is an older mode and the notion as derived from citizenship, one finds that behind every success of capital there are evidences of primitive accumulation. The migrant women traveling for work is an instance to the point

Transgression of border within the nature of capital itself needs to be probed in the border studies. The relation between immigration and class structure is an important dimension. Moreover the question of border is also a question of method. How do we treat border as a method of study? In other words, how we do use the notion of border and boundaries as a methodological question? Looking at the history of citizenship Balibar speaks about exercise in otherness. Social citizenship is becoming a reality. This history would tell us that citizenship itself is a concept in motion. What happens to citizenship in the context of territory, authority and rights? Women as labouring subjects will show that citizenship rights are evolving.  

At the beginning while addressing about the project Paula Banerjee mentioned that borders are a geo-political site. Being geo-political space they have become regions of conflicts. In South Asia borders play an important role in the history of citizenship. Being regions of conflicts there is an inherent tendency to masculinise borders through intensive militarization. When we look at citizenship, women cannot be seen as citizens of exception, women are constantly operating under different realities of citizenship and laws of citizenship. For instance even till 1967 the women could not pass their property rights to their children. This shows that women are on the borderland of citizenship. It is through ethnographic studies we would be able to unravel the mobility of borders. Globalization has shown how women are being subject to mobility and are seen as potential sexual threats. Globalization has brought to focus how the state seeks to harness mobility which often takes the form of sexual mobility. For instance the very question of ownership of agricultural land, rights of women within customary laws shows how women share and live with different realities. She hoped that the different agendas and questions posited on the borders would make inroads into hitherto masculine spaces. 

Asha Hans in her opening address hoped that through this research project  newer dimension of citizenship rights will emerge. In other words the invisible constituencies of globalization and how it affects women’s citizenship rights can be seen. Statelessness that is produced by citizenship needs to be probed from the purview of national identities. Borders in the feminist studies also need to be looked at from the transgression of women’s body, her identity. It is not a question of what borders do to us but what we do with them. The pedantic political language needs to be revisited. The entitlements of citizenship rights of women on the borders needs to be probed and the research study should be able to come up with borders beyond territoriality and the boundaries produced by the territorial borders in the lives of women on the borders. 

Session I: 

In Session I Khesheli Chishi Sema as the chair invited the three paper presenters of the session to present their research proposals. Shuchismita in her proposal on “Women voices on Border ( Jammu & Kashmir)” presented a case study of Shehnaz from Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Living on the borderline of Poonch area in 1995 was convicted to undergo trial. In the jail she was raped by the warden. She gave birth to a girl child in Nari Niketan. Though she was sentenced for a year; but she remained under detention for 6 years. Pakistan did not accept her daughter because she was the Indian citizen. Through the narrative of Shehnaz Shuchismita sought to show the plight of legal constitution of citizenship rights of women on the borders (J& K) particularly when women cross the geographical lines of border. Thus women in the trouble torn border state of J&K constitute a silent suffering majority which can be used as “effective constituency of peace” being major stakeholders of peace but for policy makers and all parties they continue to be non- entities. The excessive militarization of the borders has always been an issue for the border women as there is a persistent fear of infiltrators and militants. In the villages along the zero line the securitization measures by the state like border fencing, landmines have snatched their livelihood. One of the major concerns is absence of health care in border areas and the civil administration has failed to fulfill societal requirements for individual and social development – security, identity, recognition and participation. The border are not only becoming sites of administrative exclusion where health and education facilities needs to be improved to ensure the basic rights of women but it is also preventing the women from becoming agents of peace and justice. In her proposed study she plans to look into the root causes of deprivation of the people at the borders, particularly women like Shehnaaz, and understanding their impact of both under development and militarization of women at the borders of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Anausua Basu Ray Chaudhury in “(Re) constructing Space: Experience of the Displaced in West Bengal” proposed to examine how women negotiated the territorial and spatial dimension of relationships produced by newly constructed international border between India and Pakistan after 1947. The main emphasis of the study would be to focus on how women cope with borders bound by patriarchy, masculinity and conflicts. The study will focus on two districts of West Bengal- Nadia (particularly for the history of refugee camps) and Calcutta. The key words that mark the journey of migration of people from East Pakistan are: dhan (wealth), man (honour) and pran (life). People were forced to migrate and millions were uprooted and displaced by partition. This massive forced migration has to be read closely firstly from the vantage point of the class /caste position of women refugees and how certain collective identities were created or reinforced. For instance, the experience of the middle class refugees is different from low caste refugees. For the middle class refugees their already existing social network system aided their entry into new spaces and new walks of life. Most of the middle class migrants refused to go into refugee camps because of the fear of loss of honour Secondly, pre- partition, female members used to live in a private space andarmahal and partition produced newer insecurities and uncertainties. It will be important to examine how the women negotiated between public and private space that had become blurred  in the post partition contexts, especially in jabardakhal colonies and refugee camps. Thirdly, it will be important to address how the women who were shifted to the camps negotiated with the local inhabitants outside the camps in the day to day interactions and whether they faced any caste-wise discrimination from the host state at the time of getting relief and rehabilitation. Fourthly, through a study of refugee movements by women in the jabar dakhal colonies of Calcutta it will be significant to understand how women reorganize their space while reconstructing alien lives in an alien land after displacement. 

In her research proposal entitled “Fencing women on the Borders?” Supurna Banerjee sought to examine that narrative of the borders which have been so far largely ignored. The narratives of partition have almost always traveled through three distinct trajectories namely: studying the event as a continuing process, documenting the voice of the displaced and the refugee experience that followed partition. There is an absence of the personal narratives of people who reside on the borders. People residing on it face a multitude of problems that stretches from developmental, economic to security related issues. Critical to understanding the border is realizing the prevailing sense of identity crisis coupled with the dilemma of non-belongingness that accentuates in cases of violence. She talks about the dual marginalization that the women suffer due to a) their spatial location and b) their location in the patriarchal hierarchy. Her paper would study the way in which border management agencies have impacted the lives of the people especially women. The research would thus look into the role of these border agencies, namely the BSF, human rights organisations, political parties, the panchayats and the state in negotiating realities of bordered existence— whether they institutionalize the existing marginalization or seek to negotiate it. The field work would be conducted in the Bangladeshi enclaves of Charmeghna and Gandhina.  

Ritu Menon’s comments and observations as discussant: 

Ritu Menon pointed out that the excitement of feminist enquiry is its constantly shifting axes. She enquired whether it is possible to conceptualize the border in fresh terms which has an inherent relation to the feminist perspective. In the present trajectory of enquiry women have no relationship with the border. Their relationship with the border is translated through their relation with BSF, and other factors but what is the experiential and existential dimension of crossing borders that is specifically feminist.

Secondly, she pointed out that the borders should not be conceived essentially as fixed frozen state. It can be seen that in South Asia there is existence of every type of border and the reality of each is starkly different form the other. There may be a need to explore the borders from the perspective of security/insecurity. Is it possible that the borders provide women with a place of refuge, of security, not only in terms of nation or military but also otherwise?

With regard to Shuchismita’s proposal she suggested that there was a need to explore how illegitimacy can be given citizenship. While discussing anasua’s proposal she enquired whether the documentation of the oral history of the partition refugees in the permanent liability camps could be a problem considering their age. With respect to Supurna’s proposal she pointed out that everyday the situation is being complicated in these areas because it is not dealt with. The people might also not want the resolution of the anxieties as uncertainty acts as advantage especially where certainty may spell much worse. 

Other suggestions and comments on the proposals: 

Shuchismita:

Ø        The research study should take into account the health dimensions in the border areas. 

 Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury

Ø        It was enquired how she would mediate between the fictive and non – fictive and record oral narrative and memory as these can all be constructions. Therefore presuming that these accounts are the only truth may not always be accurate. 

Ø        There are certain peculiarities in the women’s experiences. Why are we assuming that women in the pre-partition time did not have to negotiate with the same in the post – partition time? There is a need to introduce the historical element – what did the refugees do when they were not refugees. There is an assumption that border is liminal space and spaces of exception. There might be a detailing of how the situation was normalized with only few exceptions. From this it is possible to understand whether their history was another chapter in the history of normalizing the situation.  

Supurna Banerjee

Ø        There is a need to differentiate between the ethics of care and the language of rights as the two implies very different things.

Ø        It must also be remembered that in the border areas the language of care is born out of the language of power.

Ø        It would be interesting to examine whether the women living in the border area have any conception of citizenship at all or do they relate only to their specific locality. These perceptions of the women should be brought out in the research. 

General Discussion:

Ø        In case of women in conflict, specifically those who have been combatants the whole question of border takes a new nuance here. They cross the borders of traditional society to enter a new space of the combatants. However, once they are disbanded and seek to return to their earlier homes they find that the ‘home’ no longer exists. This study of the dual crossing of the borders should also be explored. 

Session II: 

This session was chaired by Samir Kumar Das. The first presentation was by Paula Banerjee entitled “Overcoming Other Borders: Naga Women”. In her presentation she stressed on three primary points:

1.       Borders of democratic states, as the kind found in South Asia, often emerge as conflict zones and women and other marginal groups are caught up in these conflicts often inadvertently. One needs to study different women’s organizations in Nagaland, particularly, the Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) against this context and analyze how they negotiate between different borders—that of the state, ethnicity, kinship and clan. Responding to multiple borders, and responding to different situations differently they talked about state versus community scenario and also community versus community scenario.

2.       Women not only belong to borders, but also form them: borders of citizenship by virtue of being forced to live under repressive system existing in the borderland and other forms of repressions for being women. In Indian borderlands, engagement of women with national and ethnic collectivities leads to further discrimination against them. Social attitudes get transformed into legal provisions in due time. How do the women then negotiate such multiple borders given borders’ propensity to violence? How do the Naga women negotiate these internal borders?

3.       In the process of customary laws being transformed into constitutional laws, more and more Naga women might lose out on property, an institution to which really small numbers of women from this land have actual rights and access to. 

While presenting her proposal on “Borderlands and Borderlines: Renegotiating Boundaries through a Gender Lens in Jammu and Kashmir”  Sumona Dasgupta intended to analyze the borderlines emerging newly within the territorial existence of J&K using gender as the leitmotif. Attempting to unlock women out of their victimhood discourse, questions have been formed keeping in mind the fact that over a period of time, the “problem of Kashmir” has been transformed in to “problem in Kashmir”. It has been identified as a border province with several de facto regimes of power.

1.       There are urban-rural divides and its impact on women.

2.       The question of religious boundaries and its consequent challenges on women.

3.       Politicization and militarization of conflicts.

4.       Breaking up the private-public boundaries in masculinized military societies  and how these women negotiate with that reality in absence of their male counterparts.

5.       The widening gulf between the educated elite and the rest.

6.       In a hyper securitized situation, how women fail to build bridges, keeping in mind the intersections between gender, clan, pastoral/non pastoral identities.

7.       The boundary in the villages between the widows of the upper and the lower Dardpora was highlighted to be a case. 

Asha Hans’ comments and observations as discussant: 

Asha  pointed out the centrality of the question of language—language of borders that this project might bring out against the issue of victimhood.  There is a need to come out of the language of victimhood and  also locate other spaces.

The effect of globalization is evident not only in our mentality but also in the way things are changing. The fact that the NMA is no more what it was a few years ago is a case to the point. Feminist research till now has limited itself to converting the converted alone, but now it has to move out to other spaces as well. There is a pedantic politics already existing. The politics of history and language therefore becomes relevant. She also laid stress on the issues of  rights and entitlements. Further, she pointed out that a similarity can  be observed in situations of people along borders even if borders are considered to be fluid. The concept of border can be expanded by bringing within its fold the concept of motherhood and the consequent changes that it had undergone. This needs to be explored keeping in mind the stories of Russian mothers etc, the mothers who have disappeared in J&K. bringing in subjects from outside feminist research. 

Other suggestions and comments on the proposals: 

Paula Banerjee:

Ø        The mindscape has to be re-adjusted  to the homogenization of women of North East India. Also the question of why do younger women not come into the NMA should be stressed. One has to keep in mind that not many autonomous movements in India of late have seen many young women’s participation. A possible reason for this may be conceived as the emergence of the phenomena of globalization, corporatism etc.

Ø        If one wants to predicate the Naga/Assamese women dichotomy, it has to be seen as the divide between people from the hill and the people from the valley rather than as just women. Therefore contextualizing is important.

Ø        Further enquiry may be directed into the whole process of creation of nationhood and what role do these organizations play in the process. 

Sumona Dasgupta:

Ø        The research should seek to explore a particular strand of thinking like urban-rural divide and its consequences for the women and point of alienation in the same village. Instead of concentrating on a gamut of questions an in depth probe into one or two questions would be advisable. 

General Discussion:

Ø        The internal and external borders are enmeshed through the dual processes of militarization and marginalization.

Ø        In the whole notion of how women negotiate the borders, how many conceptions of negotiation comes about—doing away with borders, living with borders and a world where the borders seemingly do not exist. 

Session III: 

In the third session Gina Shangkham as the Chairperson, introduced the three paper presenters. Chitra Ahanthem’s proposal on “Sanitized Societies and Dangerous Interlopers: Women of a border town: Moreh” focused exclusively on the plight of women, in the border town of Moreh. She explores the way in which the porous boundary of the country with a close proximity to the Golden Triangle becomes a perennial zone of peril for the people living in the vicinity. With the ever escalating problems of drug trafficking, and the area serving as training grounds for insurgency, kidnappings, suicides, secret killings in the casinos coupled with an augmented growth of diseases like HIV/AIDS and bird flu, the Northeast has now come to be a vignette of a completely disturbed region that has only intensified it’s already existing quandaries with the opening up of the new trade routes and new economic opportunities through the border. It is held that although the hilly terrain of Moreh does not facilitate much agriculture but it has conversely been able to successfully boast of large scale poppy produce where a kilogramme would bring a sweeping 3 lakh of rupees for a family. Poppy cultivation however has been a major menace in deteriorating women’s health whereby, the women who were involved in the cultivation process and were breast feeding, were unable to lactate. The study would therefore seek to explore the impact of poppy cultivation on women’s health. It would also delve into the way in which other deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS impact on the women in Moreh. She would finally address the issue of communities in the border town boxed in by their vulnerabilities by even looking at patriarchal customary laws that are the fulcrum of understanding women’s right violations.  

Sahana Basvapatna in her proposal on  “A Study of the Experiences of women crossing borders in Mizoram” seeks to examine the theme from two perspectives— first how the legal frame and secondly how cultural, political ties of Mizroram itself affect the Burmese migrants to India. A host of factors led to the migration of the people from the Chin state to Mizoram. The Indo- Burma border thus becomes extremely significant for continuing migration and cross border terrorism. The research seeks to focus on the experiences of women crossing these borders and the response of both the state and the Central governments. It is through the legal frame that she seeks to analyse how women who have been forced to migrate negotiate the complex social, political and economic web of relationships of being branded as a foreigner and in many cases illegal. The law being rooted in the patriarchal mindset is inadequate in perceiving and responding to women’s needs. She seeks to establish how Mizoram through its restrictions of foreigners becomes another example of how it seeks to sanitize society. 

Anjuman Ara Begum’s research paper entitled “Life in crossroads: Border, Fencing and women in the borderlines of West Garo hills” intended to explore the different gendered impacts of constructing fencing at the border and building narratives of the women in the borderlands; focusing on those who are specific victims of fencing as fencing forced many women to loose their land resources. Fencing construction along the borderlands is constantly resisted by the local population who claimed they would lose farmlands as it extends beyond the zero line. In borders of West Garo Hills restriction over women’s mobility is much enhanced by the presence of heavy deployment of BSF. Life in borderlands of West Garo Hills is not free from violence. The research will represent women’s understanding of fencing along the border and its consequences through first hand perspectives and narratives of borderliners of West Garo hills.   

.N.Vijaylakshmi Brara’s comments and observations as dicussant: 

The whole issue of the border in the context of North East India has become significant in view of the government of India’s Look East Policy. The impact of this globalization effort has a definite impact on the women’s livelihood and sustainability. Their intention can be gauged from the vision 2020 document, where no efforts have been spared in trying to bring the North-East region in the mainstream.

The tribal societies under study are essentially closed societies with static traditional structures. Is it giving a lee-way to the women an escape route or are they becoming more vulnerable? 

Ø        She made the following suggestions on the methodology:

1.       It will be interesting to do a comparative of the same communities one near the border and the one far away from it along with certain loose ended variables

2.       Need to have a clear hypothesis.

Ø        In the background of identity and territorial issues the borders here transmit and transact matter as well as the mind – how does it redefine women’s identity as well as their citizenship and how does it impact by the women civil society or perhaps get impacted by them

Ø        North east has been an active trade route from ancient times. There must be a whole gamut of border narratives among the communities. Need to gather and infer them. And also see the new elements evolved in these narratives over a period of time. Has there been any change in the way the border women are perceived in these narratives as well as how these women perceive their border societies, their non-bordered sisters, as well as their nations. What about the border  proverbial discourses. 

Other suggestions and comments on the proposals:

Sahana Basavapatna 

Ø        The recent arrivals of refugees from Burma show that they are passing through Mizoram but not settling there.

Ø        It was suggested that it would be advisable to concentrate on law and jurisprudence. A comparison of the cases coming up in the Guwhati High Court alternative notions of jurisprudence may emerge. 

General Discussion:

Ø        With nationalism in itself becoming a contested issue there is a need to examine what do the women in the border areas think of nationalism.

Ø        All the three proposals together present something of an extra-national universe. There was no need to link the issues discussed with nationality. Rather they may not be related to the nation as an established space. They may be spaces not following the national rules of governance. 

Session IV: Finalization of the research project

In the concluding session Sabyasachi Basu Ray Choudhury invited Supurna Banerjee to present the minutes of the workshop. Paula Banerjee presented the plan of work.

Ø        Revised proposals to be submitted by  22^nd  August following which the letters of contract will be sent.

Ø        The first draft of the papers to be submitted by 31^st December  . They will be sent to a commentator and they will be returned by January with the commentator’s observations to enable the researchers  to further rework their proposal before the workshop.

Ø        A joint workshop on the two segments of the ICSSR project will be held tentatively on the 13/14^th February.

Ø        The Advisory Committee was proposed with Asha Hans, Ritu Menon, Sanjay Chatturvedi as members. Gina Sangkham, Kheshili Chishi and Vijaylakshmi Brara will remain as advisors to the project.

Ø        The final draft to be submitted by the end of April .

Ø        The papers should have an average length of 8000 to 10,000 words.

Ø        An appeal was made to the participants present to enlist the help of another organization. 

The conference ended with a vote of thanks by Paula Banerjee.

 
Research workshop on Women and Borders in South Asia by CRG in collaboration with ICSSR Date: 1^st August 2009 Venue: Hotel Hindusthan International, Bhuveneshwar 

 9:00 - 9:30 am                         Registration

9:30-10:00am                          Opening Session                                      

                                                 Chair : Asha Hans, Sansristi.

                                                 Opening Address : Ranabir Samaddar, CRG.

  Introducing the research workshop : Paula Banerjee, CRG and University of Calcutta.

10.00 -10.30 am                        Tea Break

Session I                                 Women, Partition and Borders

10:30 -12:00 am

                                                Chair: Khesheli Chishi Sema, Naga Mother’s Association

(I)                 Women Voices on Border - Presentation of  a research proposal by Suchismita, Kashmir Times.

(II)              (Re)Constructing space?: Experiences of the Disabled Women in West Bengal - Presentation of a research proposal by Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, University of Calcutta.

(III)            Fencing Women on the Borders? - Presentation of a research proposal by Supurna Banerjee, CRG.

                                                Discussant: Ritu Menon, Women Unlimited.

Session II                                 Overcoming Borders and Boundaries of Other Kinds

12:00-1:00 pm 

                                                    Chair:  Samir Kumar. Das, CRG, University of Calcutta.

(I)      Overcoming ‘Other’ Borders?: Naga Women - Presentation of  a research proposal by Paula Banerjee, CRG and  University of Calcutta.

(II)  Borderlands and Borderlines: Renegotiating Boundaries through a Gender Lens in Jammu and Kashmir -  Presentation of a research proposal by Sumona Dasgupta, WISCOMP.

                                                 Discussant: Asha Hans, Sansristi.

1.00-2.00pm                  Lunch Break

Session III                  Sanitized Society and Dangerous Interlopers

2.00- 3.30pm                                                      

                                     Chair: Gina Shangkham, Naga Women’s Union

(I)                 Women of a Border Town: Moreh - Presentation of research proposal by Chitra Ahanthem, Imphal Free Press

(II)              Sanitized societies and dangerous interlopers: A study of experiences of women crossing borders in Mizoram- Presentation of research proposal by Sahana Basavapatna, The Other Media.

(III)            Life in Crossroads, Border, Fencing and Women in the Borderlines of West   Garo Hills - Presentation of research proposal by Anjuman Ara Begum.                                      

                                    Discussant: Vijaylakshmi Brara, Manipur University.

3.30-4.00pm                  Tea Break

Session IV                   Finalizing Research Programme

4.00-5.00 pm      

                                     Chair: Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Rabindra Bharati University and CRG.

(I)              Paula Banerjee, University of Calcutta and CRG.