Mark Mungray
Arunachal Pradesh, like any other state, claims to be diverse and is indeed diverse in every human aspect possible.
As a tribal would put it, the state is inhabited by various cultural tribes, and these tribes have their roots in a particular clan. My study attempts to reflect the power disparities and divergent capitalist relations within the state, which will have a link to the so-called tribal clans of the state.
The analysis of this paper outlines the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) fiasco that emerged in early 2023 as well as the other black business deals in the public sector that had happened earlier.
Rather than mere criticizing the institution and communities, I try to look at it from a different perspective and outline the socioeconomic and political dimensions.
The dominant clans of Abotani, as I would put it, occupy a great number of positions in Arunachal’s political and administrative institutions. The clan of Abotanis is not to be blamed for its comparative economic prosperity in the state because the prosperity that they enjoy today is not a result of economic exploitation or colonizing the minorities but is rather a result of its forward vision.
This majority group of people has given birth to uncountable capitalists in the state as well as another group of elites, which are the servants of the public itself, in other words, the government employees.
A group of minorities exists in any contemporary society; however, what distinguishes one from another is how a minority is treated by the majority.
In the state, as I would put it, a minority is constituted due to three main practices;low economic capacity to sustain life and its requirements, dominance in politics by the dominant political representatives and lack of representation in the public service is another dimension that is constituted by intellectuals.
Keeping aside the scandal that unmasks the beautiful lies in the state institutions, the events show the disparities in society, which are performed by the three elites in the state.
-Capitalists
-Political representatives
-Public service
The disparities are not only in terms of economics, which determines the ability to purchase a state service, but also in terms of the divergent capitalist relations in the state that is, between the capitalists of minorities and the majorities’. It would be totally lame to regard the minorities as a group of individuals possessing the moral compass, which straightened up to the doors of heaven.
Because the minds of capitalists function in a way that would aspire to continue their dominance in society therefore, the argument I put forward is why certain sections of society, particularly minorities, are unable to transact such services. Is it because they are incapable in terms of economics? Or rather, not being able to afford it?
These communities and the few capitalists the minorities have produced are arguably able to participate in the beautiful lies of the transactions in state institutions, but the reason they lack is because of the divergent capitalist relations between the dominant clans and the clans of minorities.
If a chance was to be offered by the institutions and agents to these communities, then one would certainly accept the offer of lie’s transactions for establishing the status quo.
However, this offer cannot be achieved by the minorities through the means of force; rather, this offer can be achieved by exchanging social relations, which cannot be attained if attempted intentionally, but these multiethnic relations are achieved through a series of events that take place over a long period of time, and this exactly has been lacking.
This event also reveals the political power disparities in the state of the rising sun, where the light rays of ‘oneness’ blind society from the real sight of uneven power distribution. Political power is greater when there is the presence of wealth as well as support from the people, which basically implies the population, but it cannot be denied that a charismatic leader with a strong, genuine vision is also supported by people of other ethnicities and the population in general. However, despite having such leaders in the dominant political arena, the leaders of certain regions are ignored, and this is evident. Few leaders of minorities were and are continuously ignored, whereas their contemporaries chained with controversies were and are preferred.
This ignorance goes beyond the sectors of wealth and political parties and rather shows the general obnoxious nature of certain communities in the dominant political arena and, more than that, the emotional attachment amongst the dominant political leaders who are tied to strong cultural bonds.
The other elites in Arunachal society consist of public service officials. It is evident without spitting out facts that the public service is occupied by certain dominant clans. Once again, the dominant clans are not to be blamed for occupying the services in institutions, as they have achieved this with their own determination.
For a state like Arunachal, the earnings made by the officials of the department are more than enough to survive in the state. These officials in many ways try to employ the people of their own community, or rather individuals that serve their own interests, which also ends up recruiting individuals from one’s own community, from the position of peon to top-level chairman, if in any case that is possible.
The public servant elites are also present in the communities of minorities, and it would be hypocritical to not assume that elites from minorities might not have tried to do the same.
However, the difference lies in the scale of power used by these elites to employ individuals that serve their interests. The reason is outlined in either comparative lower positions or the lack of political support in the arena of beautiful lies in the state institution.
Therefore, this continuous turbulence faced by the civil society of Arunachal shows that there is a lack of human exchange in the society, or rather, an unequal quality of human exchange. For good or for worse, the exchange of people is required in a politically demarcated geographic area.
In the state, the human exchange between the people of different clans is perhaps very rare, as rare as February 29.
The little human migration is performed by businessmen, which is limited, through the course of marriage, where one is bonded and absorbs the knowledge to assimilate rather than learning. The other migration is performed by public servant employees, which is performed on a larger scale.
Therefore, it is evident that there is human exchange between the communities through public service, but the dominant clan is mostly engaged in government services, which require technical knowledge, and by carrying this exact position, one travels to the far-flung places inhabited by the minorities.
It is through exposure to foreign culture, language, habits, lifestyle, etcetera, that one gathers knowledge and shares it with one’s own back home, but since there is an uneven standard of positions occupied, the perspective on life envisioned by, frankly speaking, a 10th standard qualifier and a postgraduate standard would vary, which could be stated as a difference between a Mithun and a Cow.
For instance, the Tirap region fails to produce qualified representatives of elites in the public service sector.
The few human exchanges done between the dominant clan and the minorities are uneven in ways such as the following:
The Tirap region employees are employed in services that do not require higher educational qualifications. Therefore, the standard of employees in government services plays a factor in the blurred perspective of other cultures where one is employed.
Arunachal society in general has witnessed, on a minimal scale, any sort of ethnic violence or conflict between the tribal communities, if compared to its neighboring states or the Northeast in general. However, this ‘peace out’ state is inextricably linked with the notions of ‘oneness’, ‘own blood, and ‘ours’s kind’ of ideas and is reflected in other aspects of society.
The common people also cannot be blamed for carrying out the ideas of ‘oneness’ and ‘own kind’ because any tribal, or rather any individual, naturally conceives this thought in the back of one’s mind.
The functioning of Arunachal society is entirely dependent on three social elites. Since these elites mostly comprise the dominant, they aim to elevate one’s kind, which results in a divergent relationship between the capitalists, a lack of presentation in the media, and a lack of legal support in the public service. These unending chains affect the various minorities in their own way. For instance, Changlang, despite being one of the most resourceful districts, stands as one of the most illiterate and low-income districts.
There can be another dimension to the disparities in society. However, one cannot ignore the gap between dominants and minorities. The tribal society of Arunachal is innocent and unexposed to the other societies of the 21st century.
The fact that the gap is not even realized by the communities is a disheartening sight. Only when the public voice out and take part in radical change will the easternmost state of India prosper.
Although the state has witnessed some ethnic hatred whose origin should also be credited to the elites, the general people should take pride in being people from Arunachal for not promoting any separate power through force.
However, the day is not too far away when ethnic violence, or rather, ethnic hatred, will prevail, the former being extreme. The communities of Arunachal must prevent this by indulging in the activities of genuine elites and holding fair elections for these elites.
Even if the day comes when the elites use the sword of ethnic divisions, the communities must have a vision beyond the tribes and instead be open to people of different races and foreign cultures.
(Mark Mungray is pursuing masters degree in Political Science in North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Mungrey can be reached at writetomark367@gmail.com)
