Responding to the Language of Violence: A Voluntary Organisation’s Assays in Development

Abstract

the ant is a voluntary organisation working in Bodoland Territorial areas since the year 2000, with an aim to professionally hasten the speed of development by working at the grassroots with communities by developing models to learn from and to try and influence such changes elsewhere in the northeast region. The people of the region, who were neglected for decades, comprise more than 200 linguistic communities that have often clashed violently against each other. The region has also been known for repeated and widespread sub-nationalist movements arising out of discontent and erupting in violence when their demands are not met. As a small grassroots non-governmental organisation (NGO), it has worked with women to form collectives and to counter domestic violence, with children to improve their learning levels and to get their rights and set up sustainable models of income generation—through tribal women weaver-led collective; healthcare—providing consultation, counselling and a full month’s medicines to almost 2500 mentally ill patients every month in 14 districts; and support other NGOs in Assam with capacity-building initiatives and funds. More importantly, it has been able to utilise its credibility in getting different ethnic communities to interact with each other in order to build mutual respect and understanding and to help a local Student’s Union—a northeast Indian speciality, wherein each community has its own Student’s Union comprising youth who carry out activities to further the socio-political aspirations of the community—to choose other non-violent methods of protest instead of the language of violence and to further a society that believes in good governance and a peaceful environment as an essential to attain development.