Centre For Development and Peace
Studies (CDPS)
 he Centre for
Development and Peace Studies (CDPS) is an independent
research center, registered in 2004 as a non-profit
society with the Registrar of Societies, Government
of Assam, in northeastern India (registration number:
KAM/240/T/04 of 2004-2005). Based at Guwahati,
capital of Assam, the Centre comprises a core
group that is a mix of senior working journalists, prominent cultural personalities, besides
academics, economists and development experts.
The Northeast of India, consisting of eight States
with a population of 40 million, spread over a 2,63,000 square kilometer area, and wedged between
Bhutan
,
Bangladesh
,
Myanmar
and
China
’s
Tibet
region, is a turbulent frontier. Insurgency and ethnic strife plague
the region, retarding progress and economic activity. Even a cursory
look at the socio-political dynamics of the region would reveal that
lack of livelihood opportunities, despite immense natural resources,
have bred insurgency, and insurgency, in turn, has hindered growth. The
cycle, if anything, is vicious.
It is in this context that the CDPS has been set
up to carry out meaningful research and writings on the micro and
macro-level issues in the fields of development and peace, or the lack
of it, that characterizes India’s Northeast, highlight efforts
and success stories in peace making, draw up linkages between
development and security, and suggest measures to tackle the
imbalances. Aside from close interaction with the Government and
non-governmental organizations working in the area, CDPS aims at
working in tandem with the media to reach out to the masses, besides
sensitizing journalists on the need to shift their focus from violence
to development and peace writings.
The Centre also aims at assessing the impact of
existing development programmes and policies
of the Government towards the northeastern frontier, and highlighting
gaps, if any, and recommending alternative measures wherever necessary.
The Governing Body
President: Mr ARUN SARMA. Awarded the Padma Shri
in 2010, playwright and author Mr Arun Sarma is one
of the most versatile dramatists of Assam who had been
instrumental in shaping modern Assamese drama. He is
equally at home in the medium of creative writing and
is a significant novelist of the present times. He has
the rare distinction of having won the Sangeet Natak
Akademi award in 2003 for his contributions to drama
and the Sahitya Akademi award in 1998 for literature.
He is a recipient of the Assam Valley Literary Award
in 2005, another most prestigious literary distinction.
He was also the honorary president of Asom Natya Sanmilan
– the apex dramatist body of Assam. He has also
received Asom Sahitya Sabha award for his plays. A harbinger
of modernity in Assamese drama, he is one of those rare
writers who observe the world with a clinical detachment
but with sensitive concern. He has 17 published plays
and five published novels to his credit, besides several
other plays and novels published in significant literary
journals of Assam. Mr Sarma has edited several volumes
of plays, written scripts for Tele-films and radio documentaries,
apart form serving as member of many social, art and
educational organizations. He is an ardent propagator
of peace and his views against conflict and bloodshed
are well articulated in his lectures and writings.
Executive Director & Secretary: WASBIR HUSSAIN.
A journalist and political commentator, Hussain
is a Member of the National Security Advisory Board,
India for the second term, and an Associate Fellow,
Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi.
He has been covering insurgency, ethnic strife, and
other major political and social developments in the
northeastern states for the past 28 years for major
newspapers and magazines. Hussain was Consulting Editor, The Sentinel, Guwahati, Consulting Editor, The Newspaper Today, India Today
Group Online, Editor, The
Northeast Daily, Guwahati,
Special Correspondent with The
Asian Age; Regional Editor of The Telegraph; and Special Correspondent of The Telegraph.
He bagged the 1996 Sanskriti Foundation National Award for excellence in
journalism. Hussain currently writes for The Sentinel and The Associated Press. Besides,
his writings on security issues concerning
India
’s Northeast and
its surrounding foreign neighbours appear regularly in the South Asia Intelligence
Review.
Widely travelled, Hussain has authored two books recently that
include Homemakers Without The
Men: Assam’s Widows of Violence, published by Indialog Publications,
New Delhi
(2006) and Life and Times: Story of an Assamese Tea
Baron, Spectrum Publications, Guwahati/New
Delhi (2007). In 2006, he edited a CDPS collection of essays titled Order in Chaos: Essays on Conflict in
India’s Northeast and the Road to Peace in South Asia,
published by Spectrum Publications, New Delhi/Guwahati.
His papers and commentaries have been published in several books and
journals in
India
and abroad.
Hussain can be contacted
at director@cdpsindia.org.
Joint Secretary: Mr P.J. BARUAH. Mr Baruah is Executive Editor, The Assam Tribune, a frontline
English daily from Guwahati, Assam. He has been 25 years in journalism, and
has written and commented on various socio-political
and other issues concerning India
’s Northeast.
Treasurer: Dr I.S.MUMTAZA.
Dr Mumtaza is Reader,
Department of History, at the
Gauhati
University
.
Member:
Mr PRASHANTA RAJGURU. Mr Rajguru is the Executive Editor,
Amar Asom, a frontline Assamese daily from Guwahati,
Assam. He has been 25 years in journalism, and has written
and commented on various socio-political and other issues
concerning India’s Northeast.
|
Consulting Director (Research): Dr ABU NASAR SAIED AHMED. Dr Ahmed is a sociologist and Former Professor IIT Guwahati. He was awarded Fullbright Post doctoral Fellowship in 1981 and has been a Visiting Fellow/Professor in four research institutions in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Dr Ahmed has participated and presented papers in dozens of national and international seminars, has written and edited a number of books, a former Professor of Political Science in Dibrugarh University, Assam, a former member of regional selection committee of Fullbright fellowship, former expert member of UGC, former member of Indian Council of Social Science Research New Delhi and former Director of Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Guwahati. He is also associated with Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA.
Senior Research Consultant: Dr BIBHU PRASAD ROUTRAY. He is a former Deputy Director at the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India. Prior to his official assignment, Routray was a Research Fellow with the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), New Delhi. He was the Director of ICM’s Database and Documentation Centre on Conflict & Development (DADC) in India's Northeast, at Guwahati in Assam between August 2001 and February 2005. He received his doctoral degree from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dr Routray writes in various journals, print media and on the Internet on terrorism, internal security and democracy. He is currently based in Singapore.
Senior Fellow: Ms SEEMA HUSSAIN. She has been specializing in writings on development and peace, particularly multi-track peace initiatives, in India ’s Northeast. Ms Hussain had been a fellow with the National Foundation for India , New Delhi , and a Peace Fellow with WISCOMP, Women in Security, Conflict Management & Peace, New Delhi.
Senior Research Associate: Ms RANI PATHAK DAS. She has been engaged in research on peace, security and development issues since 2004. She was honoured with the Kunjabala Devi Memorial Award for Investigative Journalism on Women's issues by The Assam Tribune group in 2011. She can be contacted at ranipathak@hotmail.com
Research Fellow: Mr ARUNAV GOSWAMI. He has been engaged in research on peace, security and development issues since 2009.
Research Associate: SYED MIRAZ AHMED.
Research Assistant: Mr ASLAM HUSSAIN. |
