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, retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, 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 TOPON LAL BARUAH. A retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Mr Baruah had been Home Commissioner in the Assam Government. While in office, in among the highest levels of the State bureaucracy, Mr Baruah was part of the Government’s core group in tackling problems related to armed insurgency and ethnic violence and responding to the issues, which are largely political in nature.

Director & Secretary: WASBIR HUSSAIN. A journalist and political commentator, Hussain is a Member of the National Security Advisory Board, India, 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 23 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, Outlook, 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 20 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.