Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

188 DEEPAK K. MISHRA AND VANDANA UPADHYAY
many key aspects of good governance are clearly absent. Some of these
problems are common to all developing societies; a few others are generally
found in almost all states in the Northeast, while some others are unique
to Arunachal. We shall argue that the specificities of mal-governance, as
outlined below, have profound implications for the survival and dignity
of marginalised groups, including women.
Property Rights
First and foremost, it is important to point out that some fundamental
aspects of the market-enabling role of the state, that is, demarcation and
safeguarding of property rights, and an efficient contract-enforcement
mechanism, are not being given due importance. Given the heterogeneity
of property right formations in Arunachal, the transition to private property
rights has not been complete; but more importantly, the privatisation
of communally held property has, by and large, proceeded without
any legal backing of the state. In this informal transition to private property
rights over land and forests, for example, one section of the population
has been able to use the institutional vacuum to their advantage. They
have acquired wealth in the form of urban land, land for plantation and
cultivation purposes, or have been able to use common village resources
like forests for private benefits (Mishra 2001). This inadequate demarcation,
recognition and safeguarding of communal property has ultimately
resulted in an increasing concentration of income and wealth, as well as
a weakening of the traditional institutional mechanisms.
Contract Enforcement
The contract enforcement mechanism in Arunachal is weak not only because
of a weak administrative and policing apparatus but also because
the effective separation of the executive and the judiciary has not yet
been completed. Even in the state capital Itanagar, the government has been
unable to stop mass encroachment on government land. This generally
perceived weakness of the government in everyday activities has some
obvious implications for marginalised and exploited groups, particularly
in terms of their fallback positions and strategies to counter discrimination.
Since it is known that the state apparatus would not be interested