Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

196 DEEPAK K. MISHRA AND VANDANA UPADHYAY
the position of women in particular (Upadhyay and Mishra 2005). The
sheer enormity of these far-reaching changes and the speed with which
they have been introduced have unsettled many of the age-old institutions,
beliefs and practices. The life-worlds and worldviews of the communities
have been transformed in diverse and complex ways. The transitions in
gender relations, both at the individual and the collective levels, are yet
to be documented and analysed by researchers. Further, the wide variations
across space, altitudes and communities make any generalisation
patently difficult. What follows therefore is just a description of a few
issues that need to be further studied, discussed and contextualised. There
are even some doubts as to the appropriateness of the ‘concepts’ and
terms that have been used to describe the social phenomena concerned.
Nevertheless, our interactions with women and activists have made
us realise that these questions need to be posed to understand the complexities
of the situation in which women of Arunachal Pradesh find
themselves. It is interesting to note how the systematic privileging of community
over citizenship, the willingness of the state and to some extent
that of civil society institutions, to differentiate citizens on the basis of their
identity has influenced the articulation of gender-related issues and concerns.
A few examples listed below should unfold the multi-level implications
of the crisis of governance and the politicisation of ethnicity for
the gender questions in the state.
In many indigenous communities of Arunachal Pradesh, the bridegroom’s
family has to make some payments, generally in terms of mithuns
a local breed of partially domesticated cattle resembling gaur, pigs, ornaments
and other valuables. Like in many other tribal communities, this
practice was rooted in the traditional context, where the loss of a working
hand was seen to be compensated through such an exchange at the time of
marriage. The practice is often seen as indicative of a better social status
of women, particularly when contrasted with the system of dowry prevalent
elsewhere. Recent and more careful research, however, has questioned
such causal interpretations. With modernisation, the attitude towards
this practice has been changing. Is bride price in the changing context a
recognition of women’s productive contribution to the household economy,
or is it a devaluation of women’s position? A comparatively recent
phenomenon is the payment of dowry by some among the better-off
sections of the society. Objections are also being raised against the use of