Assam

Hindu religious practices may have influenced present day monotheistic Christinatity prevalent among the Khasis. However the cultural and religious linkages between Hinduism and Christianity in Khasi Hills need to be investigated keeping in mind that there was no defined centre for the Hindu faith and the influence may have been more syncretistic than partisan. 

Despite recent improvements in the maternal health scenario in rural Assam, it remains the state with the highest number of maternal deaths in the country. Institutional delivery, antenatal care, and postnatal care have been actively promoted by the state to deal with the situation. However, state policies are still incongruously geared towards addressing the issue without taking sufficient note of the various sociocultural impediments in the way of institutional care.

On May 30 irate workers of a tea estate in Assam's Sonitpur district hacked and burnt to death the estate's deputy manager and senior assistant manager. Trade union leaders from the tea industry have unequivocally condemned the incident. But they have also drawn attention to the fact that tea garden managements in Assam have been systematically ignoring the demands of the workers, especially for welfare measures. Successive governments in Assam have failed to force managements to implement the Plantations Labour Act of 1951. Managements now claim that the industry is passing through a recession, but during the tea boom of the 1990s the same managements did not share even a minuscule part of their prosperity with the workers.

The tea labourers in Assam have always played a significant role in electoral politics. The recently held by-election for the Khumtai assembly constituency, dominated by tea tribes, has brought to the fore important issues - regionalism, intra-party, politics and most importantly, misgovernance - that will impact on electoral politics in the state, especially the Lok Sabha polls in 2004.

The three aspects of agricultural land use examined here relate to extensive cultivation, intensive cultivation and underutilisation of cultivable lands.