NORTH-EAST INDIA 65 "In other words, apart from intricate economic, social and political problems which are general in nature, the colonial era has left the peoples of the young independent states a whole skein of regional problems which demand urgent solution", (p 157) 8 Alayev, op. cit., pp 156-57. 4 Ibid., p 155. c Ibid., pp 155-56. e K Marx and F Engels, Selected Works, Moscow 3969. Voll,p21: "how far the productive forces of a nation are developed is shown most manifestly by the degree to which the division of labour has been carried." 7 J R Meyer, "Regional Economics: A Survey" in L Needleham (Ed.), Regional Analysis, Penguin, 1968, p 23. Meyer further writes: "In fact, all regional classification schemes are simply variations on the homegeneity criterion and it is somewhat misleading to suggest otherwise/' 8 Alayev, op. cit., p 161. 9 Ibid., p 157. 1 ° In the USSR where regional planning has achieved the greatest ever success,constitu-tion of the political units has been based on economic as well as ethnic considerations. See N M Kovyazin, "Peculiarities of Economic Regionalization in the Ethnic Areas of the Soviet North", reproduced in Soviet Geography: Review and Translation. American Geographical Society, New York, June 1974. 11 See Shibani Kinker Chaube, Hill Politics in Mortheast India, Calcutta 1973. 12 0 H K Spate, A T A Learnmouth and B H Farmer, India, Pakistan and Ceylon: The Regions, London 1972, paperback print, pp 407-08. 18 See Assam: Some Aspects of Her Problems, Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Government of Assam, Shillong 1971. 14 R P Misra, K V Sundaram, V L S Prakasa Rao, Regional Development Planning in India: A New Strategy, Delhi 1974, p 186. is W VV Rostow, Stages of Economic Growth, 2nd edition, Cambridge 1971, p 58. ' 6 See Misra et al, op.cif., pp 183-84. *7 On 2 1 February 1975, the West Bengal Chief Minister told the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry that in the British period 90 per cent of industry in the eastern region was owned by foreign capital. Afterwards they were grabbed by the Indian monopolists who have retained a dominant position whereas local enterprise is still shy. See the Statesman, 22 February 1975. * 8 See, for example, PC Goswami (Ed.), Socio- Economic Research in Tribal Areas: Papers Discussed in a Seminar at Jorhat in February 1970, Agro-Economic Research Centre for North East India, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat 4, Assam; S Bose, Carrying Capacity of Land under Shifting Cultivation, Calcutta 1°67; and J B Ganguli, Economic Problems of the Jhumias of Tripura, Calcutta 1969. lfl Census of India, 1961, Vol I, India, Part I-A (ii): Levels of Regional Development in India. 20 Gerald M Meier, Leading Issues in Economic Development, Oxford University Press, 1970, p 6. 2' See table I, for list of districts. 22 Census of India 1971 Series I—India, Paper I of 1972—Final Population 1972 (also General Population Tables 1971, of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh) Indian Labour Statistics 1968, 1969, 1973, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation, Government of India, 1968, 1969, 1973. Reports of Fact-finding Surveys on Lakhimpur, Nowgong and Sibsagar districts of Assam and Manipur, United Bank of India, 1971-72. * Seventh Annual Electric Power Survey of India, Central Electricity Authority, 1972. Indian Agricultural Statistics, 1966-67, 1967-68, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of India, 1973.