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The Seven Sister States are a region in northeastern India, comprising the contiguous states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. The region had a population of 38.6 million in 2000, about 3.8 percent of India's total. The ethnic and religious diversity that characterizes the seven states distinguishes them from the rest of India. For most of their history, they were independent, and their complete integration with India came about only during the British Raj.
The reference Seven Sisters is symbolic of their relative isolation from mainstream Indian culture and consciousness.
The Number Seven
When India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947, only three states covered the area. Manipur and Tripura were princely states, while a much larger Assam Province was under direct British rule. Its capital was Shillong. Four new states were carved out of the original territory of Assam in the decades following independence, in line with the policy of the Indian government of reorganizing the states along ethnic and linguistic lines. Accordingly, Nagaland became a separate state in 1963, followed by Meghalaya in 1972. Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972, and achieved statehood - along with Arunachal Pradesh - in 1987.
Ethnic and Religious Composition
Except for Assam, where the major language, Assamese, is the easternmost of the Indo-European languages, the region has a predominantly tribal population that speak numerous Tibeto-Burman languages. The proliferation of Christianity among the Seven Sister States is a distinguishing feature of the region, which sets it apart from the rest of India. The work of Christian missionaries in the area has led to large scale conversion of the tribal population. Christians now comprise the majority of the population in Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya and a large minority in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Assam and Tripura, however, have remained predominantly Hindu, with a large Muslim minority in Assam.
Natural Resources
Main industries in the region are tea-based, crude oil and natural gas, silk, bamboo and handicrafts. The states are heavily forested and have plentiful rainfall. There are beautiful wildlife sanctuaries, tea-estates and mighty rivers like Brahmaputra. The region is home to one-horned rhinoceros, elephants and other endangered wildlife. For security reasons, including inter-tribal tensions, widespread insurgencies, and disputed borders with neighbouring China, there are restrictions on foreigners visiting the area, hampering the development of the potentially profitable tourism industry.
Interdependence
The landlocked Northeastern region of the country comprises seven separate states whose geographical and practical needs of development underscore their need to thrive and work together. A compact geographical unit, the Northeast is isolated from the rest of India except through a slender and vulnerable corridor, flanked by alien territories. Assam is the gateway hrough which the sister states are connected to the mainland. Tripura, a virtual enclave almost surrounded by Bangladesh, wholly depends on Assam even for bare existence. Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal depend on Assam for their internal communications. Manipur and Mizoram's contacts with the main body of India are through Assam's Barak Valley. Raw material requirements also make the states mutually dependent. All rivers in Assam's plains originate in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and western Meghalaya. Manipur's rivers have their sources in Nagaland and Mizoram; the hills also have rich mineral and forest resources. Petroleum is found in the plains.
The plains depend on the hills also on vital questions like flood control. A correct strategy to control floods in the plains calls for soil conservation and afforestation in the hills. The hills depend on the plains for markets for their produce. They depend on the plains even for food grains because of limited cultivable land in the hills.
To provide a forum for collaboration towards common objectives, the Indian government established the North Eastern Council in 1971. Each state is represented by its Governor and Chief Minister. The Council has enabled the Seven Sister States to work together on numerous matters, including the provision of educational facilities and electric supplies to the region.
Origin of the Sobriquet
The sobriquet, the Land of Seven Sisters, had been originally coined, coinciding with the inaugaration of the new states in January, 1972, by Jyoti Prasad Saikia, a journalist in Tripura in course of a radio talk. Saikia later compiled a book on the interdependence and commonness of the Seven Sister States, and named it the Land of Seven Sisters. It has been primarily because of this publication that the sobriquet has caught on.
See also
States and territories of India | Seven Sister States | Panhandles
"Seven Sister States"