Expanding Contours of Knowledge: Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Self-reliance and Sustainability

Abstract

Any attempt to discuss the relationship between systems of knowledge in India and self-reliance will be incomplete if folk, tribal and indigenous intellectual traditions and the associated material and non-material culture are not acknowledged and engaged with. This is so because their inclusion expands our contours of knowledge by bringing the marginalised systems of thought within the ambit of the mainstream. North-east India is the case in point. It is not a ‘relic’ of pre-historic times but a dynamic region that has responded to the various macro and micro phenomenon thereby giving us the linkages between the local, regional and global.  The discussion on North-east India, is only indicative of the rich canvas of systems of knowledge traditions that exist in India, an engagement with which does not only have policy implications but it also enriches public, academic and scholarly discourse.