Implications of India’s Act East Policy on the Food Systems and Cultural Heritage of the Konyak Nagas: A Case Study of Sustainable Subsistence and Capitalistic Rationalisation

Abstract

This article examines the potential impact of India’s Act East Policy on the food systems of the Konyak Nagas, an indigenous community in Nagaland. The article studies how the traditional knowledge of the Konyak Nagas about the land, labour and ecology has influenced their food culture. The communal landholdings, shifting cultivation, natural preservation of food items, manual labour in agricultural lands and chemical-free fertilisation process have so far kept the Konyaks self-sufficient in terms of requirement of food, and kept the market forces at bay. Emphasising the significance of food security in the changing global scenario in the post-pandemic period and considering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the article explores how Act East Policy’s capitalistic rationalisation of resources may significantly affect their sustainable means of subsistence and appropriate their farms and platters, which are an integral element of the cultural fabric of the community.