Shadow States
India, China and the Himalayas, 1910-1962
Berenice Guyot-Rechard
Cambridge University Press
321 pages; Rs 550
Seventy years after independence, Indian policymakers continue fumbling ineptly in administering our frontiers, resulting in unabated tensions in strategic border states like Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Manipur and Nagaland. Now here is a book with lessons for our mandarins: A detailed account of how newly-independent India — administratively inexperienced, resource-starved and preoccupied with problems with Pakistan over J&K — established its writ over the North East Frontier Province (NEFA) — today the state of Arunachal Pradesh, peopled by staunchly committed citizens of India.
Why did New Delhi feel the
