Encountering State: A Study of State–Society Interface in the Tea Garden Labour Community of the Brahmaputra Valley, Assam

Abstract

This thesis examines the link between society and the state by exploring the everyday lives of communities located at the margins of the Indian state. This study argues that a meaningful way to understanding processes like state-building, democratisation and participation is to examine them at micro-levels. This work attempts to study people's experience and engagement with the state in their everyday lives. To a large extent, we can understand it by looking into the processes associated with governance in the local contexts.