In a certain sense, every time World Hindi Diwas is celebrated, not only does it evoke the idea of the monolingual identity of the Indian nation but also invents certain linguistic claims and imaginaries about the Hindi-Hindu past. One dominant way in which such linguistic assumptions around Hindi are imagined and practised is by insisting on a binary choice between Hindi-Hindu and Urdu-Muslim. This social binary of two languages exists despite their fl uid meanings in medieval India. The article argues that while Hindi and Urdu are assigned distinctive historical genealogies, what is often missed is the context of fl uidities of medieval India where such vocabularies of linguistic and social binaries hardly existed.

The environment of which land is a vital component, acts as a highly sensitive system to provide means of sustainability to all forms of life and the degradation of same results in creation of inequalities among the masses. In this, error lies in the process of development, where man is not seen as part of nature but one who tries to dominate it to utilize resources in the manner which s/he thinks is appropriate. This situation becomes grimmer in case of North-East India, where development projects are imposed on local population, taking out peace from these hilly regions. More crucial, however is the wilful neglect of local population from the decision making process. This isolation and ignorance has sometime resulted in various movements resulting in standoff between people and various state and private projects. The recent movement of Lepcha community in North Sikkim is peculiar, where the Dzongu affected people have resented to construction of dam and the compensation policy proposed by the government. The experience of North Sikkim teaches an important lesson, where the idea of economic development is opposed regularly. It is an interesting story of people’s movement who deny being a part of such development project that according to them would only bring poverty and conflict to the region. This study analyses the ongoing debate on the issue of sustainable development and role played by indigenous community. Further an attempt is made to validate the idea that sustainable development should be as onewhich must satisfy the criteria that is not purely economical.

It is important to clarify that the rationale behind instituting reservation in jobs and educational institutions was not to eliminate economic inequality but to dismantle the monopoly of a few castes in government services and educational institutions and to create equal opportunities for the backward classes in an otherwise unequal society.