Role of Traditional Institutions in Governance ‐ Experience from Karbi Anglong, Assam
Governance today is of paramount apprehension for any state. Concern for governance therefore reveals new areas of articulation for a state and the people living within its jurisdiction. For many, governance refers to certain conditions necessary for a state through which it can exercise power in managing the nation's social and economic assets and also becomes the precondition for realizing democratic ideals. Though the notion of governance is different for different people, one common understanding of it is the decision making process as well as the process of implementation of those decisions. This process also identifies involvement of different structures from different walks of life, signifying both the formal as well as informal actors. In this background, the traditional institutions of a society also have their appeal for involvement of local structures in the issues of governance. The traditional institutions of Karbi Anglong also entails such appeals, because of its involvement in civil, socio-economic and religious jurisdiction of the local interests. Therefore the participation of people through such institutions has been recognized as a process of grass rooting the democratic principle of governance in its most popular form as mentioned above. In this paper an attempt is made in recognizing the effect of the traditional institutions in Karbi Anglong more specifically among the Karbi Tribes.