Regionalism and Autonomy (Answer in 150 words)

- Regionalism and Autonomy (Answer in 150 words)
Introduction
Regionalism is the assertion of a territorial identity against the centre or the state capital; autonomy is the institutional form in which that assertion is settled.

Body
1. The bases: language, which drove the States Reorganisation Act of 1956; distinct ecology and tribal habitat in the North-Eastern hills; and relative deprivation, where a region reads uneven development as internal colonialism, as Telangana and Vidarbha have.
2. The forms demanded: separate statehood, conceded to Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand in 2000 and to Telangana in 2014; autonomous councils under the Sixth Schedule, as in the Bodoland Territorial Region and Karbi Anglong; protection of custom and land under Articles 371A and 371G; and the Inner Line Permit.
3. Accommodation and its results: India has generally conceded rather than suppressed, from the Mizo Accord of 1986 to the Bodo Accord of 2020 and the Karbi Anglong Accord of 2021, and insurgency has receded where it did.

Conclusion
Accommodation has worked better than resistance, but each new unit creates its own internal minorities, so autonomy settles one demand and generates the next.