Biometric Ration Cards For Northeast Soon

Shillong, Apr 13 : The central government is working on introducing biometric ration cards in the northeastern states to weed out bogus cards and curb corruption in the distribution of subsidized food commodities, an official said Monday.

"We are looking at the new technology to computerize the public distribution system (PDS) to ensure it is corruption free," union Food Secretary Alka Sirohi said.

The new innovation is aimed at curbing diversion of rice and wheat and to strengthen targeted public distribution system (TPDS), as according to the evaluation study by ORG Centre for Social Research, New Delhi, the diversion of food grain is high in northeastern states, especially in Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.

However, officials from these states rejected the findings during the meeting of food secretaries of the northeastern states here.

Sirohi, who reviewed the food scenario with the state food secretaries, said the central government is keen to introduce the biometric ration card to curb the menace of bogus ration cards.

In the biometric system, the fingerprints of the beneficiaries would be used for their identification so that transparency could be ensured.

Two years ago, the Meghalaya government had mooted the idea to introduce an electronic bar-coded food coupon system to plug out the pilferage of the highly-subsidized rice meant for poor people living under below poverty line in the state.

Sirohi, however, hoped that the introduction of the biometric ration cards would strengthen the PDS and help in maintaining transparency on every allocation for every states in the region.

"What concerns us is that northeast does not have adequate space storage for food grain and lack of sufficient number of railway siding sheds," Sirohoi said.

She said the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is taking up construction of sheds at the highest priority godowns through the existing 11th Plan funds for northeast.

"We will go on massive construction programs of sheds which will have an additional storage capacity of over seven lakhs tones," she said.

For a Review of Counter-Insurgency Doctrine

By Praveen Swami

WHEN TACTICS FAIL: A member of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) expresses shock over the massacre of his colleagues by the Maoists, in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, in this April 9 photo by Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury.

Key to India's failure in combating Maoist insurgency is an a historical, one-size-fits-all security doctrine.

Eric Hobsbawm wrote: “There is nothing in the purely military pages of Mao, Nguyen Giap, Che Guevara or other manuals of guerrilla warfare which a traditional guerrillero or band leader would regard as other than simple common sense.”

Last week, after the massacre of 76 police personnel in Dantewada, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram urged Indians to “remain calm, keep your nerve, and do not stray from the carefully chosen course that we have adopted since November 2009.”

The last of those recommendations may prove profoundly misguided. Few of the strategists charged with executing the Minister's ambitious counter-Maoist offensive appear to have grasped its doctrinal and tactical demands. Premised on the belief that counter-insurgency campaigns must be population-centric — in other words, dominate territories and thus deny insurgents contact with the population — the strategic foundation of India's war against Maoist insurgents is flawed. The bottom line is this: Indian forces are losing. Last year, 312 security personnel were killed to 294 Maoists. This year, too, the figures are grim.

For centuries, insurgents have known that a superior force can be defeated. Napoleon Bonaparte believed that his 1808 occupation of Spain would be a “military promenade.” Instead, France found itself bogged down by a protracted guerrilla struggle that lasted six years and compelled to commit three-fifths of its imperial army. Irish insurgents who fought the British in 1848 were taught to “decompose the science and system of war.” “The force of England,” advised the radical James Lalor, “is entrenched and fortified. You must draw it out of position; break up its mass; break its trained line of march and manoeuvre; its equal step and serried array.”

Much of this would have been familiar to peasant rebels and bandits in India. Back in 1813, Kallua Gujjar led a successful series of raids targeting moneylenders, travellers and police posts in the Saharanpur-Dehra Dun belt. His 1,000-strong irregular force was, on one occasion, able to loot a group of some 200 police personnel. Bhil insurgents staged a series of revolt between 1820 and 1860 — driven, among other things, by the large-scale expropriation of Adivasi land by the state and growing exploitation by moneylenders. Despite the use of irregular formations like James Outram's Bhil Corps and a policy of pacification that involved pushing the Adivasis to become settled farmers, the Bhil raids continued for decades.

Major-General Akbar Khan, who commanded the Pakistani irregular offensive directed at Srinagar in 1947, described the tactical mindset of such irregular warriors in his memoirs: “One Mahsud tribesman aptly described to me their tactics as being like that of the hawk. The hawk flies high in the sky, out of danger; he flies round and round until he sees his prey and then he swoops down on it for one mighty strike and when he has got his prey, he does not wait around, he flies off at once to some far off quiet place where he can enjoy what he has got.”

Ossified doctrine

Key to India's failure in combating Maoist insurgency is an ahistorical, one-size-fits-all security doctrine. In essence, state responses have consisted of pumping in forces for conventional, ground-holding operations in the hope of displacing guerrilla forces; maintaining high force levels over sustained periods of time; and, using this military presence to push forward with developmental and political initiatives to deprive insurgents of their political legitimacy.

Indian counter-insurgency tactics and strategy, Vijendra Singh Jafa notes, “have remained fundamentally conservative and traditional, influenced substantially by accounts of British experiences.” Drawing on the British campaign against the Malayan Communist Party, Indian strategists believe that successful counter-insurgency campaigns must focus on winning popular support. New work, like that of historian Karl Hack, has shown that the back of the Malayan insurgency was, in fact, broken long before Britain set about winning hearts and minds. Little of this revisionist literature, though, has been studied seriously in Indian military academies.

Despite plenty of evidence that population-centric strategies do not work —witness the durability of insurgencies in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir — the doctrine has never been reappraised.

The former Punjab Director-General of Police, K.P.S. Gill's signal contribution was demonstrating that alternatives to population-centric counter-insurgency could succeed. Instead of engaging in protracted, large-force operations, Mr. Gill focussed on offensive operations targeting the leadership and cadre of Khalistan terrorists. In effect, unconventional war-fighting methods were used to defeat unconventional war-fighting methods. Evidence that such tactics work has piled up. In Jammu and Kashmir, the Special Operations Group succeeded in decimating the leadership of the Hizb ul-Mujahideen. Andhra Pradesh's Greyhounds destroyed a once-powerful Maoist insurgency. Tripura defeated an intractable tribal insurgency.

In a thoughtful 1988 paper for the United States Air Force Airpower Research Institute, Dennis Drew noted that counter-insurgency operations called for an upturning of military thinking. Military professionals, he wrote, believe “that the basic military objective in war is to conduct operations that lead to the destruction of the enemy's centre of gravity.” India's policy of pumping company-sized formations into the Maoist heartland, and attempting to dominate the territory around them, is one manifestation of this thinking. The problem is successful insurgents have no fixed centre of gravity — no bases that conventional forces may overwhelm.

Population-centred counter-insurgency has received renewed legitimacy from the apparent success of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq, which was marketed as having subdued a growing insurgency. But, as scholar and soldier Gian Gentile has pointed out, the notion that the reduction of insurgent violence in Iraq was “primarily the result of American military action is hubris run amok.” In fact, Gentile argued, a “combination of brutal attacks by Shia militia in conjunction with the actions of the Iraqi Shia government and the continuing persecution by the al-Qaeda against the Sunni community convinced the insurgents that they could no longer counter all these forces and it was to their advantage to cut a deal with the Americans.”

Capacity crisis

For many in the Indian intelligentsia, the defeat of insurgents is an inevitability: part, as it were, of the manifest destiny of the state. Last week, Shekhar Gupta, editor of Indian Express, offered a ringing endorsement of this received wisdom, arguing that insurgencies “follow a pattern pretty much like a bell curve,” “The graph of violence,” he argued, “rises in the initial period, producing more and more casualties on both sides. But at some stage the rebels come to the realisation that the state and its people are too strong and resolute to be ever defeated, no matter what the score, in a particular day's battle in a long war. That is the point of inflexion when rebels see reason. There is no reason why the Maoist insurgency will not follow that same pattern.”

But will it? Back in 1954, when India first committed troops to battling Naga insurgents, just one State was hit by insurgency. Now, 265 of 625 districts are affected by one form or the other of chronic conflict — a figure that excludes areas with unacceptably high levels of organised crime, as well as cities periodically targeted by jihadist violence. It is far from clear if the resources exist to address the problem. Italy has 559 police officers for every 1,00,000 citizens; Bihar has 60, Orissa 97, Chhattisgarh 128 and Jharkhand 136. Even the Army, despite its apparently enormous size, will be stretched if it is committed to internal security duties. The United States has one soldier for every 186 citizens; India has one for 866.

Worse, it is far from clear if the Indian state has the capacity needed for rapid, transformative projects. The U.S., figures compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management's Ajai Sahni show, has 889 federal employees, and 6,314 state and local employees for every 1,00,000 citizens. India's Union government has 295 — and if one excludes railway employees, 171. Chhattisgarh has 1,067 government employees per 1,00,000 population; Bihar, a pathetic 472.

Even if forces are found to saturate the ground, experience shows, development will not necessarily follow. In both Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, state spending has yielded only limited results. Funds have often been siphoned off by local contractors and politicians — and, worse, preyed on by insurgents. In effect, the injection of cash into troubled regions has subsidised insurgency.

Learning from its own success stories, India needs to fight insurgencies in smarter, leaner ways. Like Andhra Pradesh, States must invest in training facilities that meet their particular needs; expand intelligence capabilities; and use technology effectively. Instead of focussing on simply expanding the size of Central forces, the Union government must understand the need for them to be properly trained and equipped. Soldiers without skills have only one fate: defeat.

In time, it is true, Indian forces may succeed in wearing down the Maoist insurgency, albeit at a horrible cost of lives — but there are reasons to worry that they may not. India's strategic strengths are manifest. But as the work of military scholar Ivan Arreguin-Toft teaches us, the weak do sometimes win. Instead of despatching ever-greater numbers of men to support those already flailing in the face of insurgent fire, a dispassionate review of both doctrine and tactics is needed.

Ferment in The Northeast

By Udayon Misra

A complicated situation in the Northeast, posing the gravest challenges to the Indian nation-state

TROUBLED PERIPHERY - Crisis of India's North East: Subir Bhaumik; Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., B 1/I-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Mathura Road, New Delhi-110044. Rs.595.

The book opens with an overview of the cultural mix and diversity of India's North-East region and discusses how colonial intervention triggered a dual process of bringing it under a common administrative unit and at the same time enacting measures for separating the hill communities from those of the plains. The author shows how, after Independence, there was little change in New Delhi's perceptions about the region, which accentuated the divide between the Centre and the periphery and gave rise to a spate of identity demands. This prompted New Delhi to resort to repressive methods and also create political space for the small ethnic nationalities by breaking up “greater Assam.”

Extensive autonomy

Summing up, Bhaumik says that the “creation of new States and autonomous councils in the North-East have indeed opened up the Pandora's Box,” although towards the end of the book he himself suggests that the tribes be given “extensive autonomy.” The flux in identities; the unrestricted illegal immigration hampering broader assimilation; the politics of language and script; and the subtle link between land alienation and unrelenting exclusivist ethnic conflict (reflected in massacres like the ones at Mandai and Nellie, and the Naga-Kuki killings) — all these are discussed in detail. Drug trafficking, the presence of foreign hand, the role of pressure groups, the crisis of governance, and the issue of displacement and forced migration also figure.

On the demographic change brought about by illegal immigration in Assam, Bhoumick says: “The alarming scenario that generations of Assamese have been fed on is finally coming true. Groups that would prefer to merge Assam's Muslim-majority areas with contiguous Bangladesh have finally arrived.” However, some of his views appear far-fetched. Example: his contention that ULFA is seeking to restore the multi-ethnic and assimilative nature of Assamese nationality through the propagation of a multi-ethnic credo. Again, it will not be correct to suggest that the “heavy military presence and amicable civil-military relations” in Arunachal Pradesh have led to the wide acceptance of Hindi. The fact is that Hindi was introduced as part of a wider and well-thought out strategy of the Centre to project the State as an integral part of the Indian civilisational milieu.

National labour policy

Bhaumik has come up with his own suggestions on tackling the situation in the North-East. As a measure to curb the “rampant migration from other Indian States into the region,” he wants a national labour policy that safeguards the interests of the indigenous people. The idea is highly contentious and reflective of the position of outfits like ULFA that target migrant labour from the north Indian States, particularly from Bihar, labelling them as agents of “Indian colonialism,” but play down the massive illegal migration from Bangladesh. Bhoumick of course wants a check on illegal migration from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Burma also. Among his other— sound, even if not new — suggestions are: protection of land rights of the indigenous peoples; “extensive autonomy” for the tribal regions; and “humanisation” of operations by the security forces.

Bhaumik's journalistic career in the North-East may have given him a “first-hand experience” of the situation in the region. But his claims that his approach differed substantially from that of the “armchair academics” commenting on the region and that he had drawn “primarily on [his] own experience and primary documentation gained during nearly three decades of journalism in the region”, appear exaggerated. Many of his cardinal arguments could be traced to earlier writings by other scholars and media men. The publication would have gained much from some serious editing which could have weeded out the glaring errors and repetition of both facts and arguments. All these notwithstanding, it must be said that the book has attempted to present an overall picture of a really complex and complicated crisis situation in the region, which continues to pose some of the gravest challenges to the Indian nation-state. This in itself is quite a stupendous task.

'Laburnum...' on Northeast an Evocative, Powerful Read

Gripping, not in the sense of a thriller novel, but one in which the reader feels compelled to go on as events unfold in each of the tales. Temsula Ao's collection of short stories, "Laburnum- For My Head" is a sensitively written book, which draws inspiration from the vibrant and troubled region of northeast India.

A bouquet of eight stories, the book is interesting because of its sheer diversity. There is a wide gamut of emotions -- heart wrenching, witty and those riddled with irony. There are stories which are inspired from myths and others which are contemporary and very relevant to today's times.

In short, it has something for everyone.

"Laburnum- For My Head", the first story in the book, the title of which is same as that of the cover, is about a woman who falls in love with the buttery-yellow Laburnum blossoms- so much so that she decides that instead of a grand tombstone, a Laburnum tree should rest on her burial site and works towards ensuring the same in her lifetime.

Relevant to the present times, "The Letter" is another story in which Ao adeptly portrays the complicated relationship that a village has with an insurgent group and the Indian armed forces, bearing the brunt of both and struggling to balance the two while dealing with their own lives.

The story ends on a poignant note, but not before leaving the reader with an afterthought - what drives ordinary people towards extremism?

On the lighter side is the story of a young Naga boy, Pokenmong, who runs away from his home to the neighboring state of Assam and does odd jobs to make a living because of his street smart ways. "The boy who sold an airfield" narrates how this boy, with his wit, sells an airfield to unsuspecting villagers.

Some other stories tell the tale of a young girl, who loses her lover in her fight for an independent motherland and is left with a frightful legacy; of a woman's terrible secret that comes full circle, changing her daughter and grand daughter's lives; of an expert hunter, who is haunted by the ghost of his prey and asks for forgiveness.

Indeed a powerful, evocative and a brilliant read.

Meet Highlights Potential of Northeast

The Governor called for opportunities to link South East Asia and India under a common framework of FTA.

Kolkata, Apr 13 : A two-day international seminar on ‘From Land-locked to Land-linked Northeast India in BIMSTEC' (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) was inaugurated at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Campus in Shillong, Meghalaya, on Friday. Organized by the Jadavpur Association of International Relations (JAIR) in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the seminar is being supported by The Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr Sashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, opined that sensitization of various issues affecting better linkages of North-East with broader canvass of South East Asia was needed for faster development. The strategic location of the land-locked North East made it the doorway to South East and East Asia and vice versa, a doorway for these economies into India, he said.

Vision 2020

Referring to the path-breaking North Eastern Region Vision 2020 envisaged by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, in July 2008, Dr Tharoor explained the various packages, which contained important infrastructure and power projects. He mentioned that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) within the BIMSTEC framework was currently under discussion while a BIMSTEC Energy Centre and a Weather and Climate Centre had also been proposed to be established in India. India has also offered 330 annual training slots to BIMSTEC countries under the Technical Economic Co-operation Programme.

According to Dr Tharoor, the most critical link would be to create road connectivity from the Northeast India through Myanmar into South East Asia. In this connection, the Trilateral Highway Project between India, Myanmar and Thailand is under construction. Efforts were underway to improve infrastructure, at the second India – Myanmar border trade point at Phi-Zowkhathar in Mizoram sector by up gradation of the Rhi-Tidim and Rhi- Falam road segments in Myanmar.

Besides road links, efforts of developing rail link from Jiribam in Assam to Hanoi in Vietnam passing through Myanmar is also under way. Digital connectivity is another area where work is being carried on particularly through optical fiber cable link between Moreh in Manipur and Mandalay in Myanmar.

Vast diversity

In his Inaugural address, Mr Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, Governor of Meghalaya, alluded to the vast richness of this part of India. He mentioned that though the North Eastern States together occupies about 8 per cent of the country's geographical area where only 3 per cent of the country's population resides, yet it is this region which shares international borders with five neighboring nations and houses about 200 ethnic groups, languages and dialects. He also opined that the Look East Policy taken by the Government of India in 1992 has been a very significant step breaking the erstwhile parasitic mindset of the custom of subsidies.

He also called for further opportunities to link South East Asia and India under a common framework of FTA and if possible by a common currency system alike the European Union.

Mr Dipankar Chatterji, Chairman, CII, North – East Council; Prof Radharaman Chakrabarti, All India President, Jadavpur Association of International Relations; Mr Navdeep S. Suri, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs; Mr Krit Kraichiti, Ambassador of Thailand to India; Mr Tariq Ahmad Karim, High Commissioner of Bangladesh; Mr U Kyi Thein, Ambassador of Myanmar also addressed the seminar.

A Red-Letter Day For Churachandpur District Today

Imphal, Apr 13 : April 12, Tuesday, 2010 will remain as a red-letter day in the history of Manipur in general, and Churachandpur district in particular.This day will be a special day for the All India Radio too.

For, the All India Radio Churachandpur station will be officially inaugurated tomorrow after 10 years of completion of the construction of the station complex, and having all the necessary machineries, equipments and staffs.

State Chief Minister Okram Ibobi will inaugurate the station at a glittering function to be held on the premises of the radio station at Churachandpur tomorrow morning.

Minister of Power, Horticulture & Soil Conservation, Science & Technology, Phungzathang Tonsing, Minister of PHED, Information & Public Relations and Tourism, TN Haokip and other MLAs of assembly constituencies of Churachandpur district are expected to be present on the historic occasion.

Deputy Director General, All India Radio, North East Region-II, C Lalrosanga will also attend the function.

He has been camping in Imphal for the past three days specially for the inauguration of the Churachandpur station of AIR.

Chief Minister Ibobi will announce the most eagerly awaited "link-language" of the AIR Churachandpur station during the inaugural function tomorrow.

It is worth mentioning here that preparations for commissioning the AIR Churachandpur station were completed way back in 2000 .

However, due to a dispute regarding which dialect would be the link-language, the commissioning of the station had remained postponed for the last almost 10 years.

Earlier, Prasar Bharti had approved Paite dialect as the link-language of the station. But controversy arose, and commissioning of the AIR Churachandpur station could not materialize. The matter was taken to Gauhati High Court.

The High Court later ordered that the decision on which dialect should be the link-language of the AIR Churachandpur should be taken by the Government of Manipur.

After years of procrastination, for fear of treading on communal sentiments, the Government of Manipur under the leadership of Chief Minister O Ibobi has recently taken a bold decision to commission the AIR Churachandpur station.

Most reliable sources told this newspaper that the State Cabinet recently took the decision on which dialect should be the link-language of the station.

However, due to fear of a possible communal backlash, the authority decided that it would be the best to keep the link-language as a secret till the inauguration, when the Chief Minister himself would make the historic announcement.

Sources said that the earlier dispute regarding the link-language had been solved under the initiative of Chief Minister O Ibobi. That is how the AIR Churachandpur station is going to be inaugurated tomorrow, the sources said.

Deputy Director General, AIR NE Region-II C Lalrosanga told this newspaper that the All India Radio would go along with the decision on the link-language taken by the Government of Manipur.

Superintending Engineer of AIR Imphal, Md Kamaruddin told the Hueiyen Lanpao that the AIR Churachandpur is going to be an independent radio station, with its own station director, programme executives, staffs and all.

It's not going to be a local branch of AIR Imphal. To start with the programs, the AIR Churachandpur will relay the programs of FM Rainbow of New Delhi from 4 pm to 5.30 pm.

From 5.30 pm onward, direct local programs will be broadcast. The daily programs will start from 4pm and close at 9.30 pm. The AIR Churachandpur station will cover the entire district.

[ via Hueiyen News Service ]

Reduced Militancy Providing Relief to Northeast People

Guwahati / Kohima, Apr 13 : People in the Northeast can have a sigh of relief as militancy appears to be on the way out. According to the Centre, the region has never been as peaceful as this since January 2009.

As per the Union Home Ministry's data for six northeastern states, excluding Mizoram, the last 15 months have witnessed lowest number of civilian and security force casualties since January 2000.

In this, the Nagaland has witnessed dramatic change. In 2010, Nagaland did not witness a single militant related casualty. The death toll declined from 213, including 140 extremists in 2008 to 31 in 2009.

Credit for this is attributed to the ceasefire agreement between National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN -IM) and the Union Government.
People have are of the opinion that militants should join the mainstream and renounce violence.

"With peace and harmony coming back to Nagaland, a lot of development has taken place and when it was back 5-10 years and I urge all the right seeking people to come and join mainstream," said Pezanguli, a local, Nagaland

With the ceasefire agreement, developmental activities in Nagaland are in full swing. "The place was much more developed 10 years back, there were so many conflicts and because of that development was not done. There is not much killing so I should say the place is much developed," said Pfoshuo Ariicho, a local, Nagaland.

The situation is Assam and Tripura has also improved a lot. The ongoing efforts of the Centre to bring United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) to the negotiating table and ensure the surrender of groups like the KLNLF and the DHD (J) has given hope to the people of the region.

Now, there were 424 incidents of insurgency, which resulted in 174 deaths of civilians and security personnel in 2009. The forces eliminated 194 extremists, the highest since 2003. In Assam also there is a considerable reduction in militant incidents.

"If I look back few years back, the security situation was really bad in the state. There were too many bomb blasts and in the morning when we used to see the newspaper, we get scared to go to office or anywhere but now things have changed and violent activities have come down," said Pushpa Gogoi, a local, Assam

Low militancy levels has given a great relief to locals. "It is a matter of great relief that there is a decline in level of insurgency and there has been a good amount of minimization insurgent activities in the last few months and we have to be grateful to the peace prevailing and thank government of India and peoples group working towards it," said S Barua, Jorhat.

Among all northeastern states, Manipur continues to be worst affected. Militant groups active in the state are responsible for instability and violence.
Blasts, extortion, hurling grenades in markets and at residences are a common strategy of militants to terrorize the people.

However the people here want an end to bloodshed and have expressed their complete faith in the constitutional framework of the country.
Most of militant groups are indulging in extortion.

"Regarding militancy in Manipur, there is less insurgency but a kind of extortion is going on and on this point, there are so many gangs and groups are coming only for money," said L Regald Singh, a student, Manipur

"When we see the violent activities committed by the different sections of antisocial elements and militants, then we say extortion case, demand or kidnapping. I think the economic factor comes in between as militants are not guided by the ideology and the antisocial elements are committed into it mainly for money," said Ksh Bimola Devi, Professor, Manipur University

Northeast has long been affected by militant activities and this has led to a delay in the development of the region. But it seems the situation is changing. And as peace and normalcy return, developmental work will certainly gain momentum.

Tastes of India, by New Delhi Taxi

This is how travel writers write about us...and places in India...

Keith Bedford for The New York Times

Like those of the other 27 states, the cafeteria at Andhra Pradesh's center in the capital serves its regional cuisine.

By AMY YEE

WITH its fluorescent lights and laminate tables, the little restaurant near the shuttered Chanakya Cinema looked like any no-frills canteen found throughout the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Diners bought copies of the Daily Thanthi newspaper, written in the curlicue script of Tamil. A small statue of Balaji, a deity worshiped in southern India, sat snugly on the counter. And the food was rich with the crepe-like dosas for which the region is known.

Young families and hungry bachelors were digging into uttapam, a kind of Tamil pancake flecked with coconut and green chili; paratha, a flaky and buttery bread served on a stainless steel plate; and lamb biryani, a mound of spicy rice topped with a shiny boiled egg.

But the Tamil Nadu House, a ziggurat-shaped concrete building where this 18-table restaurant is located, is nowhere near the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal. Rather, it is tucked in an affluent neighborhood of New Delhi where it’s possible to sample India’s entire culinary landscape by taxi.

Each of India’s 28 states has its own government-run house for state affairs, known as a bhavan, in the bustling capital city of New Delhi. And most of the bhavans have a canteen that specializes in regional cuisine, whether it’s the coconut-infused dishes of the southwest state of Kerala, or the Chinese-style momos, or dumplings, of Sikkim in the northeast.

Nearly all the bhavans are clustered in the leafy streets of Chanakyapuri, the capital’s diplomatic area, so an adventurous eater can embark on a gastronomic survey of India without leaving the neighborhood. While not all the canteens are open to the public, most welcome walk-ins. An even bigger draw is the price: in a city that is expensive by Indian standards, a meal for two at a bhavan rarely exceeds 300 rupees, or about $7.

Among the most popular is the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan, which serves the fiery fare that this southern Indian state is known for. Situated in a squat, white plaster building near the triumphant India Gate, the bhavan is a minor attraction in its own right.

On a cool Sunday evening last month, the two-level cafeteria was packed. The boisterous chatter of families, couples and young friends echoed off the white-tiled walls. The 200 seats were filled, except for two granite-topped tables upstairs, reserved for members of parliament from Andhra Pradesh.

Dinner in this fluorescent-lighted space was a loud and harried affair. Men in white shirts and black pants directed new customers with the efficiency of traffic cops, shepherding them to tables as soon as they became vacant. There is a set meal, along with à la carte dishes that can be ordered from roving servers.

A thali, or sampling of dishes, was served on a metal platter with indentations that resembled a painter’s palette, as well as in small metal bowls. They included a curry of miniature eggplant smothered in a piquant gravy; a pale groundnut chutney reminiscent of peanut butter; sambar, a watery lentil broth; rasam, a tangy tomato broth flavored with tamarind; cooling yogurt; and a double ka meeta, a special Andhra bread pudding soaked in cream, sugar and ghee.

Andhra Pradesh is also famous for its biryani: basmati rice cooked with spices and a choice of mutton, chicken, vegetables or egg. The waiters circled the cafeteria, serving generous mounds of plain white rice, chapati and crispy round papad.

The best part of the meal may be the end: the all-you-can-eat dinner is just 80 rupees a person, about $1.80 at 45 rupees to the dollar.

While the rice dishes of Andhra Pradesh may be familiar, the food of Jammu and Kashmir — the northernmost state of India situated in the Himalaya mountains — is less so. It is also India’s only state with a Muslim majority, and spicy kebabs and lamb dishes are its signature.

Jammu and Kashmir House occupies a small compound on a tree-lined road near the Samrat Hotel in Chanakyapuri, with several three-story red brick buildings. Its driveway is lined with the white Ambassador sedans used by government officials.

One building holds the dining room, which has tile floors and white walls that are sparsely decorated with faded pictures of Kashmir’s snow-capped mountains. Curtains were drawn over large floor-to-ceiling windows. On a Thursday night, the six big wooden tables were occupied by men in taqiyahs, the caps worn by some Muslims.

There is no menu, so customers simply eat what the kitchen has prepared that day. On a recent visit, that included tender seekh kebabs, made with lamb and roasted with cumin and chili; moist lamb kofta in an oily pool of tomato and chili sauce; and haak saag, a dark, leafy green popular in Kashmir that was simply stir-fried.

It’s not hard to find kebabs in Delhi, but dining at Jammu and Kashmir House offers the special treat of eating from a ceramic plate with the state seal: a lotus and two swans. Still, the no-frills canteen is a far cry from the idyllic landscapes of Kashmir.

Not all the bhavans are so utilitarian. Nagaland in northeast India is one of the country’s smallest and most remote states — so it was surprising that the dining room at Nagaland House was relatively formal. Housed in a three-story white villa with green trim on Aurangzeb Road, a fancy boulevard lined with expensive homes and government residences, the canteen had five tables that were covered with white tablecloths and lavender place mats laid with cutlery and ceramic plates.

Nagaland is known for its green mountains and the folk traditions of the Naga people. But tourists need permits to visit — the state is plagued by rebel insurgencies — so a visit to the canteen may be the closest that many people will ever get to tasting Naga specialties like smoked pork stir-fried with bamboo shoots, and pork stewed with nushi, the leaf of a local yam. Unlike in most of India, pork is eaten with zeal in Nagaland.

On a recent Monday evening, a waiter in a gray uniform attended to a largely empty dining room. Tourist photos of Nagaland hung in the lobby. Outside, there were no green mountains, just an endless stream of traffic to remind diners they were still in Delhi.

IF YOU GO

Andhra Pradesh Bhavan (1 Ashoka Road, near India Gate; 91-11-2338-7499; aponline.gov.in/apportal/apbhavandotcom/Location.htm) is among the most popular spots. Open daily 7:30 to 10 a.m.; noon to 3 p.m.; 7:30 to 10 p.m. Dinner for two, about 160 rupees, or about $3.65.

Assam Bhavan (1 Sardar Patel Marg, Chanakyapuri; 91-11-2687-7111), in a small basement, serves fish and unusual vegetarian dishes like custard apple curry. Daily 1 to 2:30 p.m.; 8:30 to 10 p.m. Meal for two, about 120 rupees.

Jammu and Kashmir House (9 Kautilya Marg, Chanakyapuri; 91-11-2611-2021) is known for its lamb kebabs. Not to be confused with Jammu and Kashmir Bhavan. Daily 7 to 9 a.m.; noon to 2 p.m.; 7 to 10 p.m. Meal for two, about 180 rupees.

Kerala House (3 Jantar Mantar Road, near Jantar Mantar; 91-11-3041-1411) serves coconut-infused dishes in a peaceful setting. Though it is not officially open to the public, walk-ins are welcome. Daily 8 to 9:30 a.m.; 1 to 2:30 p.m.; 8 to 9:30 p.m. Meal for two, 80 rupees.

Nagaland House (29 Aurangzeb Road, near Delhi Race Course; 91-11-2301-5638) serves unusual pork dishes favored in this remote northeast state. Daily 8:30 to 11 a.m.; noon to 2 p.m.; 7 to 10 p.m. Meal for two, 220 rupees.

Sikkim House (14 Panchsheel Marg; Chanakyapuri; 91-11-2611-5171), across from the United States Embassy, draws the diplomat set. Daily 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.; 12:30 to 11 p.m. Meal for two, about 250 rupees.

Tamil Nadu House (Off Africa Avenue; Chanakyapuri; 91-11-2419-3100) serves South Indian fare in a basic canteen. Daily 8 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. Meal for two, about 150 rupees.