Published Paper Details:

This study examines the Dadgari weekly market in Hatisar village, located in Assam's Chirang district, as a site of informal cross-border governance along the Indo-Bhutan border. Drawing on fieldwork, vendor and consumer interviews, and market-committee records, the study describes the market's spatial organization, its community of buyers and sellers, and the largely self-regulating system that sustains it. It analyzes the market's economic significance for local Bodo, Rajbongshi, Nepali, and Adivasi communities, as well as for Bhutanese consumers from the southern foothills who make up most of its customers. The study highlights the market's near-total dependence on this Bhutanese customer base and it's distinctive dual-currency operation where both Indian rupees and Bhutanese ngultrum are accepted in daily transactions.This article argues that Dadgari functions as a form of unofficial, community-managed cross-border governance operating largely outside formal state structures, yet remains vulnerable to disruptions originating in national-level political and economic events on either side of the border. The article concludes with recommendations for infrastructural and institutional support for the same.