Image: Twitter / Amit Shah
A historic agreement was signed in New Delhi this weekend pertaining to the long-standing demand to grant the Karbi Anglong region of Assam greater autonomy. While the demand for a separate state was not accepted, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met with community leaders such as:
·Pradip Terang, Chairman, Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF)
·Kongkat Teron, Vice Chairman, People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK)
·Wellesley Terang, Chairman, United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA)
·Sam Sing Tisso, Chairman, Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT)
·Run Rongpi, Chairman, Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT-R)
They were all signatories to the agreement that was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal. This is the third major peace agreement signed in the region after the Bodoland Peace Accord and the Bru Resettlement Agreement. However, Karbi groups panned it as a “gimmick” just hours after it was signed, given how the demand for a separate state was completely ignored and the autonomy granted was viewed as little more than an eyewash.
Terms of the Karbi Anglong Agreement
Explaining the terms of the agreement, Sarma said, “The GoA (Government of Assam) will provide financial compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each of the next of kin of persons who lost their lives in agitations related to autonomous state demand and have not yet been compensated in any manner.” Sarma further addressed the demand for Karbi as official language saying, “The Government of Assam will consider favourably the proposal of KAAC to notify Karbi as the official language of KAAC. However English, Hindi & Assamese will continue to be used for official purposes.”
The pact not only grants greater autonomy to the people of the region, it also commits to increase allocation of funds for infrastructural and other development in the Karbi Anglong region, as well as protection of language, culture and identity of its people.
It is noteworthy that in February this year, when Sarbananda Sonowal was still chief minister of Assam, as many as 1040 armed members of various Karbi groups had laid down their arms, surrendering to the state government on February 25 in Guwahati. Nearly 200 of these people were present in Delhi for the signing of the agreement this weekend.
As per the tripartite agreement signed between the Union Government, Assam Government as Karbi groups, the Government of Assam will constitute a Committee of Legislative Assembly of Assam under provisions of article 371B of the Constitution. The Government of India will expedite the passage of the Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill, 2019, which proposes to rename the Council as Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council that will have 50 members, 6 of which (including two women) will be nominated by the Governor. Out of the remaining 44 elected seats, 10 will be reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). The Council, after the Constitutional Amendment, will be empowered with responsibilities like rural electrification, protection of minorities and followers of indigenous faiths, development of cottage and small industries, and protection of wildlife. A new post of DIG Hills will be created by GoA and all police officials will be posted in the region only after consultation with the Chief Executive member of the KAAC.
The entire Karbi Anglong Agreement may be read here:
Who are the Karbis and what do they want?
Karbis are an ethnic community of Assam and belong to a Tibeto-burman group that originated in China in the region near the Yang-Tee-Kiang and the Howang-ho rivers. They practice their own indigenous faith comprising ancestor worship and animism. The Karbis predominantly inhabit the Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts of the state and adjoining areas. The Karbi Anglong district was created in October 1976, after the United Mikir and North Cachar Hills district was bifurcated in 1970 and the Mikir Hills district was renamed Karbi Anglong, as many people perceive the word Mikir to be derogatory. The West Karbi Anglong district was carved out of this in 2015.
The population comprises a mix of various tribes and ethnic groups including Karbis, Bodos, Kukis, Dimasas, Hmars, Garos, Rengma Nagas, Tiwas and Man people (a Tai speaking community). The region is rich in limestone, Feldspar and Coal and is also home to tea gardens and agro-based industries. Karbis practice Jhum or slash and burn form of cultivation and grow a variety of crops such as rice, maize, potato, tapioca, beans and ginger. However, as per the Assam Human Development Report, 2003, they have the highest Human Poverty Index value of 33.52 indicating the economic plight of the indigenous community.
The Karbi groups had been demanding a separate state via an armed struggle that began in the 1980s. It led to widespread bloodshed, kidnappings and ethnic violence. Though over the years the region has been granted greater autonomy with the setting up of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), the Karbis had been demanding a separate state under provisions of Article 244A of the Constitution.
This article deals with the “Formation of an autonomous State comprising certain tribal areas in Assam and creation of local Legislature or Council of Ministers”. Section 1 of this article says, “Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may, by law, form within the State of Assam an autonomous State comprising (whether wholly or in part) all or any of the tribal areas specified in Part I of the table appended to paragraph 20 of the Sixth Schedule and create therefor
(a) a body, whether elected or partly nominated and partly elected, to function as a Legislature for the autonomous State, or
(b) a Council of Ministers, or both with such constitution, powers and functions, in each case, as may be specified in the law.”
Resurgence of demand for separate state
It is noteworthy that just a day after the signing of the pact, the demand for an autonomous state has resurfaced among a few indigenous groups. While Home Minister Amit Shah was busy patting his team on the back saying, “The signing of the Historic Karbi Anglong Agreement. Modi government is committed to resolving the decades-old crisis, ensuring the territorial integrity of Assam,” discontent was already brewing in Karbi Anglong.
The Times of India reports that an umbrella body of 24 such groups has called the Karbi Anglong Agreement a “gimmick”. They have demanded that the hill districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao be declared an autonomous state. Abinash Ronghang told TOI, “The BJP government kept the demand for the implementation of Article 244 (A) hidden while finalising the agreement. It was not even discussed.”
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