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Mahesh

26/09/24 12:55 PM IST

Clause 6 of Assam Accord

In News
  • Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma set the ball rolling for the implementation of 52 recommendations of the Justice Biplab Sarma Committee regarding Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
About Committee
  • The historic Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement between the Rajiv Gandhi-led Union government and the leadership of the Assam Movement, primarily the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which was signed in 1985.
  • The accord ended the six-year-long agitation in Assam against the entry of Bangladeshi migrants into the state.
  • Clause 6 of the accord states that “Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.”
  • In July 2019, the Union Home Ministry constituted a 14-member committee chaired by retired Assam High Court Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma, and comprising judges, retired bureaucrats, writers, AASU leaders and journalists.
  • Among the key recommendations made by the committee was that the definition of “Assamese people”, for the purpose of implementing Clause 6, should include “Indigenous Tribals”, “Other Indigenous Communities of Assam”, “Indian citizens residing in the territory of Assam on or before January 1, 1951” and their descendants, and “Indigenous Assamese” people.
  • Based on this, the committee made several recommendations for reservations for “Assamese people”, including in Parliament, the state Assembly, local bodies, and jobs.
Key recommendations 
Land
  • Creating Revenue Circles where only “Assamese people” can own and possess land, and transfer of such land in these areas are limited to them alone;
  • Launching a time-bound, three year programme to allot land titles to “Assamese people” who have occupied a certain piece of land for decades, but are without possession of land documents
  • Carrying out a special survey of char areas (riverine regions along the Brahmaputra), and for newly created chars to be treated as government land, in which river erosion-affected people should get priority in allotment;
Language
  •  Keeping Assamese as the official language throughout the state as per the 1960 Assam Official Language Act “with provisions for use of local languages” in the Barak Valley, Hill districts, and the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District;
  • Making it compulsory for all state government acts, rules, orders, etc. to be issued in Assamese along with English;
  • Constituting an Autonomous Language and Literature Academy/Council of Assam to preserve and promote all indigenous languages of Assam;
  • Making Assamese a compulsory subject up to class VIII or class X in all English medium schools, both under the state board and CBSE;
Cultural heritage
  • Establishing an autonomous authority for the development of sattras (neo-Vaishnavite monasteries), which will, among other things, provide financial assistance to them; and
  • Creating multipurpose cultural complexes in each district to “uplift” the cultural heritage of all ethnic groups.
  • Chief Minister Sarma said that the autonomous councils of Assam’s Sixth Schedule Areas — namely the Bodoland Territorial Council, the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council — will decide whether to implement the 52 recommendations. The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution provides autonomous tribal councils in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram certain legislative and judicial autonomy.
Recommendations that Assam Govt left out
  • An Inner Line Permit for entry into Assam as is in place in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram, as well as numerous reservations for “Assamese people”.
  • The latter include 80-100% reservation in Assam’s seats in Parliament, and the same proportion reserved in the state Assembly and local bodies; 80-100% reservation in Assam government jobs; and 70-100% reservations in vacancies arising in undertakings run in partnership between the Assam government and private companies.
  • There was also a recommendation for the creation of an Upper House (the Legislative Council of Assam) which would be completely reserved for the “Assamese people”.
Source- Indian Express

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