Junmai Basumatary, Asst. Prof., Bodoland University, Kokrajhar

Junmai Basumatary

Asst. Prof., Bodoland University, Kokrajhar

Junmani Basumatary, Assistant Professor at Bodoland University, Kokrajhar began by speaking about the need for a provision like that of the Sixth Schedule to protect the tribal way of living and habitation, customary laws and the tribal interest in general. She explained that there is a Constitution meant for people, overall, but there was a further need to protect the tribal interests. Her focus during the session was on the working of the Bodoland Territorial Council.

She started by looking back to the history of the Bodos, seen by historians as one of the early inhabitants of Assam. They are known as an ethnic tribal group, and are the largest community among other tribes inhabiting Assam.

There is a long history to the demands and movements of the Bodo people, which finally bore fruit in 2003.

In 1920, before India’s independence, a handful of Bodo people, like Kalicharan Brahma, a social reformer among the Bodos considered the father of Brahma Dharma, went to visit the Simon Commission when it visited India. At that time the capital was in Meghalaya and that is where they went to demand political representation for the Bodos. That’s the beginning of the struggle for autonomy.

In 1952, after India’s Independence, the literary organization Bodo Sahitya Sabha was formed, working for the literature and language of the Bodos and side by side shaping political awakening.

In 1967, the Plain Tribals Council of Assam (PTCA) was formed and they started demanding a separate state, Udayachal, for the plains tribes of Assam. In 1967, there was also the birth of the All Bodo Student Union (ABSO), the strongest student union in North-East India.

In 1971, there was a movement asking for the roman script, but when it was resolved, the Bodos ended up with the Devanagari script instead.

ABSO gained momentum after 1987 and then, after the 1990s, Upendranath Brahma, a famous Bodo leader known as the Father of the Bodo Nation initiated a movement for a separate state. This was a prolonged mass movement, with rigorous demands, in which many young people, and women from among the Bodos came together to fight for a separate state.

In 1993, all that changed. This is the year when the Bodoland Autonomous Council was formed. The majority of the people demanded a separate state but instead what they got was this council. The disappointment faced by the Bodo people led them to realize that this was not what they demanded.

In 2003, a Memorandum of Settlement was signed between the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), the Central Government and the State of Assam. This led to the formation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

There were many amendments, and special features. While Councils elsewhere have 30 executive members, there are 46 in the Bodoland Territorial Council. The BTC is unique compared to other District Councils. The BTC is dominated by other non-tribal groups too. Keeping this in mind, the Govt of Assam in the MoS amended various provisions and decided the seats for the executive members: 30 for tribal people, 5 open for all, 6 nominated by the Governor, of which 2 are for women, and the rest reserved for non-tribal people.

The revision of the list of Schedule Tribes of the area, which has been amended again, increased the number of seats for BTC. The Panchayati Raj system which exists in the Council area has had its powers conferred to the BTC when it was formed, and in place of Panchayati Raj there is a Villagelevel Development Council (VLDC), working in the area.

The BTC appears as one of the fastest growing ADCs in North-East. It has conferred upon it 40 subjects over which they have full power and can make policy, ranging from administration and infrastructure to PWD, transport, irrigation, health and family welfare, land and revenue, conservation, education, etc. Only relief and rehabilitation had not yet been conferred.

But there are also challenges that the BTC faces. One of the main issues is that the BTC is not fully governed by the Bodos, but also other communities, like Raba, Garo, Nepali, Muslims, Assamese, Rajbanshis, who are co-inhabitants inside BTC. That was a major problem right after the formation of BTC. It led to lack of satisfaction and to calling of bandhs and bandh culture, road blocking. There is also the history of the major conflicts which occured right after the formation of the BTC, in 2008 and 2012, where many people became landless, homeless and some still have to stay in relief camps. The impact of the conflict was huge at that time.

While ABSO demanded ceaselessly for a separate state, the co-inhabitants of the BTC, Rajbanshis and Adivasis have started demanding for ST status, and the Rajbanshis demanded a separate state called Kamatapur.

These problems emerged right since the inception of BTC.

Many Bodo inhabitants claim that these are politically planned conflicts, with the other minority groups fuelled by outside elements. Their impact, at any rate, can be easily seen. Once upon a time, Bodoland University, and Central University of Technology were key institutions, but now students are reluctant to join them because of the conflict. The young generation has been affected by the bandh culture and conflict issues. The situation is calming down, though, and at the moment the atmosphere is more peaceful.

Another connected aspect is that the present BTC area includes non-tribal population, particularly in urban and semi-urban localities. They face formidable difficulties in attaining additional and exclusive autonomy, especially where there is the experience of the previous Bodoland movement. The creation of the BTC has shorn the relation between Bodos and Rajbanshis, Bodos in Karbi Anglong, and the Karbis there. It is difficult to find a lasting solution to the endemic ultra-ethnic and tribal unrest in Council areas. Assam in general and BTC in particular, with a multi-ethnic and multilingual population which is extremely fragile in this respect, needs to be given attention.

Moreover, two sets of authority exist which often makes the situation confusing. One is the Deputy Commissioner, who represents the state, and the other is the BTC. While certain powers have been granted to the BTC, to govern a council or administer one locality, finance is needed. There may be different developmental policies, but if finance is not released on time, the Council has to wait for the State to confer it before it can start working. That’s an ongoing complaint: there are delays in progress because of delays in funds and waiting for work, and this is connected with the two sets of authorities.