Indigenous safeguards under Clause 6 ignored in Assam poll rhetoric
As elections dominate Assam, silence around Clause 6 raises concerns, with key recommendations on indigenous rights still awaiting Centre’s action since 2020.
A file image of people in Assam (Photo: @himantabiswa/x)
Guwahati, April 1: Will the indigenous people of Assam get constitutional protection under the provisions of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord? The doubt came because no party is talking about the issue during the election rallies.
Of course, the BJP leaders are talking about dealing with the problem of infiltration of foreigners, but they are not talking about constitutional protection to the indigenous people of the State.
The Government of India formed a committee headed by Justice Biplab Sharma (Retd) to suggest measures for providing constitutional protection to the indigenous people of the State, and the committee submitted its report in February, 2020.
The Prime Minister and Union Home Minister had promised to implement the recommendations of the committee immediately after receiving the report. However, no action has yet been taken by the Centre.
The State government has implemented the recommendations which fall under its purview, but the main recommendations are to be implemented by the Central government. One of the major recommendations was for the protection of the political rights of the indigenous people.
The committee recommended that 80 to 100 per cent of seats in the Assembly, Parliament and local bodies should be kept reserved for the indigenous people of the State. This recommendation will have to be implemented by the Central government, as an amendment to the Constitution of India will be required for it.
Another major recommendation was the creation of an Upper House, and the seats will have to be reserved for the indigenous people of the State.
The committee further recommended that 80 per cent of group C and D category posts in Central, semi-central, PSUs, etc, should be kept reserved for indigenous people of the State.
The committee also recommended that Assam should be brought under the inner line permit system, and this decision will have to be taken by the Central government.
If the State is brought under the inner line permit system, Assam will go out of the purview of the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, 2019.