Silchar, Aug. 2: A federation of five tribal organisation of south Assam has urged Delhi to carve out community-wise autonomous regions in the three districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj.
In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, the federation said the autonomous regions should be established in the areas where the tribal communities are concentrated.
The consortium comprises the Khasi-Jaintia Students Union, the All Assam Meira Paibi Association, the All Dimasa Students Union, the All Assam Rongmei Naga Students Union and the Barak Valley Khasi Jaintia Dorbar.
A spokesperson for the federation said the autonomous administrative units would help preserve the distinct ethnic identity of the tribal communities in south Assam and improve their socio-economic condition. These organisations have demanded creation of tribal belts and blocks in the Barak valley districts, based on the Panchanan Brahma Committee’s report to the state government in 1979.
“The indigenous tribes are historically the sons of the soil of south Assam. But the districts were flooded with refugees and outsiders due to the open-door policy pursued by the state government as well as the Centre, threatening the identity of the tribal people residing here for ages,” Lucus Mukhim, president of the Khasi-Jaintia Students Union, said.
The federation said the indigenous people in the three districts have been living in constant fear due to “forceful grabbing of tribal land by outsiders and persistent violence against hapless tribal women”.
It urged the Prime Minister to insert a separate column in the census documentation, showing separate community-wise break-up of the tribal population, instead of the present practice of lumping together all the tribal people under one head.
The federation requested the Centre to repeal the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act to expedite the process of detecting unlawful settlers in the country.
It demanded that the Assam Central University at Dargakona near here should be named after the last Dimasa king of Cachar, Gobinda Chandra, and the Masimpur army cantonment after legendary Dimasa freedom fighter Bir Shanbhudhan. A bust of Naga freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu should be at the central university, it added.