From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: States need to be created to take development closer to the people and power should flow from the states to Centre. Also, we need to question whether statehood is the ultimate goal. There is a need to look beyond that.
This was stated by Patricia Mukhim, editor of The Shillong Times and Member, National Security Advisory Board while speaking on “Autonomy on Ethnic Lines in Northeast India: Recipe for ethnic Divide?” in a seminar on “Autonomy and Devolution of Powers: Can it Fulfil People’s Aspirations in Northeast India?,” organised by the Guwahati-based Centre for Development and Peace Studies (CDPS) on Monday.
She said, “People need to have a platform to speak about themselves and that is the true meaning of governance which means true participation of the people. But now we are beneficiaries instead of being the stakeholders in governance.”
The adviser of the influential All Assam Students, Union (AASU), Samujjal Bhattacharya said no group or community should go out of Assam and the State should not be divided further although ‘full powers’ should be vested on the existing autonomous councils, including fiscal powers.
Bhattacharya asserted that autonomy must be an instrument of change, but the Government has kept the idea confined to a piece of paper without vesting real powers to the Councils.
He said the Government should not consider the autonomy demand and the agitation pressing such demands as a law and order problem and should try to resolve it through political dialogue.
Paul Lyngdoh, working president of the United Democratic Party, Meghalaya, said the criteria for creation of autonomous states should be economic viability and availability of resources.
He said the government must fix a minimum size of the population before considering demands for small states. “There should be adequate safeguards for all ethnic, religious and linguistic groups in any small state”, he said.
Lyngdoh, a former president of the Khasi Student’s Union (KSU), suggested setting up of a permanent States’ Reorganisation Commission with a clear mandate to examine the various statehood demands.
Dr. Noni Gopal Mahanta, Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Gauhati University, said the “ethnicization of space” has posed a challenge to co-existence and pluralism in Assam.
Urkhao G Brahma, Former MP from Bodo-dominated areas called for a permanent institutional mechanism for dealing with smaller state creation demands. He also talked about nation-building and that one cannot talk about regional integrity without talking about national integrity. He said that only a full-fledged state can satisfy the aspirations of Bodo people.
Dr. Jayanta Rongpi, former MP, said that the autonomy model in Northeast India is a failed experiment. He stated that it is because there was a deliberate attempt to dilute the provisions of the Sixth Schedule since its inception. He demanded the implementation of Article 244A of the Constitution and said there cannot be a military solution to the grievances of the people and nobody should take advantage of the social faultlines existing in the region.
A ULFA (pro-talks faction) leader Shashadhar Choudhury, said that there is a need to come out of the ‘Beggars Autonomy’ and the need of the hour is to opt for a community-based system like a special economic zone.