Include land as subject for Clause 6 implementation: Forum

Assam Accord

GUWAHATI: Anti-influx forum, Prabajan Virodhi Manch has taken exception to the fact that the constitution of the committee under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has not included land in its terms of reference as a subject and basis for protection of indigenous people.

The Centre had earlier this week formed a high-level committee to suggest measures for implementation of Clause 6 Assam Accord which envisages constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards for protection, preservation and promotion of cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of Assamese people.  

“The Assam Accord was signed by both central and state governments and all subjects of legislation, both under Parliament and the Assam legislature, come within its domain, including land. It is therefore imperative to include land as a subject and the fundamental basis for protecting the identity of the indigenous people,” Manch convener, Upamanyu Hazarika said in a statement issued here on Saturday.

Hazarika said that under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, legal and constitutional safeguards were to be provided to safeguard the identity of the Assamese people.

“With the current estimate of 80 lakh foreigners in Assam, of whom 40 lakh have been excluded from the complete draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), and a significantly smaller number likely to be excluded from the final list, it is clear that NRC alone cannot prevent indigenous people from becoming a minority,” he said.

“The only reason for which infiltration occurs is the hunger for land by Bangladeshis who have already encroached lakhs of bighas in middle and lower Assam and encroached upon 4 lakh hectares of forest land out of a total of 17 lakh hectares,” Hazarika alleged.

The Manch convener further said that indigenous people in the other states of the Northeast are protected from Bangladeshi infux as land is reserved for the local people.

“If land is reserved only for those whose names are in the NRC of 1951, most of the encroachers will not get any rights over land and are liable to be evicted,” he said.