GUWAHATI: The Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations of Assam (CCTOA) is holding a convention here on Friday to decide the next course of action to address the unresolved issues concerning the tribal population in the state.
Representatives of many as 24 member associations of CCTOA, which is conglomeration of tribal organisations of the state, will take part in the convention which will finalise the mode and direction of the tribal people’s movement for their rights.
Speaking to The Shillong Times here on Thursday, CCTOA chief coordinator Aditya Khaklari said that there are several long-standing problems of the tribal population in the state that have not been addressed over the decades.
“The tribal belt and blocks have not been protected till date. The Assam Land and Revenue Act, 1986, has failed to protect the tribal lands in the state from encroachment,” Khaklari said.
He pointed out that despite the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, being in force, the forest dwellers still remain deprived of their land rights and face an uncertain future,”.
The Recognition of Forest Rights Act was enacted to protect the marginalised socio-economic classes and balance the right to environment with their right to life and livelihood.
Khaklari alleged that the reservation policy also has not been properly implemented with several reserved backlog posts yet to be filled up. According to the committee, as many as 12,155 reserved backlog posts in different departments of the state remain vacant.
“Besides, our demand for Constitutional status to the autonomous councils for plains tribes has not been implemented with the government only promising but not doing anything practically,” he alleged.
Khaklari further said that even though the Bodo peace accord was inked there are a number of problems staring in the face of the Bodo population outside Bodoland Territorial Region. “The convention will be discussing the protection of their language, culture and political rights as well,” he said.
The CCTOA has been questioning the government’s move to grant Scheduled Tribal status to another six indigenous communities of Assam, alleging that the move ignored the condition of the existing tribal population in the state.
