OUR CORRESPONDENT
KOKRAJHAR: The All Assam Tribal Students’ Union (AATSU) has strongly condemned the Assam Government’s cabinet decision held on July 7, 2021 letter no. ECF 13953/2024/358 and Governor’s notification dated July 20, 2021 vide no. RSS 502/2019/27, where Moran, Mathak, Ahom, Chutia, and Gorkha communities were included in the list of protected classes. Also, the Assam Government’s cabinet decision dated January 7, 2025 letter no. ECF 13953/2024/358 where Koch-Rajbongshi community, residing in the tribal belt and block, is included in the protected class, allowing them to legally purchase, sell and own land in these regions.
President of AATSU Hareswar Brahma said that the Assam Government had sent directives to all District Commissioners, instructing them to gather detailed information on non-tribal individuals residing in these protected tribal areas. The district commissioners have, in turn, forwarded these instructions to revenue circle officers, signalling a swift move towards implementing the new policy. He said that the Government of Assam should immediately stop its anti-tribal activities. None of the non-tribal people inhabiting tribal belt and block areas will be considered as a protected class for any reason, he said, adding that this was a completely anti-tribal decision.
This decision has been met with immediate and vocal opposition from various tribal groups across Assam, Brahma said, adding that the tribal belts and blocks were specifically created and reserved to safeguard the interests and land rights of the state’s tribal population.
Brahma said that over four lakh bighas of tribal lands in these protected areas were already under encroachment. The Assam Government’s prioritizing the rights of others over the indigenous tribal communities is a conspiracy to undermine their land ownership. “Instead of freeing our land from encroachers, the government is actively working to destroy the rights of the tribal people. Allowing non-tribal communities to purchase land in these reserved areas would directly contradict the Assam Land & Revenue Regulation Act, 1886 which defines protected classes in the region,” he added.
In continuation, the Karbi Anglong land acquisition by Big Solar Power Project for generating 1,000-Megawatt electricity over 18,000 bighas of land of the hill district financed by Asian Development Bank in Khatkhati, Lankatha, will be acquired by evicting about 20,000 Karbi and Naga tribal people who have been living in 23 villages in the large area under the pretext of development, the AATSU president said, adding that the Assam Government and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council have denied the sixth schedule policies. He also said that there were many illegal land acquisition cases in Assam including Bodoland Territorial Council, Mikir Bamuni, Kaziranga, Rabha Hasong, and other parts of Assam. The government is now planning to do this in the name of Advantage Assam, he added.
“Tribal belts and blocks are specially designated areas created to protect the land rights of indigenous tribal communities. Established under the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act of 1886, these belts and blocks restrict land ownership to tribal, aiming to prevent the alienation of tribal lands to non-tribal populations. Despite these protections, tribal land alienation remains a pressing issue, driven by various socio-economic and administrative challenges”, he said, adding, “Though the High Court, Gauhati verdict, PIL 78/2012, the implementation of the same is at large. The indigenous tribal people are already in a blazing position where illegal immigrants are threatening our indigenous tribe and they are becoming a minority in their own land in the near future.”
He also said that many of the tribal indigenous people were still excluded from society and deprived of their rights as equal citizens of a state. Indigenous tribal peoples have prior rights to their territories, land and resources, and tribal people face serious difficulties such as constant threats of territorial invasion and murder, plundering of their resources, cultural and legal discrimination, as well as a lack of recognition of their own institutions. He added that in many cases, tribal peoples were indeed ‘unoriginal’ to land they live in, being descendants of those peoples that inhabited a territory prior to colonization or formation of the present state.
“Indigenous peoples have their own distinct languages, culture, social and political institutions that are very different from those of mainstream society. While tribal peoples face the same experience of discrimination and marginalization as other ethnic minorities, there are very important differences in terms of their rights and identity,” said the AATSU president. He further said that according to UNESCO, about 2,500 languages, cultures, and many indigenous tribes are currently at the risk of extinction within a few generations.
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