Committee To Implement Clause 6 of Assam Accord

Committee To Implement Clause 6 of Assam Accord

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Centre has reconstituted the high-level committee on the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord with new members.

Clause 6 of the historic Assam Accord states: “Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people”.

The committee constituted earlier on the same issue became defunct after majority of its members resigned in protest against the Centre’s move to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Parliament.

The reconstituted high- level committee will be headed by justice Biplab Kumar Sarma, former judge of Gauhati High Court as chairman. The members of the committee will be Ramesh Borpatragohain, Advocate General, Assam , Niloy Dutta, Advocate General, Arunachal Pradesh, Subhash Das, IAS (Retd.), Pallav Bhattacharya, IPS (Retd.), Dr. Srishtidhar Dutta, Professor (Retd.), Sumanta Chaliha, author & columnist , Dr. Jaikanta Sharma, professor & columnist, Wasbir Hussain, senior journalist, Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya, Chief Adviser of All Assam Student Union (AASU), Dipanka Kumar Nath, president of AASU, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, general secretary of AASU. The Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs will be the member secretary of the committee.

The Committee will examine the effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 othe Assam Accord. It will hold discussions with various stakeholders including social organizations, legal and constitutional experts, eminent persons from the field of art, culture and literature, conservationists, economists, linguists and sociologists.

The Committee will assess the appropriate level of reservation of seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies for the Assamese people. It will also suggest measures to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous languages of Assam.

The Committee will recommend the appropriate level of reservations in employment under the Government of Assam for the Assamese people. It may suggest any other measures as may be necessary to protect, preserve and promote cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

The Committee will submit its report within 6 months from the date of notification.

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi while reacting to the development, said the members of the previous committee should be inducted in the new committee. He said while Constitutional safeguard is must to safeguard the identity of indigenous people of Assam, the AASU will not tolerate anything that violates the Assam Accord.

“We will hold discussion with various stakeholders including Axom Xahitya Xabha and other indigenous bodies to place recommendations and suggestions to effectively implement the Assam Accord,” Gogoi said.

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