tiol level semir held

New Delhi, July 31:  A tiol level semir was held by the Tribal Sangha presided by Dr. Jayanta Rongpi ,Ex MP Lok Sabha.The semir was iugurated by Sarbanda Sonowal  Minister (Independent Charge) Government of India. Sonowal in his address stated that the Tribal people of Assam in particular and of the entire India in general have been remained backward and downtrodden till date even after the 68 years of Indian Independence. Until and unless development are brought about and the protection of land of the tribal people are ensured, they will continue to remain the same. He stated that the government of India led by rendra Modi has been considering sympathetically the enlisting of six communities of Assam i.e. Koch Rajbongshis, Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok and Tea tribes. At the same time he emphasized the fact that the right and privileges and the interest of the existing tribals should not be adversely affected at any cost

Artex A Shimray, resource person stated the definition of tribal laid down in the constitution of India, the definition of Indigenous people in the working group of the UN on the Indigenous people, the panchsheel of Tribals in the year 1955. According to him the people and the land can never be separated. The move of the government to enlist six advance communities of Assam is not only detrimental to the tribal of Assam and the north east, but also the tion as a whole. He opined that we need to put a joint front against this move throughout the country.

 Suhas Chakma, resource person raised the issue of undermining positive discrimition for political mileage. The move on the part of the government of India is nothing but aiming at the Assam assembly election of 2016 to take political advantage. The move itself is repugnt to the law of the land and it should be opposed unequivocally. We need to resort to legal action against the move as well as political steps to foil this ugly design of government.

H S Brahma former CEC, Government of India invited guest of the semir dwelt at length on his long years of services with the government of India and said the development of the tribals has been in the papers only and never been translated in to reality. Tribal people of India should unitedly come forward to fight against the injustices done to them, to agitate, organized and achieve the goal.

Mr. Tankeswar Rabha, Hon’ble chief executive councilor of Rabha Hasong Autonomous council emphasize that a political move should be taken by the tribals to ensure the safety and security of the existing tribals. The chairperson the semir summarized that the vary move of the govt. of India in league with the govt. of Assam is an ugly design aiming at to continue by injustices done to the tribals in the days to come.

The semir uqimously adopted the following resolutions:

1. Decides to oppose granting of “Scheduled Tribe” status to the six communities of Assam unless studies commissioned by the State Government of Assam and the Government of India confirm with evidence that these six communities (1) possess characteristics which define tribals; (2) these six communities are politically, economically, educatiolly, socially and culturally backward justifying the granting of “Scheduled Tribe” status, and (3) guarantees to ensure the rights of the existing STs of Assam interalia for political representation, educatiofl, employment, land and tural resources and other cultural identities;

2. Decides to send a team to the North Eastern States for raising awareness on the implications of granting ST status to the six communities of Assam on all the STs of all over India for access to employment, education etc at All India level;

3. Decides to take necessary legal measures including filing writs before the Supreme Court of India if the Government of India and the State Government of Assam go ahead to grant ST status to these six communities in violations of the Constitution of India, laws, Supreme Court judgements and policies of the Government of Lndia relating to inclusion in the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes;

4. Decides to encourage formation of a united tribal political movement by the existing Scheduled Tribes of Assam to oppose the candidates of the political parties which support or advocate listing of six communities as Scheduled Tribes;

5. Decides to organize mass public rallies of the existing scheduled tribes of Assam in Assam opposing granting of ST status to the six communities in clear violations of the laws and without guaranteeing the rights of the existing STs of Assam; and

6. Decides to demand a white paper from the State Government of Assam and the Government of India as to how the rights of the existing STs shall be ensured in case any of the six communities or all the six communities are included in the list of STs, a press release said.