Arunachal govt scraps consultative meet on Kachari ST proposal after AAPSU opposition

CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh government on Saturday cancelled a consultative meeting scheduled for July 13 to discuss the proposed inclusion of the Kachari community of Namsai and Changlang districts under the Scheduled Tribe (ST), sub-tribe or plains tribe category in the National Population Census.

The development came a day after the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) strongly opposed the move and threatened to launch a democratic movement.

An official circular issued by the state Social Justice & Empowerment and Tribal Affairs (SJETA) department said that the meeting, which was to be chaired by the chief secretary at the civil secretariat on July 13, has been cancelled.

The government, however, did not specify any reason for withdrawing the meeting.

The consultative meeting had been planned to deliberate on the proposal concerning the Kachari community of Namsai and Changlang districts.

Representatives of the All Arunachal Pradesh Kachari Community Development Council, Sonowal Kachari Jatiya Parishad and the All Arunachal Pradesh Sonowal Kachari Students' Union had been invited to attend.

The cancellation came after AAPSU objected to the proposed exercise and demanded that the meeting be withdrawn. The students' body had warned of intensified protests if the process was allowed to continue.

AAPSU president Meje Taku had said that Arunachal Pradesh, being a fully tribal state, enjoys constitutional safeguards under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system governed by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

He had argued that granting ST status to communities that are not indigenous to the state could weaken those protections.

The union had also questioned the need for such a proposal, noting that the Sonowal Kachari community is already recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (Plains) in neighbouring Assam.

According to AAPSU, any relaxation of the existing norms for granting Scheduled Tribe status in Arunachal Pradesh could trigger similar demands from other communities with historical or ethnic links to the state, affecting its demographic composition and political interests.

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