Assignment Code: BPSE-145/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BPSE-145

Assignment Name: Democracy and Development in Northeast India

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Answer all questions in the three Assignments and submit them together.

Section-1

Answer the following in about 500 words each.

Q1) Discuss the various stages in the evolution of the Northeast as a region.

Ans) Assam gave birth to four northeastern Indian states: Nagaland in 1963, Meghalaya in 1972, Arunachal Pradesh in 1987, and Mizoram in 1972. During the colonial era, two of them Manipur and Tripura were princely states. Arunachal Pradesh had previously existed as the North-East Frontier Agency, a division of government. Before becoming a state of India in 1975, Sikkim was a separate nation.

Assam

The colonial administration separated Assam into its own province in 1874. Following the relocation of colonial headquarters from Cherrapunji to Shillong, it was carried out. The area that would later become Assam was previously a part of the Bengal Presidency. Due to the inconvenience of Cherrapunji having the most rainfall, the British moved their headquarters there. Large portions of Assam came under British control starting in 1826. Between the British and Burmese, the Treaty of Yandabo was signed in 1826. The pact was ratified under a particular political atmosphere. Burma was encroaching on Ahom territory. The British intervened at the Ahom king's invitation after the Burmese proved to be tough to overcome.

Manipur and Tripura

Manipur borders Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, and Myanmar. Tripura borders Mizoram, Assam, and Bangladesh in the northeast, north, south, and west. Manipur and Mizoram were colonies. Category C states were governed by governors or lieutenant governors. Manipur and Tripura became Union Territories in 1956 after the Part C States Act was renamed the Union Territories Act. Manipur and Tripura claimed statehood when SRC visited. The SRC rejected the statehood demand as unviable and advised merging Tripura and Assam with Assam. In 1972, Manipur and Tripura became states.

Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram

The three Assamese hill districts of the Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo hills made up the state of Meghalaya. At that point, Shillong had been designated as the state's capital. In the 1960s, there had been calls for the creation of a hill state from the hill districts, primarily in opposition to the Assam government's language policy and displeasure with the VI Schedule's provisions. Instead of forming a new state, the Commission suggested creating a State of Meghalaya within the state of Assam.

Arunachal Pradesh

On February 20, 1987, Arunachal Pradesh became a state. The process of drawing up administrative boundaries, which started in the second decade of the 20th century, can be linked to the creation of Arunachal Pradesh. The British government established the North-East Frontier Tract in 1914. In accordance with the Assam Frontier Tract Regulation Act of 1880, the tract divided the hilly parts of the then-districts of Darang and Lakhimpur. The North-East Frontier Tract, which was located within the Assam state's administrative boundary, was renamed the North-East Frontier Agency by the Government of India in 1954.

Sikkim

In 1975, Sikkim became India's 22nd state. It is not contiguous with the "seven sisters," Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya. Cooch Bihar, Jalpaiguri, and Siliguri West Bengal connect it to the "seven sisters." Sikkim joined the Northeastern Council in 2002, joining seven other states. Sikkim became a Northeast India state after joining the NEC.

Before joining the Indian Union in 1975, Sikkim was a protectorate of India per the Indo-Sikkim Treaty of 1950. Unrest followed Sikkim's unification with India. In 1973, opposition leaders demanded political reforms, including the monarch's resignation. The emperor called a referendum in Sikkim, then a country, on the monarchy's abolition. Over 97% of voters supported abolition. Sikkim joined India as a state.

Q2) Explain special provisions in the Indian Constitution for the Northeast region.

Ans) The VI Schedule of Indian Constitutions, Inner Line Permit requirements, Articles 371 A–371 C, and Article 371F–371 H; all contain special provisions for Northeast India. These unique clauses include topics including inheritance, forestry, dispute resolution, customary law, and more.

The VI Schedule

In order to protect the rights and identities of Assam's tribal people, the Constituent Assembly of India created four states. In the Constitution's VI Schedule, the Constituent Assembly created this device. Indian Constitution Article 244(2) addresses the VI Schedule. It manages tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. Ten regions qualify. Each state has three. Assam has the North-Cachar Hills, Karbi-Anglong, and Bodoland districts.

Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo hills are in Meghalaya. Chakma, Mara, and Lai are Mizoram's districts. Tribal Areas Districts is Tripura's only district. The Sixth Schedule requires that tribal regions be handled as Autonomous Districts and Regions. Under the Sixth Schedule, the Governor can designate areas as Autonomous Districts and Autonomous Regions. The Governor can form a new Autonomous District/Region or change its territory or name. The Sixth Schedule gives them Executive, Legislative, and Judicial authority to create laws for land, managing their forests, appointing traditional leaders and headmen, inheritance, marriage, social norms, taxation, etc.

Inner Line Permit

The Inner Line Regulation's clause forbids outsiders from entering specified places past the Inner Line without the consent of the state that has jurisdiction over such areas. Its goal is to safeguard these regions' identity, natural resources, and land from being misused by people who don't live there. In accordance with the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, the Inner Line system was developed.

The Regulation kept British rule there during the colonial era and prevented the integration of those from the hills and plains. Four states Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, Manipur, and the North Cachar area of Assam are covered by the Inner Lines Regulation. It was introduced in Manipur in 2019. Other states, including Meghalaya, have made the request for its extension. Outside of the Northeast, Inner Line Permission is required to enter Lakshadweep; Andaman and Nicobar Islands also call for its introduction.

Articles 371 A to 371 C and Articles 371 F to 371 H

VI Schedule didn't reach all tribal territories. Such areas were later included by adding Articles to Article 371: Articles 371 A about Nagaland, 371 B about Assam, and Article C about Manipur; Article 371 F about Sikkim, Article 371 G about Mizoram, and Article 371 H about Arunachal Pradesh.

According to Article 371 A, no Act passed by Parliament will apply to Nagaland without the approval of the Nagaland legislative assembly regarding Naga religious or social practises, Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil or criminal justice involving Naga customary law, and land ownership and transfer. It grants the Governor law and order responsibilities.

Article 371 B protects hill tribes in Assam. According to it, the President might establish a legislative assembly committee of Assam tribal members.

Article 371 C allows the President to appoint a legislative assembly committee with indigenous members. The Governor must also report annually to the President on hill areas.

Sikkim is in 371F. It was added after Sikkim joined India in 1975. It gives state assembly members to diverse groups to protect their interests. Sikkim's Legislative Assembly will contain at least 30 seats.

Article 371 G states that no Act of Parliament is applicable in Mizoram unless the Legislative Assembly approves it.

Article 371 H gives the Governor special law-and-order responsibilities in Arunachal Pradesh. It also says the Legislature won't have fewer than 30 seats.

States in Northeast India as Special Category States

All eight of Northeast India's states have Special Category Status. The Special Category of States was established in 1969 with the intention of giving them federal aid and tax benefits. A state must possess the following qualities in order to be classified as a Special Category State: steep and challenging terrain, low population density or a substantial portion of tribal population, strategic placement along borders with neighbouring countries, and non-viable financial situation.

Section-2

Answer the following questions in about 250 words each. 10x3

Q1) Examine the Representation of Northeast India in Constituent Assembly.

Ans) The members of the Constituent Assembly were chosen by members of the provincial legislative assemblies and delegates from the princely states, according to the Cabinet Mission's proposal. The Provincial Legislative Assemblies recalled both the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress. At this point, the British government stepped in and informed the London-based leaders that the Muslim League's claim was true.

The following individuals represented Assam and the princely states of the regions in the Constituent Assembly, which was made up of members chosen by the provincial assembly members and delegates from the princely states:

1. Gopinath Bardoloi,

2. J.J. M. Nickols Roy,

3. Rohini Kumar Chaudhury,

4. Kuladhar Chaliha,

5. Nibaran Chandra Laskar,

6. Dharanidhar Basu-Matrai,

7. Mohammad Saadulla,

8. Abdul Rouf,

9. Girja Shankar Guha, an officer of the princely states of Tripura and Manipur, representing princely states of Northeast India.

Similar to how members of other provincial legislatures indirectly elected representatives to the Constituent Assembly, Assam's representatives were chosen from inside Assam, including the regions that were partially excluded. Indirect voting took place in accordance with the Cabinet Mission Plan's guidelines. Gopinath Bardoloi and James Joy Mohan Nickols Roy, also known as J.J.M. Nichols Roy, were among the Assam leaders that were represented, and they were instrumental in the Constituent Assembly's decision to create the Constitution's VI Schedule. Assamese attorney and Congressman Gopinath Bardoloi.

He was chosen to serve in the Assam Governor's Council in 1921 and the Assam Provincial Legislative Assembly in 1937. He was elected to the Indian Constituent Assembly in 1946 on a Congress ticket. Like Gopinath Bardoloi, he was a significant contributor to the creation of the VI Schedule. In the years before independence, he served as a minister in two Saadulla-led administrations, and in the years that followed, he served as a minister in the Bardoloi administration. He backed the Hill State Movement in the post-Independence era to establish the Khasi-Jaintia-Garo entity as a distinct state.

Q2) Explain the features of Regional and District councils.

Ans) Northeast India's district and regional councils can be created under the VI Schedule of the Constitution. These are constitutional safeguards for the native groups' financial interests and cultural identities. A tribal district's autonomous district councils, which may include representatives from multiple tribes, are governed by the constitution. Within such a district, a particular tribe is represented by an autonomous regional council. An autonomous district council can be created from an autonomous regional council inside of a district.

In the VI Schedule areas, the Constitutional Bill of 2019 established district and regional councils in addition to village and municipal councils. It was implied that rules governing the authority of villages and village councils would be made by district councils. The "Scheduled Areas" in Northeast India are tribal regions with such technology. Such places were classified as excluded and partially excluded zones before the VI Schedule was included in the Constitution. The Bardoloi Committee advocated including clauses in the Indian constitution that would allow for the creation of legal mechanisms that would grant autonomy to the tribal regions of northeast India.

The tribal people in the area would be able to maintain their identities and natural resources with such autonomy. The Bardoloi Committee's recommendations led to the formation of the VI Schedule, which calls for the establishment of district and regional councils (Article 244). The Governor has the authority to choose a district or region to establish an autonomous district council or autonomous regional council. Additionally, he has the authority to change the ADCs' and ARCs' territorial jurisdictions.

Q3) Discuss the reasons for the rise of autonomy movements in Northeast India.

Ans) The autonomous district councils were supposed to empower political elites among the tribes in the art of self-governance while also ushering economic development, yet the spirit of enthusiasm was missing. Autonomy movements in Northeast India occurred in different forms of in the post-Independence period: demand for sovereign states, formation of new states or Union Territories, creation of autonomous councils or state within states. On several occasions, the collective mobilisation for such demands has led to ethnic violence or insurgency.

Insurgencies

Insurgency involves organised support for challenging the state and changing the political regime. Northeast India has insurgency. Insurgencies in the region vary in duration, quantity, and ferocity. Manipur has the region's most insurgents. Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur have longer-lasting insurgencies than Assam or Meghalaya. In Assam, the United Liberation Front Assam has been active since the 1980s and in Meghalaya since the 1990s.

The Hills Statehood Demand

In the 1950s-1960s, Northeast India demanded a hill state. In January 1954, the CEMs of Lushai hills, North Cachar, Garo, and the United Khasi-Jaintia hill districts began a push to create a hill state from Assam's hill regions/districts. Three reasons: Dissatisfaction with the provisions of the VI Schedule meant to protect the identities and economic interests of Assam's hill tribes; the introduction of Assamese as a language of instruction in Assam, including regions where the majority did not speak Assamese; and conflict over the control of the hills' natural resources.

Plain Tribals in Assam: The Bodo movement

Bodos, the most populous plain tribe in Assam, have been fighting for autonomy since British rule. They're 70% of Assam's tribal people. Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh also have them. The Bodos protest about colonial-era resource, land, and electoral representation at the hands of the Assamese. They claimed their suffering lasted over the years despite being the original Brahmaputra valley dwellers.

Their alienation, exploitation, and discrimination sparked the militant Bodo movement. Colonialism sparked the Bodo autonomy struggle. In 1929, they demanded political power from the Indian Statutory Commission. In 1933, they created All Assam Plain Tribals League to protect plain tribals of Assam. The Bodo Sahitya Sabha sent Bishnuram Medhi a memorandum in 1953. The memorandum demanded teaching Bodo in schools.

Section-3

Answer the following questions in about 100 words each. 6x5

Q1) Write a brief note on the Hill State Movement

Ans) Statehood demands in Northeast India began with the hill state demand during the 1950s-1960s. In January 1954, leaders from hill districts of Assam; the CEMs of Lushai hills, North Cachar, Garo and the United Khasi-Jaintia hill districts initiated a movement of creation of a hill state to be carved of hill regions/districts of Assam. There were basically three reasons for this: One, dissatisfaction with the provisions of the VI Schedule meant to protect and preserve the identities and economic interests of the hill tribes of Assam; two, the introduction of Assamese as a language of instruction in Assam, including the regions where the majority did not speak Assamese of the people; and three, conflict over the control of the natural resources in the hills.

Again, in October 1954, Assam Hills Tribal Leaders’ Conference was held. This conference was attended by 46 delegates excepting those from the Mizo Hills districts. The Conference resolved to get a state of the autonomous districts of Assam. It sent a memorandum to the State Reorganisation Commission to consider their demand. The SRC rejected the demand on the ground that demand for a separate state was largely confined to Khasi and Jaintia hills, which excluded other areas of Assam.

Q2) Write a brief note on the Bodo movement.

Ans) Bodos, the most populous plain tribe in Assam, have been fighting for autonomy since British rule. They're 70% of Assam's tribal people. Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh also have them. The Bodos protest about colonial-era resource, land, and electoral representation at the hands of the Assamese. They claimed their suffering lasted over the years despite being the original Brahmaputra valley dwellers. Colonialism sparked the Bodo autonomy struggle. In 1929, they demanded political power from the Indian Statutory Commission.

In 1933, they founded All Assam Plain Tribals League to protect plain tribals of Assam. The Bodo Sahitya Sabha sent Bishnuram Medhi a memorandum in 1953. The memorandum demanded teaching Bodo in schools. It followed a few years of anti-Assamese agitation caused by the Assam Official Language Bill, 1960. The movement also met the Bodos' demand to teach Bodo in schools in Bodo-dominated areas in 1963. The Bodos requested Udyanchal in 1967. Udyanchal was demanded out of or within Assam. Nagaland was created in 1963, and hill states were popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Bodos quest for new state failed.

Q3) What was the six-year movement?

Ans) The most significant illustration of one of the longest movements in the nation is the six-year campaign against foreigners led by the AASU. Since 1979, this movement has served as a touchstone for student movements in Northeast India. This campaign started in 1979 and came to a conclusion in 1985 with the Assam Accord, which was signed by the AASU, the state of Assam, and the federal government.

The AASU spearheaded the six-year agitation, in which other organisations like the Asom Gan Parishad and other factions, such as the plain tribes like the Bodos, also took part. Middle-class Assamese students are mostly in charge of this movement. The desire of AASU to find and expel illegal immigrants from Assam immediately alarmed Bengali-speaking Hindus and Muslims. They believed the movement unfairly singled them out as undocumented immigrants.

Q4) Write a note on the administrative structure of Autonomous District Councils.

Ans) A Council of Secretariat and an executive wing make up the Autonomous District Council's administrative organisation. The chairman of the Council, a secretary chosen by the chairman, and other officials and staff required to run the office make up the Council Secretariat. The District Council may establish the regulations and working conditions for the secretariat's employees and officers. Chief executives and other individuals make up the District Council's executive committee. On the proposal of the chief executive members, the other members are chosen. The executive committee has the authority to carry out District Council duties. Executing District Council duties is under the joint responsibility of the executive committee members.

Village councils, which function as institutions of local government, are present at the village level. Voters in the council who are qualified to vote elect the members of the village council. The president, vice-president, elected and nominated council members, and secretary make up a village council. It is inappropriate to elect the secretary. The village council has the authority to distribute land for jhum cultivation, mobilise local resources and labour for community projects, and fine people who refuse to help out in the community.

Q5) What is the composition of the Autonomous District Councils?

Ans) Members are elected and nominated to serve on district councils and regional councils. The Governor proposes the members who will be nominated, while the elected members are chosen using the universal adult franchise. Each district council and regional council will have a maximum of 30 members. 26 of them are elected, and another four are nominated. One exception is the Bodoland Territorial Council. It has a 46-member maximum. Of the forty who are chosen, the governor proposes six.

According to the Governor, the nominated members come from underrepresented communities that are not sufficiently represented. There will be distinct Autonomous Regional Councils for the areas designated for the development of Autonomous Regions. These autonomous regional councils are given their names after the area in which they are first established. The term of office for elected District Council members is five years.