Assam's Bodo Council seeks inclusion in Article 280 for more funds

Kokrajhar: The Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), an autonomous administrative authority in Assam's Bodo tribal areas, has demanded its inclusion in Article 280 of the Constitution to get more funds for the development of some remote districts that suffered decades of insurgency and are now on a peace path.

Pramod Boro, the chief executive member of the BTR's governing body Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), told a group of journalists here that he was "trying to sustain" the peace that was achieved after four decades of instability, fear, uncertainty and threat.

Monday marked the successful five years of the tripartite Bodo Peace Accord inked between the Bodo groups, the Centre and the Assam government on January 27, 2020.

The BTR, set up by the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, comprises five districts -- Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska, Udalguri and the latest Tamulpur.

The BTC administers 8,970 sq km of the BTR inhabited by more than 31 lakh people, including the Bodos, the single-largest Scheduled Tribe in Assam.

"We have managed to bring back our people to normalcy. There is continuous peace in Bodoland now," Boro, himself a Bodo and a former president of the All Bodo Students Union, told reporters here on Monday night.

"What we need now", the 49-year-old head of the BTC said, "is policy and funding. We have huge potential here and we need technology, knowledge, financial support to make Bodoland like any other part of the country".

"Funding is a problem... there are no banks or businessmen here (due to decades of Bodo insurgency)... we are trying to bring them back," he said.

Boro said the total annual budgetary allocation for the BTC is Rs 800 crore, about 12 per cent of Assam's total budget.

"We have demanded from the Centre that Article 280 should be implemented in the Council (BTC) area...so that we could get direct funds from the Union government. The funds will come under a scheme. This was also a clause in the 2020 peace accord.

"Then only we can do our development process. The Council will also be strengthened (this way)...", he said.

Inclusion under Article 280 will address "many of our financial problems", Boro said as he underlined that the BTC has humongous work to create infrastructure and ensure basic facilities for the BTR residents.

Article 280(1) of the Constitution lays down the modalities for setting up a Finance Commission to make recommendations on the distribution of net proceeds of taxes between the Union and the states, allocation between the states of respective shares of such proceeds; grants- in-aid and the revenues of the states and measures needed to supplement the resources of the Panchayats during the award period.

Boro also said that he has learnt that the Centre is preparing the "final draft" for another amendment of the 125th Constitution Amendment Bill.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Rajya Sabha by the Union government in 2019. The Bill amends provisions related to the Finance Commission and the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

The Sixth Schedule relates to the administration of tribal areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Speaking about boosting the tourism potential of the BTR, Boro said "peace and security was a very important subject" in this context.

"If the current situation of peace continues for five more years, tourists will come to Bodoland. We have huge potential here for river rafting, wildlife safari and eco-tourism. We don't have the required infrastructure for tourism and we are doing that," he said.

The BTC chief said his dispensation has published a 'vision document' for 26 communities of the Bodo autonomous region and in March this year they will also bring out his "government's vision document" to resolve the problems of the locals.

"We are looking at a long-term vision to resolve the issues. We don't have industries here, government jobs are limited and people are going out to earn", he said.

"We are thinking to bring them back and provide them earning", Boro said.

He said the Bodo movement started as peoples' issues were not addressed. He thanked the current dispensations at the Centre and in Guwahati for making things happen for the BTR.

Asked if the third Bodo peace accord of 2020 will hold, Boro evaded a straight reply, saying the signing of the accord was a part, and people will have aspirations but one "should not make any demand which is not justified or based on rationale".