Assam Accord: Reservations for those who have lived in Assam till 1951 and their descendants?

Will the jobs in both government and private sectors, rights over land and seats in the elected bodies including the Parliament in Assam be reserved for residents who have lived in the state till 1951 and their descendants?

A "high-powered" committee set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs for implementation of Clause VI of the Assam Accord of 1985 has recommended for the same in the next two years.

The committee's recommendations, which were submitted to the MHA in February this year was made public by All Assam Students' Union (AASU), a signatory of Assam Accord, which was signed after the six-year-long anti-foreigners movement or Assam Agitation.

Clause VI of Assam Accord promised that "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 indigenous Assamese people”. The Clause, however, remained unimplemented in the past 35 years, mainly due to a lack of definition of the indigenous Assamese.

The 13-member committee headed by Justice (retired) Biplab Kumar Sarma, that met representatives of different communities across Assam concluded that the indigenous tribals, other indigenous Assamese and all citizens of India, who lived in Assam till 1951 and their descendants be considered as indigenous Assamese while implementing the Clause VI.

The report, which was made public by AASU here on Tuesday said that 80 to 100% of Group C and D level posts in central government/semi-central government/central PSUs/private sector including under PPP mode falling and arising in Assam should be reserved for “Assamese People." It said 80 to 100% of jobs under Assam government and state government undertakings and 70 to 100% of vacancies arising in private partnerships including PPP mode in Assam shall be reserved for Assamese people.

It recommended that land rights should be confined to the "Assamese People” putting restrictions on transferring the same by any means to persons other than “Assamese People.” "Unless the land rights of the “Assamese People” are protected along with the political rights, it will be a futile exercise to adopt measures for full implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord in its true spirit, keeping in mind the background facts," it said.

The committer further recommended that 80 to 100% of seats in Parliament which are allotted to Assam (LoK Sabha:14, Rajya Sabha: 7) should be reserved for the “Assamese People." Similar reservation has been recommended for seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies, excluding the Sixth Schedule Councils.

On foreigners issue:

Stressing for full implementation of the clauses in Assam Accord meant for detection, deletion (from voters list) and deportation of the post-1971 migrants, the committee recommended that prompt and adequate measures must be adopted to completely seal the Indo-Bangladesh border in the line of Indo-Pakistan border. It said all post-1971 stream of declared foreigners should be resettled in areas outside Assam, as an interim measure till their deportation.

It also suggested for Inner Line Permit system in Assam, similar to Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, where people from rest of the country are required to take travel permit.

The NRC is being implemented as per Assam Accord with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date and 19.06 lakh people were left out of the final NRC published on August 31 last year.

The Committee suggested that the recommendations be implemented within two years.

Narendra Modi government, which promised to implement Clause VI before elections since 2014, set up the committee but did not disclose its recommendations. "We decided to disclose the recommendations after discussion with several organisations as the BJP government has done nothing for its implementation since February," AASU general secretary, Lurinjyoti Gogoi said on Tuesday afternoon.

Reacting to AASU's allegation, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday evening said BJP government was committed to implement Clause VI but coronavirus pandemic which gripped the country in March impacted the process.

The committee said several Constitutional and legislative amendments including Article 371B (Special Provisions with Respect to the State of Assam in Matters Connected with the Assam Accord) will be necessitated for the implementation of the recommendations.