Autonomous districts and/or ethnic homelands: An ethnographic account of the genesis of political violence in Assam (North-East India) against the normative frame of the Indian constitution

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights

Volumn 15, Issue 2-3, 2008, Pages 313-334

  Barbora, Sanjay ^a  

^a Panos Institute South Asia   (India)

Author keywords

Assam; Ethnic homeland; Indigenous; Karbi anglong; Scheduled tribe; Sixth schedule

Indexed keywords

AUTONOMY; CULTURAL CHANGE; ETHNICITY; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; POLITICAL VIOLENCE;

ASIA; ASSAM; EURASIA; INDIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 53849088864     PISSN: 13854879     EISSN: 15718115     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157181108X332640     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Karbi Anglong was known as Mikir Hills until 1976.
2. To be fair, this problem is seen in varying degrees in the autonomous tribal districts in other federal units in Northeast India and is not particularly limited to Assam. There are efforts under-way - notably by Calcutta Research Group (CRG) - to produce a compendium on autonomy arrangements in India. For more details, see 〈www.mcrg.ac.in〉, last accessed on 14 January 2006.
3. Just to offer a scale of the effects of violence, one wishes to point out that in the latest round of ethnic conflicts between two communities - the Karbi and the Dimasa- from September 2005 to March 2006, over 40,000 people were displaced. For details, see 〈www.internal-displacement .org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes(/ 01BF67E6077E19DBC1257109002AFB55?OpenDocument〉, accessed on 8 March 2006.
4. B. B. Kumar, Tension and Conflict in North East India (Cosmo Publication, Delhi, 1995).
5. According to the 2001 census figures, the total population of Karbi Anglong is 813,311. Fiftyfive per cent of them are categorized as 'scheduled tribe'. The tribes/communities listed above are included in the list of scheduled tribes in Karbi Anglong. For details, see 〈karbianglong. nic.in/tribes-culture.htm〉, accessed 12 January 2006.
6. A. J. Moffatt-Mills, Report on the Province of Assam (Publication Board, Government of Assam, Assam, 1984, first published in 1854) pp. 445-456.
7. P. S. Dutta, Autonomy Movements in Assam (Documents), 1st edition (Omsons Publications, New Delhi, 1993) p. 13.
8. C. Lyall, The Karbis (United Publishers, Guwahati, 1997) pp. 5-6.
9. V. R. Trivedi (ed.), Documents on Assam, Part A (Omsons Publication, Delhi, 1995) p. xiv.
10. The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution incorporates two articles of the Constitution Articles 244(2) and 275(1) - and outlines the structure of devolution of powers to autonomous districts within states of the Union. A more descriptive account of the kinds of powers that the Sixth Schedule bestows upon such districts is discussed in detail at a later stage of the paper.
11. Thana literally means 'police station'. The word comes from Mughal times, when thanas were actually semi-military, semi-administrative garrisons. During the colonial period the concept remained with the added function of policing. Essentially, today's thanas are police stations that have jurisdiction over a given area.
12. The councils have the powers to make laws for the allotment and occupation of land (other than reserved forests); regulation of shifting cultivation; trading and establishment of village councils among other aspects related to day-to-day administration in the district. Its executive functions are to construct and manage civic bodies like schools and dispensaries. It also has the right to try cases in village courts under what is called 'customary law', but the decisions taken by customary courts can be challenged in higher courts of law. The financial function of the district council involves its powers to collect certain revenue from land leases and trade.
13. The executive council, though structured on the legislative assembly at the federal level, does not have the powers to critically engage with matters of policy formulation. Nor does it have the autonomy to create independent and alternate fiscal plans. For all matters pertaining to finances, it is dependent on the state government.
14. S. K. Agnihotri, 'Constitutional Development in North-East India Since 1947', In B. D. Ray and S. P. Agarwal (eds.), Reorganisation of North East India Since 1947 (Concept Publishers, New Delhi, 1996) p. 58.
15. R. P. Athparia, 'Reorganisation of the Hill Areas of Assam: A Study of Karbi Anglong District', in Ray and Agarwal, ibid., p. 209.
16. Assam Labor Enquiry Report, 1942, p. 23.
17. S. Olzak, A Competitive Model of Ethnic Collective Action in American Cities, 1877-1889', in S. Olzak and J. Nadel (eds.), Competitive Ethnic Relations (Academic Press, Orlando, 1986) p. 19.
18. One-hundred thousand.
19. H. H. Pakyntien, Census of India Vol. III (Part II C) (Controller of Census Publications, Delhi, 1965).
20. It would be impossible to accede to a mono-lingual state in the northeast. The states that were carved out of the colonial province of Assam were conglomerations of the domains of the Indigenous hill tribes. Thus, Khasi hills, Jaintia hill and Garo hills, home to various tribes other than the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo, together formed the state of Meghalaya.
21. Right of linguistic minorities to conserve their language and script.
22. Right of linguistic minorities to administer their educational institutions.
23. Right of linguistic minorities to recognition of their language in the state.
24. Right to submit representation in any of the languages used in the Union of India.
25. D. Gopinath, The Twelfth Report of the Commission for Linguistic Minorities in India for the Period July 1969 to June 1970 (Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Allahabad, 1971) pp. 10-15.
26. The memorandum demanding a separate state comprising the Mikir Hills, North Cachar Hills and the Contiguous Tribal Areas in Assam was signed by Mr. P. K. Gorlosa and Mr. S. R. Thaosen, secretary and president, respectively, of an action committee of the Mikir and North Cachar Hills Leaders' Conference in Haflong in June 1973. Cf. Dutta, supra note 7.
27. U. Ingti, "The Role of the Karbi Students Association in the Autonomous State Movement', in S. Bey et al. (eds.), Ruptalin: Souvenir XXV Karbi Youth Festival (Silver Jubilee Editorial Board, Diphu, 1999) p. 65.
28. Article 244(A) of the Indian Constitution recognizes that some states can be created by upgrading existing autonomous districts and councils. This was true especially in the case of the formation of the state of Meghalaya and has been retained exclusively for Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills.
29. The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), Election Manifesto: The Karbi Anglong District Council Election 7th January, 1989, Diphu, 1989.
30. Cf. Dutta, supra note 7.
31. MASS et al., ... And Quiet Flows the Kopili: A Fact-finding Report on Human Rights Violations in Karbi Anglong District of Assam (Lachit Bordoloi, Guwahati, 2002).
32. S. Barbora, 'Labouring Conflicts in Karbi Anglong', 2:3 Labour File (2004) pp. 21-24.
33. 'Strife Probe in CBI Case List - Warring Groups Told to Bury Hatchet', The Telegraph, 28 October 2005 (Friday), North-East edition.
34. N. P. Gleditsch, Armed Conflict and the Environment: A Critique of Literature', 35:3 Journal of Peace Research (1998) pp. 381-400. For Gleditsch, 'land' is imbued with neutral connotations since it unambiguously belongs to its owner as is expected in modern jurisprudence. 'Territory' invokes claims of collectives that are rooted in a more fluid system of rights. One does not need a piece of legislation or document to claim territory; hence its power to induce passion is more than that of land, which is constructed as private property.
35. B. N. Bordoloi, 'Problem of Transfer and Alienation of Tribal Land in the Karbi Anglong District of Assam, with Special Reference to the Karbis', in B. N. Bordoloi (ed.), Alienation of Tribal Land and Indebtedness (Tribal Research Institute, Guwahati, 1986) pp. 120-148.
36. Interview with Pobitro Bora, 28 February 2004 (Diphu and Manjha).
37. See 〈karbianglong.nic.in/forest.htm〉, accessed 18 June 2006.
38. G. N. Das, Swidden Cultivation and Development Programmes in North-East India (A Study Among the Karbis of Assam) (Akansha Publishing, New Delhi, 2001). These initiatives come in the form of encouraging cash crop cultivation. Tea, rubber and coffee are the preferred crops that subsistence farmers are made to switch to. The initial cost for switching crops is shared by the project authorities; however, after a few years one sees that the chances of marketing the cash crops is negligible. The Indigenous farmers have to resort to selling the produce at throwaway prices (if they can manage to sell it), or resume shifting cultivation again. Such failed experiments also aggravate the farmers' view of the state as a predatory agency that is only interested in their land.
39. S. Baruah, Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005) pp. 95 et seq. and 102-105.
40. From a personal interview with Mr. Ramesh C, a student and youth leader from the Hindi-speaking community in Karbi Anglong, 18 August 2003, Kheroni (Karbi Anglong). His parents were first-generation settlers from the Indian federal unit of Uttar Pradesh and came to the district as agricultural labour in the 1960s. Over time, they acquired vast tracts of government forest land, portions of which they have been able to obtain land titles for. Ramesh was born in the district though his social interactions with Indigenous Karbis have not been many. He attended a state-sponsored Hindi-medium school and said that he prefers to socialize with "his own kind".
41. Interview with Dimasa village elder whose name has been omitted on request, 12 December 2003; Haripur (Hanlokrok).
42. P. Kumar, 'Karbi-Kuki Clashes in Assam', 28:2 Strategic Analysis (2004) pp. 352-357. The ethnic clashes took place between October 2003 and March 2004 in Karbi Anglong. It is estimated that militants of the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) and the anti-talks faction of the United Peoples Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), together killed 85 persons during this period.
43. The clashes between Hmar and Dimasa militia took place in the first quarter of 2003 and resulted in displacement and deaths of people from both communities in North Cachar Hills district (The Telegraph, 7 April 2003).
44. Uttam (name changed on request) is married to a woman of mixed Boro and Khasi parentage and is 30- years old. He does not live in the village but has family there who he visits regularly (12 November 2005, Hojai).
45. I use the term 'people-hood' as a mirror to a modern citizenship discourse. In the latter, individuals and groups participate in larger civic affairs in compliance with, or opposition to, norms set by the state and its constitution. The term 'people-hood' refers to a process where there is an intellectual and political rejection of the norms set by the state. Kin networks and kin solidarities become more pronounced at the expense of a civic discourse in an impersonal public sphere. For more on notions of people-hood, see S. Murray (ed.), Not on Any Map: Essays on Postcoloniality and Cultural Nationalism (University of Exeter Press, Exeter, 1997).
46. Sarthe was appointed to mediate cases in a village. He was usually the most respected person in the village and could adjudicate on any matters except murder and sex.
47. Excerpt taken from: UPDS, Lakhya (Goab): Bixex Smriti Grantha (UPDS Publicity Wing, Central Office, 2003).
48. Recently, the government of Assam has entered into a ceasefire agreement with one section of the ethno-national movement among the Indigenous Boro community in 1999 in districts of western Assam. Almost immediately, non-Boro groups launched a massive agitation claiming that such a move would not only encourage more ethnic clashes, but also lead to disenfranchisement, evictions and population transfers from the proposed area.
49. V. T. Darlong, To Jhum or Not to Jhum: Policy Perspectives on Shifting Cultivation (The Missing Link/Society for Environment and Communication, Guwahati, 2004) pp. 3-4.
50. J. Grugel, 'Conclusion: Towards an Understanding of Transnational and Non-state Actors in Global Democratisation', in J. Grugel (ed.), Democracy Without Borders: Transnationalism and Conditionality in New Democracies (Routledge, London and New York, 1999) p. 11.