No Headway In Implementing Clause 6 of Assam Accord Yet; Govt-AASU Talks To Continue

Despite successive state governments have formed a series of committees to implement the pact but many clauses including the Clause-6 remain unfulfilled

Time8 Webdesk
January 1, 2022
8:14 pm

Guwahati: Implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord continued to elude the people of the state as Assam government yet to make any headway with the Clause 6 report submitted by the High-Level Committee (HLC) constituted by the Union ministry of home affairs and headed by Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma.

The Committee had submitted its report in February 2020 to then chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal for handing it over to Union home minister Amit Shah.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told media on Saturday, “We are yet to move ahead with the Clause 6 as the recommendations submitted don’t fulfill judicial scrutiny. While the Committee pressed for 100 percent reservation of indigenous people, Supreme Court ruling restricts it.”

The CM said that the state government has been constantly in discussion with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in the matter and trying to find out a solution.

“We are exploring ways and discussions with AASU are ongoing,” the CM informed.

Last year, an eight-member committee was set up by the Assam government to prepare the framework for implementation of Assam Accord and all of its clauses. The committee will also focus especially on the Clause-6 report which will be prepared by a central panel in a bid to protect the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the indigenous people.

The sub-committee has been headed by the Implementation of Assam Accord minister Atul Bora and three ministers and five members from the AASU.

The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 after a six-year-long violent anti-foreigners movement which stated that names of all foreigners settling in Assam on or after March 25, 1971 be deleted from electoral rolls along with taking measures to deport them.

Despite successive state governments have formed a series of committees to implement the pact in letter and spirit but many clauses including Clause-6 remain unfulfilled.

Clause-6 of the Assam Accord envisages the protection of constitutional, legislative and administrative rights of indigenous people of the state and to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.