GUWAHATI, Oct 4 - The Co-ordination Committee of the Tribal Organisation of Assam (CCTOA) met Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sarma, who is heading the high-level committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, on Thursday and took up the issues related to the safeguard of the tribal indigenous people under the main contents of Clause 6.
The umbrella body of the tribal organisations of Assam, through a memorandum to the high-level committee, urged the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India to make the term �Assamese people� under Clause 6 more inclusive through re-notifying the terms of reference.
�The term �Assamese people� should be re-notified through a gazette notification, making it �indigenous tribal, indigenous Assamese and other indigenous people of Assam�,� Aditya Khaklari, chief convener of the CCTOA, said.
In this context, the tribal bodies referred to an advertisement by the high-level committee, wherein the terminology �Assamese people� has been referred to as �indigenous tribal, indigenous Assamese and other indigenous people of Assam� and said the same should be included in the terms of reference to ensure an inclusive definition that is acceptable to all.
The tribal organisations also demanded a high-level committee for the implementation of Clause 10 of the Assam Accord that speaks of eviction of encroachers from tribal blocks and belts.
The memorandum included the demand for enhancement of the reservation quota for ST (Plains) from 10 to 15 per cent because of inclusion of five more communities of Assam in the list of SC (Plains) in the year 2002.
Demanding a four language education policy for Assam and adopting a tribal language policy, it further stated that indigenous tribal languages like Karbi, Mising, Rabha, Tiwa and Deori should be recognised as a medium of instruction up to grade VIII as per Draft National Education Policy, 2019.
Other demands of the tribal bodies included the establishment of North East National Tribal University in Guwahati, implementation of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, among others.
