NEW DELHI, Jan 6 - A day ahead of tabling of the Joint Parliamentary Committee�s report on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, in Lok Sabha, the Centre on Sunday notified the high level committee for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
The notification said that the government committee has been given a broad mandate. It is headed by former bureaucrat MP Bezbaruah and includes eminent Assamese persons from different fields. The committee will submit its report within six months from the date of notification. The Government of Assam will provide necessary administrative and logistic support to the committee.
�I will be happy to work for Assam,� Bezbaruah told this newspaper. �As civil servants we do anything that is given to us,� he added. �In a way, I will be going back to what I did 35 year ago, when I was Secretary in the department for implementation of the Assam Accord,� he recalled.
�It will give immense satisfaction to do anything of interest to Assam,� said the former Union Tourism Secretary, who was also the chairman of the committee, which was formed by the Union government in 2014 to look into concerns of people hailing from the northeastern states residing in different parts of the country.
It has been learnt that Bezbaruah has so far not received any official communication from the Central government though Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called him to take his consent.
The other members of the committee are Subhash Das, a retired IAS officer; Dr Nagen Saikia and Rongbong Terang, both former presidents of Asam Sahitya Sabha; Dhirendra Nath Bezboruah, former editor of The Sentinel newspaper; Mukunda Rajbangshi, educationalist; Ramesh Borpatragohain, Advocate General, Assam; and one representative of the All Assam Students� Union. The Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs will act as Member Secretary.
The committee will examine the effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord. It will also hold discussions with various stakeholders, including social organisations, legal and constitutional experts, eminent persons from the fields of art, culture and literature, conservationists, economists, linguists and sociologists.
The committee will assess the appropriate level of reservation of seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies for the Assamese people. It will also suggest measures to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous languages of Assam.
The committee will recommend the appropriate level of reservation in employment under the Government of Assam for the Assamese people. It may also suggest any other measures as may be necessary to protect, preserve and promote cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.
The high level committee has been constituted according to Clause 6 of the Memorandum of Settlement, known as the Assam Accord, signed on August 15, 1985.
The Clause 6 states 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 Assamese people.�
The high level committee will be serviced by the North east Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the notification said.