UDALGURI, Jan 26 - The Udalguri district committee of the Kalita Janagosthi Sanmilan is going to host the 13th biennial conference of the indigenous organisation on January 27 and 28 here.
In a leaflet published ahead of the two-day conference, members of the Kalita Janagosthi Sanmilan alleged that despite being �the largest community in the Brahmaputra Valley since the earliest times,� Kalitas have been deprived of their rights. They also placed a 12-point charter of demands to safeguard the interests of the community.
The demands of the Kalita body include grant of ST status, formation of a separate Pragjyotishpur Autonomous Council for the community, reservation of seats for indigenous communities of Assam in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and State Assembly, protection of the land rights of the community in all autonomous and Sixth Schedule areas and other parts of the State, naming the Bogibeel bridge after Maniram Dewan and the proposed Brahmaputra bridge between North Guwahati and Jalukbari after King Bhagadutta, setting up of a chair in the name of Dr Banikanta Kakati at the Gauhati University, enlisting the membership of the Kalita community in the BTC assembly and incorporation of the history of the Kalita community in the secondary school syllabus of the State.
