DAILY ANALYSIS

of

THE ASSAM TRIBUNE

6th July, 2021

For Preliminary and Mains examination

As per new Pattern of APSC

(Also useful for UPSC and other State level government examinations)

CONTENTS

• People still booked, tried under scrapped section of IT Act (GS 2 – Polity and

governance)

• Ministries to give more powers to tribals in managing forest resources (GS 2 –

Polity and governance)

• CM announces steps to enhance policing standards (GS 5 – Police reforms)

• Special relief on crop insurance to NE states (GS 5 – Schemes)

• 2.5 crore people in Assam covered under PMGKAY, says FCI (GS 5 – Schemes)

EDITORIALS

• Secularism, Indira Gandhi and criticisms (GS 2 – Polity and governance)

• Can we see Indian economy on the rebound? (GS 3 – Indian Economy)

• Minority empowerment (GS 5 – Polity and governance)

• Border protection (GS 5 –Border issues)

ARTICLES

People still booked, tried under scrapped section of IT Act

Context

• The Supreme court on Monday said it is "amazing" and "shocking" that people are still being

booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology' Act that was scrapped by the apex

court verdict in 2015.

• Under the scrapped section a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for upto

three years as also fined.

• A bench of Justices RF Nariman, KN Joseph and BR Gavai issued notice to the Centre on an

application filed by an NGO — People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

• "Don't you think this is amazing and shocking?

• Shreya Singhal judgement is of 2015. It's really shocking. What is going on is terrible," the bench

told senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for PUCL.

• Parikh said that despite express directions of the court in 2019 that all state governments should

sensitise police personnel about the March 24, 2015 judgement, thousands of cases have been

registered under the section.

• The bench said, "Yes, we have seen those figures. Don't worry we will do something." Parikh said

there has to be some kind of method to handle the matter as people are suffering.

• Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said that on perusal of the IT Act it can

be seen that Section 66A features in it, but in the footnote it is written that the provision has

been scrapped.

• "Now when a police officer has to register a case, he sees the section and registers the case

without going through the footnote. Instead what can be one is that we can put a bracket just

after Section 66A and mention that it has been scrapped. We can in the footnote put the entire

extract of the verdict," Venugopal said

• Justice Nariman said, "You please file counter in two weeks. We have issued a notice. List the

matter after two weeks."

• The top court was hearing a fresh application of PUCL saying, "That, shockingly, despite the

order dated February 15, 2019 and steps taken towards compliance thereof, the Applicant

discovered that Section 66A of the IT Act has continued to be in use not only within police

stations but also in cases before trial courts across India."

• The NGO said, "That in spite of the order passed by this Court on February 15, 2019, directing

that copies of the judgement of this Court in Shreya Singhal should remain available with every

High Court as well as all the District Courts and that the police departments in the entire

country, i.e. all States and UTS be sensitized about the said judgement, the facts mentioned

above show that not only the investigations under Section 66A by the police are continuing but

even in the trial courts."

• It sought direction to the Centre to collect all data/ information regarding FIRs/investigations

where Section 66A has been invoked as well as pendency of cases in the courts throughout the

country where proceedings under the provision are continuing in violation of the2015

judgement.

• On February 15, 2019, the top court had directed all state governments to sensitise their police

personnel about its March 24, 2015 verdict which had scrapped Section 66A of Information

Technology Act, so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck down provision.

• It also asked all the high courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial courts to avoid

people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision which provided for jail term to people

who posted offensive content online.

Ministries to give more powers to tribals in managing forest resources

• The Union ministries of environment and tribal affairs have jointly decided to give more powers

to the tribal communities in managing the forest resources.

• In an official statement, the ministry of environment said a "Joint Communication" to this effect

is scheduled to be signed at the Indira Paryawaran Bhawan here on Tuesday. It pertains to an

effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers

(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, which is commonly known as the Forest Rights Act

(FRA).

• The Act recognises and vests the forest rights and occupation in forest land in Forest-Dwelling

Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (0T-FDs) who have been residing

in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded and provides a

framework for recording the forest rights so vested and the nature of evidence required for

such recognition and vesting in respect of forest land.

• The signing ceremony will be attended by Environment and Forest Secretary Rameshwar Prasad

Gupta, Tribal Secretary Anil Kumar Jha and the Revenue Secretaries of all the States, sources in

the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said.

• Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will address

the event, which will also be attended by Minister of State for Environment Babul Supriyo and

Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh.

CM announces steps to enhance policing standards

• Seeking an image makeover of the police as well as quicker delivery of both justice and public

service, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today spelt out a slew of directives to the officers-

in-charge of police stations with special thrust on faster filing of charge sheets in cases dealing

with serious offences.

• The directives came at the first-ever conference of the OCs on "Redefining Policing Standards in

Assam" attended by Sarma, who also holds the Home fortfolio.

• "We have told the OCs there will be zero tolerance on crime against women. The OCs have been

asked to file charge sheets of rape, murder, arms, drugs smuggling cases within six months,"

Sarma said.

• He also directed the OCs to collect post-mortem reports expediently while saying that Range

DIGS would ensure post-mortem report collection as soon as possible.

• Also, steps have to be taken to send samples for testing at forensic labs outside the State for

minimizing delay as the only forensic lab in Guwahati is not sufficient, he said.

• Directing the OCs to complete all police verifications for jobs, passports, etc within 7 days barring

doubtful cases, Sarma stressed on delivering best possible service to the public.

• He also instructed to ensure receipt of report by families at the earliest in road accident death

cases for hassle-free insurance claims.

• Saying that the OCs conference will be held every six months from now onwards, he stated

progress on all these fronts would be reviewed by the Chief Minister himself in the next such

conference with the OCs.

• Emphasizing on the importance of a better working environment for the police personnel to

perform to their best, the Chief Minister announced several measures for facilitating better

facilities at the workplace for the police personnel.

• He informed that all police stations would receive an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh annually as

contingency fund apart from other allocations like "source money".

• Also all OCs will be provided one vehicle each for their police stations while motorcycles would

be provided for those police stations in difficult and inaccessible areas.

• Three computers would be provided to all police stations for streamlining FIR filing and other

activities.

• Residential quarters would be built within all police stations premises for the OCs and three

Sub-inspectors. One power generator would be provided to each police station, he informed.

• Stressing on the importance of preparing detailed and error-free charge sheets, the Chief

Minister said that CID will be engaged to train the OCs in preparing charge sheets.

• He also informed that capable Public Prosecutors will be hired for ensuring justice delivery and

punishment to criminals.

• He said that the Health Department will be asked to conduct health check-ups every 15 days for

the personnel in police stations.

Special relief on crop insurance to NE states

• The Central government has given special relief to the northeastern states on premium of

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) under which the Centre would provide 90 per cent of

the premium, leaving only the rest of 10 per cent to be borne by the state governments.

• Earlier, the funding was shared on 50:50 basis. Announcing this at a review meeting on various

Central sector and Centrally-sponsored schemes of the State aviculture department held at

Assam Administrative Staff College here today, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister

Paroshottam Rupala said more farmers from the Northeast would be enrolled after this special

relaxation in the crop insurance scheme.

• He observed that earlier it was mandatory to include the loanee farmers under PMFBY but now

the government has amended the rule so that loanee farmers could decide regarding enrolment

of their names under PMFBY.

• Moreover, the earlier practice of varying premium rates across the country has been done away

with and a uniform premium rate fixed for all the states at 2 per cent for kharif crops and 1.5

per cent for rabi crops.

• Under PMFBY, the government has released more than Rs 50,000 crore to the farmers against

the amount of Rs 17,000 crore deposited by farmers as premium, Rupala said.

• "As per the recommendation of the committee headed by agricultural scientist Prof MS

Swaminathan, the government has approved the minimum support price (MSP) for selected

crops to the farmers," he said.

• Rupala said nearly ten crore farmers of the country had already availed this benefit under PM-

Kisan.

• The Union minister also appreciated the move of the Assam government for waiving interest on

the loan for the regular loan payee farmers availing loan of Rs 1.6 lakh under Kisan Credit Card.

• Later addressing a press conference, Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, who had chaired the

review meeting, said that a number of decisions had been taken for developing the State's

agriculture sector during the Union minister's meeting with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

and Bora yesterday. Bora said that a total of Rs 8.82 crore had been provided to the State's

farmers under PMFBY against registration of 29,83,744 farmers since the 2016 kharif season.

• Bora also voiced confidence that more farmers from Assam would be able to reap the benefits

from the Central schemes following the identification of deserving farmers by the State

government.

• "Agricultural land belonging to many farmers still officially remains in the name of their fathers,

resulting in their names not getting listed among the beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Yojana. We

have now corrected these anomalies by incorporating their names in the list," he said.

2.5 crore people in Assam covered under PMGKAY, says FCI

• Around 2.5 crore beneficiaries in Assam have been covered under the Pradhan Mantri Garib

Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

• Addressing a press conference here today, Food Corporation of India (FCI) Executive Director

(North East) MK Gogoi and General Manager of Assam Region at FCI Zonal Office KK Barua said

that the public sector undertaking has worked on ensuring last mile delivery of foodgrain to the

masses during the pandemic and amidst the lockdown.

• "PMGKAY is a scheme to provide foodgrains free of cost to over 80 crore beneficiaries across

the country covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and it was launched by the

Government of India in 2020 as part of its effort to ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor

due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

• This is over and above the distribution of 5 kg foodgrains per person every month covering the

NFSA beneficiaries. In case of Assam, around 2.5 crore beneficiaries have been covered under

the PMGKAY," Gogoi said.

• He said that from April to November 2020, around 10 lakh MT (metric tonne) of rice was issued

to the Assam government free of cost during the first wave of the pandemic under PMGKAY-I

and PMGKAY-II.

• "The scheme was again re-introduced in April this year after the outbreak of the second wave,

initially for May-June, and then extended till November this year to minimise the hardships being

faced by the vulnerable Public Distribution System beneficiaries," he said.

• The monthly allocation to Assam under PMCJICAY-III during May-June this year stood at 1.25

lakh MT of rice. Similar quantum of allocation every month is also planned from July to

November under PMGKAY-IV Assam.

• "Altogether 3,42,834 MT of rice has been delivered to the state governments of the North East

states under in May and June this year. A further allocation of MT of rice under PMGKAY-1V for

July-November has been sanctioned for the North East," Gogoi said.

EDITORIALS

Secularism , Indira Gandhi and criticisms

• There had been a lot of debate in the constituent assembly regarding the inclusion of the much-

discussed word 'secular' in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution.

• The ideology of not promoting any particular religion or faith was the original thought of the

body and the members were unanimous in upholding the principles of a secular state with the

truest sense of the term.

• The Constitution starts with the tone and spirit, 'We the people of India'. It clearly states that

nobody in India would be privileged on the basis of his or her faith. But the debate ended with

the decision of not including the term as the term 'secular' originates in the western religious

philosophy and chiefly because of the fact that the members did not assume any attack on the

constitutional democracy and its vision of equality.

• However, in 1976 the Indian National Congress leader and Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi

inducted the word 'secular' to the Preamble as a necessary step in regard to the integrity of the

country.

• Here a question is raised:

o Why had, despite being a secular nation with all its spirit and political philosophy of

democracy, equality and unity, the word 'secular' to be inducted?

• The judiciary of a democratic state is responsible for resolving any kind of political contradiction

in the governmental or parliamentary level. The 42nd constitutional amendment done by Mrs

Gandhi during the Emergency was challenged in the court in various ways.

• The court resolved the doubts of the people and blamed the Opposition.

• The Supreme Court cleared its position in the Golak Nath vs State of Punjab, Keshavananda

Bharati vs State of Kerala and Minerva Mills vs Union of India cases.

• Undoubtedly, the apex court's stance was against the fourth point of the amendment. The

verdict of the court rightly said that the Parliament can amend the Constitution but cannot

destroy its 'basic structure'.

• On the basis of the same precedent, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) as expected by the

learned intellectuals and advocates will definitely be rejected in the Supreme Court. The position

taken by Mrs Indira Gandhi in the favour of constitutional secularism was not even criticized by

any judicial court. It is because her standpoint in regard to the maintenance of integrity and

communal harmony in the society was correct, and was effective from the political viewpoint

too.

• It is another aspect of the scene that her actions related to this matter were performed in a

specific political environment of the Emergency which drew a lot of attention, controversy and

discussion.

• The people of the country have been enjoying the welfare of the strong political position of Mrs

Gandhi. Though controversial, her unparalleled and equally uncompromising steps prevented the

active fundamentalists' separatist steps backed by religious organizations like the RSS, ABVP, BJR

VHP, etc.

• We must watch and also critically the circumstances that led to the induction of the terms like

'secular' and 'socialist' in the Preamble. It is, ofcourse, a sacred duty of all the political groups

concerned.

• Mrs Gandhi was elected from Raebareli of UP in 1971. Her election was challenged by the

runner-up Raj Narain in the court with the allegation that she misused the public machinery in

her campaign.

• The Allahabad High Court rejected Gandhi's membership in the Parliament on June 12, 1975. But

on the 24th of the same month, the Supreme Court stayed the HC order and allowed her to

continue as the Prime Minister of India.

• Simultaneously while this political drama was being staged, some leaders like Atal Bihari

Vajpayee and LK Advani along with the anti-Congress democratic leaders like Jayprakash

Narayan, Morarji Desai, etc., held political rallies all over India.

• The nexus of these two different and equally opposite ideologies proved to be opportunist, futile

and without any political ethics, hence short lived when the two-year-four-month-old Morarji

Desai-led Government of 1977 fell.

• Only to avail power by hook or by crook, these ideologically corrupt organizations got united. In

Gujarat there was a State-wide strike on January 25, 1974. The pressure was so much that the

elected Government had to resign on February 9 next.

• On June 5, 1974, Jayprakash Narayan appealed for total revolution (Sampurna Kranti) in a public

meeting in Patna, Bihar. There were reports indicating a military uprising. Irrefutably it was an

organized conspiracy against Mrs Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.

• It seems that the allegation against Mrs Gandhi in court was also a part of this political

conspiracy. It feels like that because the developments that followed in the Supreme Court

proved the points of Mrs Gandhi. In 1976, during the Emergency, various allegations were

brought against her regarding the constitutional amendments. The matter of her validity as an

MP and the subsequent Prime Ministership was also clubbed to the same suit.

• The 271-page Supreme Court verdict of November 7, 1975 not only rejected the Allahabad HC

verdict of disqualifying her but also gave a strong response: "The election of the Prime Minister

could not be declared void as there was no law to apply to that election; the judgement of the

Allahabad High Court declaring the election void is itself void; and the election continues to be

valid as it was before the High Court pronounced its judgement."

• The judgment justified Mrs Gandhi as the Prime Nlinister of India. The court pronounced a

rational judgement recognizing the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution:

• "Finally, there is no merit in the contention that the constitutional amendment is bad only the

ground that it was passed when some members of the Parliament were in detention. The legality

of the detention orders cannot be canvassed in these appeals collaterally. And from a practical

point of view, the presence of 21 members of the Lok Sabha and 10 members of the Rajya Sabha

who were in detention could not have made a difference to the passing of the amendment."

• The Emergency is now a 46-year-old history. If the BJP now criticizes Mrs Gandhi on the basis of

her decision of Emergency, it is not because of its love for democracy. Their anger is for other

things. The BJP and its fraternity endeavour for a communal state where religion, caste and creed

identities can easily be brought forward as a tool of social recognition.

• On the basis of the principles of Manu Smriti, the upper caste, both social and economic, only

would lead the society and the state. Mrs Gandhi's bold step to stop such dangerous aggression

of the outfits pushed them to the back foot.

• The step of inducting the term 'secular' was undoubtedly a crucial amendment. The other word

was 'socialist'. It was brought to contest the probable capitalist intervention to grab the

economy. The CAA, 2019 has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

• Prompted by a vindictive communal sentiment, the BJP-led Central Government has decided to

give citizenship to the people of some particular communities of foreign origin despite massive

mass opposition.

• The Supreme Court will definitely take note of constitutional secularism while dealing with the

CAA. As a matter of fact, Mrs Gandhi could well read the communal intentions of the forefathers

of the BJP as early as 1976. The communal movements made her alert.

Can we see Indian economy on the rebound?

• The falling number of Covid-19 cases and the blueprint from the Health Ministry that 1.08 billion

people, with 2.16 doses per head, will get vaccinated before December 2021 have strongly

indicated that the rebounding of the economy will not be affected.

• Moreover, the recent announcement by the Prime Minister on making the vaccine plan

centralized surely gave relief to the consumer's sentiments and their demand.

• Seeing the changing attitude of consumers with the improving availability of vaccines to a large

extent both in rural and urban India, the current economic growth is being sharply revised by

many economists. Yes, it might not go up to the level we had expected but does it mean that the

Indian economy is on the rebound?

• The unprecedented shock in the economy due to Covid-19 was compounded by the recent cy-

clones.

• Cyclones cause economic loss to the nation every year. Last year when the economy was badly

hit due to the national lockdown, cyclone Amphan caused approximately $14 billion loss to the

Indian economy. This year, when the nation was struggling with a high number of Covid cases,

cyclone Yaas brought an estimated the loss of around $7.8 billion in three most affected States

—Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. In Bengal itself it has caused a $2.76-billion-worth loss.

• Many economists are also estimating that the sudden outbreak of the pandemic has pushed back

India's rebounding economy to three to six months. A quick recovery is expected from July itself,

as opined by India's chief economic advisor KV Subramanian.

• Here, a question arises as to what if the second wave lasts beyond July and the pace of the

ongoing vaccination is not taking the speed to reach the large scale that we are expecting.

• Many economists have foreseen that the intensity of the pandemic will surely bring reduction in

GDP but not recession. To justify the above statement, let's take a look on a report of the Centre

for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) that over 10 million people have lost their jobs and 97%

families' income has declined since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

• According to the CMIE report, unemployment touched 14.7% on May 23, 2021 which is the

highest since 2020. A very steep fall in employment was seen in a single month which was 36.8%

in April 2021 and in May 2021, it was 35.3%. Employment has never fallen like this before.

• In April and May this year, total 22.3 million people lost jobs, among them 17.2 million were daily

wage earners. Since the first wave, there has been a crisis of work in the labour market.

• With the unlocking of the economy, medium and small owners are found not having much funds

to generate jobs. This crisis has to be quickly handled to avoid any recession.

• Let's take a quick look at the sectors that contributed both in GDP and the rebounding economy

after the first wave.

Before the pandemic

• The tourism sector's contribution in India's GDP was 9.3% comprising hotels, motels, homestays,

etc. After the first wave, it started reviving at least partially which showed a good sign for

employment in the market.

• Similarly, the hospitality sector alone had to face the revenue loss 90,000 crore in 2020 but with

the picking up of demand from the domestic leisure travellers, and due to the wedding seasons

from October to February, it showed a more sustainable and resilience move.

• Post second wave this sector is likely to get hurt; hence this sector has to be flexible enough to

upskill themselves to keep pace with the changes and demands of the post-pandemic scenario

to win people's trust once again.

• Another sector, aviation, which was completely shut down during the first pandemic, showed

positive signs in the month of January and February this year. The business people started

travelling to meet their business partners and people were not afraid to travel once again.

• This upswing in the Indian aviation sector was much better than most of the countries in the

world. But a recent report of LATA estimates that this industry is likely to suffer a $11.2-billion

loss.

• Another big contributor is the auto sector the contribution of which is around 50% in India's GDP.

• Passenger car sales have gone down by 10% as compared to March 2021. This time, the rising

Covid cases in rural India have hit the two-wheeler and tractor markets but last year, despite the

national lockdown, the sale of tractors was not impacted. With the rapid vaccination plan, we

are hoping to see an upward swing.

• The largest contributing sector, construction and real estate, was seen getting impacted. Little

repair work, halted projects and constructions work going on at a slow pace brought a major

drop in the monthly income of the labourers since the first wave.

• During the lockdown period of the second wave, in many States this sector was working with

half strength but the limited supply of materials and the movement of labourers to their

hometown did not let this sector perform as per the expectation.

• The Government measures might attract buyers post the second wave. The Delhi Government's

decision of reducing the circle rate by 20% till September is a very lucrative step, and it may

encourage this sector in the other States as well.

• The reduction of the stamp duty in Mumbai is another booster.

• The RBI's decision to keep the repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged at 4% and 3.35%

respectively will boost the overall economy, and it will help the home buyers to borrow at

reduced rates.

• In the last Union Budget, the Finance Minister had proposed a plan to generate employment via

infrastructure spending and this multiplier will stimulate a broad macro economy, i.e., creating

jobs, increasing investment of private sectors, and providing a major lift in the consumption of

people.

Minority empowerment

• Development of any region needs to be holistic and ruling regimes must ensure that no social

segment gets left behind in the quest for progress.

• Thus the 'Alaap Alochana — Empowering the Religious Minorities' session conducted by Assam

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and some of his Cabinet colleagues with indigenous Muslim

personalities from various fields to discuss the community’s socio- economic issues is a positive

step.

• Sarma has also announced his intentions of holding meetings with politicians and student

organizations from the minority community, as also with members of the Bengali-origin Muslim

community of Assam, having similar objective of framing a roadmap for their empowerment.

• Sceptics might argue that the motive behind this essay might not be entirely altruistic. It is true

that the advent of the BJP in Assam has witnessed a sharp polarization on religious lines, a

development starkly revealed during the last Assembly elections when the BJP had failed to

secure much support from the Muslim community.

• Some of Sarma's earlier assertions, such as that immigrant Muslim community should adopt

decent family planning norms, themselves had served as fodder to the polarization mill.

• Also measures such as the impending two-child norms which would be a criterion to get

govemment jobs and avail benefits from State-sponsored welfare schemes, or the closure of

madrassas have not gone down well with the community.

• It is to be hoped that cynics would be proven wrong and this Government would sincerely work

towards the uplift of the Muslim community.

• Reportedly, in the maiden meeting, a decision was taken to form eight sub-groups comprising of

indigenous Muslims to recommend measures on empowerment in the health, education,

lxvulation stabilization, cultural identity, financial inclusion, women empowerment and skill

development sectors, based on which a roadmap for the next five years would be prepared.

• A similar roadmap is expected to be prepared for the immigrant Muslim community which, as

Sarma has pointed out, is linguistically and culturally different from indigenous Assamese

Muslims.

• The next decennial census, which is due, and will presumably be conducted as soon as the nation

gets a grip over the Covid-19 pandemic, will enable the State Government to acquire data on

population, education and economic status, etc., so as to make a more up to date assessment

and frame the roadmap accordingly.

• As per the 2011 census, Muslims constitute 34.2% of Assam's 3.12 crore population, which is by

no means an insubstantial figure, and without their empowerment holistic ecnomic development

of the State will not be possible.

• Special emphasis must be laid on the education and skill development sectors since improvement

in these would contribute towards the economic uplift of the community.

• Progress on this issue must not be allowed to remain at the committee formation level and any

roadmap that emerges must actually be translated into ameliorative action.

Border protection

• It is disturbing that Assam continues to be at the receiving end of the nagging border rows that

persist between the State and several of its neighbours such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh,

Mizoram and Meghalaya.

• As a result of growing encroachment on Assam's territory, the State has parted with vast tracts of

reserve forests over the years with successive State governments choosing to look the other way.

• Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has done well to take up the matter with the Centre, as the

inter-State boundary matters warrant the latter's intervention for resolving the contentious

issues.

• But what the Chief Minister needs to take up even more urgently is to accord enhanced

protection in all the reserve forest areas bordering our neighbours. This will serve the twin

purpose of securing our borderland as also protecting our invaluable forest wealth.

• It is an open secret that none of these forests have any security mechanism in the form of

manpower, forest camps, patrolling jungle roads, etc., and this precisely has emboldened the

neighbouring States to fall upon our land and accord legitimacy to their claims by constructing

offices, roads, schools, hospitals, etc.

• In sharp contrast, we have failed to protect our own territory by having some semblance of

security presence. Indeed, had we placed forest personnel in adequate numbers in the bordering

reserve forests, today's sorry situation could have been averted.

• A case in point happens to be the growing encroachment from the Arunachal side in the reserve

forests which now form a part of the newly-created Dehing Patkai National Park. From an

encroached area of one hectare in 1996, it has increased to over 145 hectares now.

• The area in question is hardly accessible from the Assam side and the Forest and Police

departments have zero presence in the area.

• If successive Assam governments are not guilty for losing our precious natural wealth and

territory, who else is?

Solution

• As for a permanent settlement of the disputed border areas, all the States in question need to

work out a holistic arrangement together with the Centre.

• But even that can not be any delaying ground for Assam to put in place a robust security

mechanism, including adequate forest protection measures, for securing its legitimate interests

over its own land.

• As for those disputed segments, the warring parties need to maintain and respect the status quo

till the issue is amicably resolved. In the settlements on the Assam side in the bordering areas,

roads and bridges, power, healthcare and education facilities, potable water, security

arrangements, etc., are still a far cry for a vast segment of the border populace.

• A necessary corollary of this deplorable situation has manifested itself in crimes and antisocial

activities, with some areas turning into hotbeds of militancy.

• The strategic location of the areas also acted to the advantage of the militants, as it is easy to

cross over to another territory for dearth of security arrangements.