North East India -Issues in Arunachal and Assam

• It does not have any active indigenous insurgent groups
• The state is affected by spill-over militant activities of Naga insurgents from Nagaland based underground factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland [NSCN] (NSCN/Isak-Muivah, NSCN/Khaplang, NSCN/Reformation, and NSCN/Neopao Konyak- Kitovi) in  Changlang, Tirap, and Longding districts, as also activities of Assam based ULFA/ Independent and NDFB/ Saoraigwra
• Cadres of NDFB(S) and ULFA (I) frequent the areas in the states bordering Assam and Myanmar for protection and transit
• The security situation in Arunachal Pradesh improved substantially with a decline in insurgency incidents

Assam

• The Assamese insurgency can be traced back to the influx of illegal migrants from East Pakistan after Partition and after the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971
• Large-scale Bengali migrant influx created tension among the Assamese people who resented the rapidly changing demographic profile of the state

ULFA

• On April 7, 1979, ULFA was formed, affirming to fight against the Indian government with the final aim to achieve a sovereign, socialist Assam
• The late 80s witnessed ULFA‘s impact in Assam reaching new heights
• In 2011, to escalate the peace talks, a tripartite accord for Suspension of Operations against ULFA was signed among the Indian Government, Assam state government, and ULFA

Bodos

• The insurgency of ULFA made their way to form different insurgent outfits for Assam
• In 1980, the Bodos, which is also known as Assam’s largest plains’ tribe, initiated a violent movement
• NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) was formed in 1986 to fulfill their dreams for an independent Bodo country
• For an independent state of Bodoland, the Bodoland Movement started on March 2, 1987, under the guidance of All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) leader Upendrenath Brahma
• Bodo demand for Bodoland was backed by Bodo armed groups, leading to a security situation
• Slowly, after a sequence of rounds of deliberate and sensible conversation, the militant cadres laid down their arms and signed a treaty with the government, termed as the Bodo Accord 2003
• According to the provisions of this Accord, a Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) was formed, and a Bodo Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) was established under the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution
• The objective of creating BTAD was to protect the interests of the Bodo people and ensure their proper representation in socio-political decision-making processes in the region
• National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive) [NDFB (P)] signed the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement on 24.5.2005 and is presently valid up to 31.12.2019
• On January 27, 2020, the 3rd Bodo Peace Accord was signed in the form of Bodoland Territorial Region, successfully ending the insurgency that proceeded for years

Karbi and Dimasa tribes

• The state of  Assam has been influenced by insurgent movements that began by the tribes of Karbi and Dimasa and the Adivasis. Karbi and Dimasa have declared autonomy for their homelands, whereas the Adivasis have questioned more recognition of their rights
• United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) was established in March 1999 with the merger of two insurgent groups Karbi People’s Front (KPF) and Karbi National Volunteers (KNV)
• Most of these groups, by the effort of the government, have been brought to the negotiation table

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

• It is the register comprising names of Indian Citizens
• The only time that an NRC was composed was in 1951, after the conduct of the 1951 census
• It was made by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during the 1951 Census
• There will be two necessities for inclusion in the updated NRC
• Existence of an individual’s name in the pre-1971 period and proving a relationship with that person
• Various provisions governing NRC update in Assam state are The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity cards) Rules, 2003 and The Citizenship Act, 1955
• The modalities for NRC updating have been formed together by the Government of India and Assam in adherence to these statutes
• The procedure of updating Assam’s part of NRC was initiated in 2013 when the Indian Supreme court passed an order for it to be revised. After that, the Supreme Court (bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Fali Nariman) regularly kept an eye on it
• National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam, whose updated version was published on August 31, 2019, contained 31 million names out of 33 million populations. It left out nearly 1.9 million applicants

Conclusion

The North-Eastern states of India must benefit from proximity to its East Asian neighboring countries and obtain economic success through the same. The Act East Policy of the Indian government has a huge capability to change the development landscape of the northeast by giving the growth engine and not merely contributing as a channel for running of trade from other parts of the country.