04 SEP 2021
In the presence of Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, a historic Karbi Anglong Agreement to end the decades old crisis ensuring Assam’s territorial integrity was signed in New Delhi today. Present on the occasion were Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Minister of AYUSH, Shri Nityanad Rai, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Tuliram Ronghang, Chief Executive Member of KAAC, representatives of Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front/ KLNLF, People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri/ PDCK, United People’s Liberation Army/ UPLA, Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers/KPLT factions along with senior officers from Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Government of Assam.
With this historic agreement, over 1000 armed cadres have abjured violence and joined the mainstream of society. A Special Development Package of Rs. 1000 crores over five years will be given by the Union Government and Assam Government to undertake specific projects for the development of Karbi areas.
Shri Amit Shah said that the Karbi Agreement is another milestone in Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of “Insurgency free prosperous North East”. He said that today’s historic Karbi Anglong agreement will be written in golden letters in the history of Assam. He said that since becoming Prime Minister, northeast has not only been an area of focus for Shri Narendra Modi, but all-round development of northeast, peace and prosperity there has been the top priority for the Government.
Shri Amit Shah said that it is the policy of the Modi Government that those who give up arms are brought into mainstream and we talk to them even more politely and give them more than they ask for. Shri Shah said that due to this policy only, we are getting rid of old problems one by one that the Modi Government had inherited. Union Home Minister said that we fulfil all clauses of agreements signed during our Government’s tenure and this has been Modi Government’s track record.
Salient features of the Agreement:
This Memorandum of Settlement will ensure greater devolution of autonomy to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, protection of identity, language, culture, etc. of Karbi people and focussed development of the Council area, without affecting the territorial and administrative integrity of Assam.
The Karbi armed groups have agreed to abjure violence and join the peaceful democratic process as established by law of the land. The Agreement also provides for rehabilitation of cadres of the armed groups.
The Government of Assam shall set up a Karbi Welfare Council for focussed development of Karbi people living outside KAAC area.
The Consolidated Fund of the State will be augmented to supplement the resources of KAAC.
Overall, the present settlement proposes to give more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers to KAAC.
Insurgency Free Prosperous North East
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has always given top priority to the Northeast. North-east is also very important for our country from the aspects of security. Our aim is to end all disputes in the Northeast by 2022 and usher in a new era of peace and development in the Northeast in 2023.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has made efforts to establish peace by enriching the dignity, culture, language, literature and music of the Northeast. We believe that development cannot happen without peace, and if employment, health, education and home and electricity for everyone are needed, then these cannot be achieved by picking arms.
For the North-East region, the Union Home Minister has identified three objectives:
The first objective is to preserve and protect its dialects, languages, dance, music, food, culture and to create attraction for it all across India.
The second is to end all disputes in the Northeast and make it a peaceful region.
And the third important objective is to make the Northeast a developed region and try to bring it back at par with the level of contribution made in pre-independence GDP.
There was a time when agitations, and disputes were the norm in the Northeast. In the last few years, we have successfully set the narrative that development requires cooperation and hard work, not agitation or controversy.
The need is for hard work and cooperation and not disputes
Many agreements made by previous governments were catching dust on shelves. But the Union Home Minister made efforts to establish new parameters of development by providing permanent solution to long-standing problems, such as NLFT Agreement (Tripura), Bru Refugee Rehabilitation Agreement and the Bodo Peace Accord.
Karbi Anglong: A Historic Agreement
The policy of the Modi government is clear that our mind is open to those willing to lay down arms, but the attitude of the central and state governments towards those who support terrorism shall be zero tolerance. Furthering the same spirit, in the presence of the Union Home Minister, a historic agreement has been reached to establish peace in the Karbi-Anglong region.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Government of India and Government of Assam are making constant efforts to fulfill the just aspirations of the Karbi people. The tripartite MoU was signed twice in 1995 and 2011. But due to apathy by the old governments, despite these agreements, peace could not be established in Karbi-Anglong.
The Modi government held several rounds of talks with representatives of the Karbi and Kuki organizations, in an effort to find a comprehensive and final solution to the demands of the Karbi group, while upholding the territorial integrity of Assam. The proposed historic agreement is the result of extensive efforts made by the Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah under the leadership of the Prime Minister.
Key points of the Karbi-Anglong Peace Agreement
Under this historic agreement, 5 militant organizations laid down arms and more than 1000 of their armed cadres have given up violence and joined the mainstream of society in February 2021.
A special development package of Rs. 1000 crore will be allocated over five years by the Central Government and the Assam Government to take up special projects for the development of Karbi areas.
This agreement will transfer as much autonomy as possible in exercising their rights to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, without affecting the territorial and administrative integrity of Assam.
This agreement will ensure the protection of the culture, identity, language, etc. of the Karbi people and all-round development of the region.
In this agreement the Karbi armed groups have agreed to renounce violence and to engage in a peaceful democratic process established by the law of the land. Keeping this in mind, a provision has also been made in this agreement to rehabilitate the cadres of armed groups.
The Government of Assam will set up a Karbi Welfare Council to focus on the development of the Karbi people living outside the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council area.
The Consolidated Fund of the State will be amended to meet the resources of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council.
Overall, the present agreement proposes to give more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council.
Achievements so far in Karbi Anglong region
On 23 February 2021, 5 militant organizations from Karbi Anglong formally laid down arms.
More than a thousand cadres of 5 militant organizations of Karbi Anglong surrendered their arms and ammunitions. They surrendered a total of 338 weapons and 11000 rounds of ammunition including AK-series rifles, M16 rifles, LMGs, rocket launchers etc.
People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK),
Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF),
Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT),
Kuki Liberation Front (KLF) and
United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA)
32 projects estimated of Rs. 350 crore under the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council package announced under the previous agreement are in various stages of completion today.
The Union Home Minister laid the foundation stone of Karbi Bhawan and Dimasa Bhawan in Delhi on 19th August 2019, which was a long pending demand.
22 crore projects have been approved under the North-East Infrastructure Development Scheme
Under NLCPR scheme of Central Pool, 20 projects costing 200 crores are under development.
The Assam Hill Medical College and Research Institute has been inaugurated at Diphu and the academic session has commenced.
The development of tourist lodge at Bagori entry point has been successfully completed.
Construction of Cancer Care Center at Diphu is underway.
Major Agreements of the Northeast
Under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister has set a target of resolving all the disputes of the Northeast in a given time frame, for which Shri Amit Shah ji held constant meetings and dialogues with all the stakeholders.
NLFT Tripura Agreement: The agreement was signed on 10 August 2019 in the presence of the Union Home Minister. Immediately thereafter 88 cadres surrendered with 44 weapons in the surrender ceremony held on 13.08.2019. As per the MoU, for the overall development of the tribals of Tripura, the Government of Tripura will be given a Special Economic Development Package (SEDP) of Rs.100 crore by the Government of India during a period of five years. From this package Rs. 100 crore, Rs. 40 crore, the amount has already been released to Tripura during the financial year 2020-21 and as per the agreement, the rest amount of Rs.60 crore will be provided to Tripura in the next three year period (2021-22 to 2023-24).
Bru Accord: For permanent settlement of 6959 Bru families (37,136 persons) in Tripura with a financial package of about Rs.661 crore Government of India, Government of Tripura and Government of Mizoram with representatives of Bru migrants on 16.01.2020 signed this historic agreement in the presence of Union Home Minister. As per the agreement, each resettled Bru family will be provided a fixed deposit of Rs.4 lakh as financial assistance, free ration, five thousand rupees per month for two
years, Housing assistance at the rate of Rs.1.5 lakh and a land plot of 30 x 40 sq. ft. For the rehabilitation of Bru migrants, Rs 128.38 crore has been given during the financial year 2019-20 and Rs 140 crore during the financial year 2020-21 to the Tripura government. The Tripura government initially earmarked 14 locations in six districts for the settlement of Bru migrants and all 13 such proposals, which required forest clearance, have been approved in-principle by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
So far, plots have been allotted to 2110 families at four locations, out of which 1426 Bru families have been provided housing related assistance.
Bodo Peace Accord: A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 27.01.2020 by the Government of India, Government of Assam and representatives of Bodo groups to resolve the long pending Bodo issue in the presence of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah. After the agreement, 1615 cadres of NDFB groups surrendered their weapons on 30.01.2020. NDFB groups got disbanded on 09-10 March, 2020. As per the MoU, a Special Development Package (SDP) of Rs. 1500 crore (Rs 750 crore by the DONER Ministry, Government of India and Rs 750 crore by the Government of Assam) during a period of three years for the overall development of Bodo areas in Assam will be provided.
Safe Northeast
The security situation in the North-Eastern states has greatly improved since 2014 under the government of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The year 2019 and 2020 saw the lowest number of insurgency related incidents and casualties of civilians and security forces during the last two decades.
There were 824 incidents of violence in the Northeast in 2014 in which 212 innocent civilians were killed, it has reduced to only 162 such incidents in 2020, in which only 2 civilians were killed
In comparison to 2014, there has been an 80 percent reduction in insurgency incidents in the year 2020. Similarly, in this period, the
number of casualties in security forces has decreased by 75 percent and civilian casualties by 99 percent.
In the last 2 years, 3922 militants have surrendered with 873 weapons.
For reimbursement of Security Related Expenditure (SRE) incurred by the 4 North Eastern States on various security items and rehabilitation of surrendered insurgents Rs.2002 crore amount has been released since 2014-2015
Infrastructure in border areas
Taking an important policy decision the Government of Prime Minister Modi has declared Ministry of Home Affairs as appropriate authority, to facilitate land acquisition for border projects.
The following construction works have been approved along the India-China border:
Under ICBR-II Construction of 683 km long, 32 roads, at the cost of 12,435 crore
Construction of 18 foot tracks and other construction costing – 1162 crore for critical infrastructure development in the border areas in Arunachal Pradesh
About 23.85 km long fencing work completed on Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura
All-round Development of North East:
The Modi Government is committed for the all-round development of the Northeast region. The Government of India is committed to making the North East an economic hub connecting Southeast Asia under the Act East Policy.
The Government of India has spent a total amount of Rs. 2 lakh 65 thousand 513 crore from the year 2014 to March, 2021 for the development of various infrastructure projects in the North-East region.
In comparison to 13th Finance Commission, the 14th Finance Commission has given 251 percent more Central taxes. At the
same time, in comparison to the 13th Finance Commission, the 14th Finance Commission, has given 183 percent more funds. The budget of the DONER Ministry has also been increased by 65 percent in 2019-20 as compared to 2014-15.
During January 2020, as per the direction given in the NEC by the Union Home Minister, a very important decision was taken by the DONER Ministry and for focused development of the deprived areas, deprived/neglected sections of society and emerging priority areas, under the existing schemes of NEC, 30 percent of the allocation of NEC has been earmarked for new projects. Under this, 54 projects worth Rs. 214 crore were approved during 2020-21 in the Northeastern states.
In the 13th Finance Commission, NEC allocated a budget of 3449 crore in comparison in the 14th Finance Commission a budget of 5348 crore was allocated. This is an increase of about one and a half times.
Comment
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has always given top priority to the Northeast. We not only narrowed down the psychological gap but tried to present the Northeast as a model of development. There was a time, when Delhi was considered an outsider here but Modi ji has done the work of bringing the Government of India to the Northeast in the last 7 years.
Earlier there was talk of infiltration, terror and corruption in the Northeast, but today there is talk of development, connectivity and infrastructure. Our aim is to solve all the complex problems of North- East. Modi government has seen the vision of drug free and terrorism free and developed Northeast! Modi government will definitely be successful in resolving all kinds of disputes expeditiously in an amicable atmosphere by mutual consultation.
The representatives of the armed organizations have agreed to renounce violence and join the peaceful democratic process established by the law of the land. The agreement would give the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council greater autonomy and protection to Karbi’s identity, language, culture, etc., rehabilitation of cadres of
armed groups; and ensure the all-round development of Karbi Anglong while keeping the territorial and administrative integrity of Assam intact. This will be another important milestone in fulfilling the vision of ‘Insurgency Free Prosperous North East’ of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble Union Home Minister & Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah.
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