Rameez Makhdoomi
Northeast India is the eastern-most region of India connected to East India via a narrow corridor squeezed between Nepal and Bangladesh. It comprises the contiguous Seven Sister States—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura—and the Himalayan state of Sikkim.
A recent trip of this journalist to Assam revealed to us the immense problems faced by the people of Assam in particular & Northeast in general.
Tea, Tribe, Immigrant influx and torture define the story of the gateway of Northeast (Assam).The problem of illegal immigrants especially from Bangladesh has plagued once prosperous state of Assam with some even stating that native population has been clearly outnumbered by these immigrants.
Bangladeshi presence is clearly visible in length and breadth of Assam. As a matter of fact, Assam shares an international border with Bangladesh and has been since long plagued with the problem of illegal immigration by Bangladeshi Muslims and Hindus for the past four decades and since the creation of Bangladesh according to many the problem has gone out of hand.
In a sensational revelation few years back ,the Governor of Assam, in a secret communiqué to the Central Government in 2005, revealed that “upto 6000 Bangladeshis enter Assam every day.” According to conservative estimates, India is host to around ten million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Assam itself is inhabited by around five million illegal immigrants with additions taking place almost every day.
Pertinently, this unabated influx of immigrants is changing the entire demographics of Assam towards worse.
Even the ‘Tea’ which is major product of Assam is benefiting only few on account of lack of infrastructure. As per estimates, 15 percent of the world’s total output of tea comes from the lush green and beautiful tea gardens of Assam, which roughly provide employment to more than a million people. More than half of that in direct form in the tea gardens and factories turning green leaves into dry tea for home and hotel consumption. Tea cultivation occupies a little less than a tenth of the cultivated area of Assam and 75 percent of the tea gardens are located in the Brahmaputra districts of Darrang, Sibsagar and Lakhimpur.
Interestingly enough, the discovery of the tea plant in Assam is attributed to Bruce Brothers, Robert and C.A Bruce. According to Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, New York, in 1823 Robert Bruce noticed the tea plant at Rangpur in Upper Assam. After him, C.A Bruce nurtured the tea plantations.
Mind wobbling fact is that according to the recent “Survey Report and Data Bank on Small Tea Growers”,published by State Industry Department recently, Assam has 68,465 small tea gardens. These small tea growers account for about 25 per cent of the State’s total tea output.
But despite these facts the majority of lakhs of tea garden workers are living under abject poverty in Assam .A considerable number of tea gardens of the State have gone sick over the period due to lack of infrastructure, modernization and efficient management.
Whereas the minimum wage fixed in Assam for ‘Tea Garden Laborer’ is more than RS.150 but actually they are just paid between Rs 75 to RS.85 which was revealed to us via interaction with Tea Garden Workers.
“If the potential of tea is tapped in a right manner the state of Assam could be among the richest parts of world, but currently this industry is benefiting few pockets while as the majority of tea workers whose hardwork brings this output live under abject poverty as they are paid much less than fixed wages and we also lack proper processing infrastructure to tap its full potential”, states Dr.Amlan Das, an activist working on key issues in Assam.
Prevalence of caste system is also hurting the interests of Assamese with many working for its complete eradication.
On the otherhand the whole Northeast including Assam is said to be the home of several tribes but on account of state apathy , immigrant influx and Government apathy towards genuine demands of tribals is continuing and the tribal people are feeling let down as a result many have resorted to violence and demanding sovereign status for their areas.
Many voices in Assam have advocated that Assam should become a tribal State so that the interests of the Assamese community could be protected. Tribals on contrary have faced brunt of state suppression in Assam and other parts of Northeast. Many sane voices in Assam are concerned that Tribal people gradually have been evicted from their own lands, losing their traditional rights on forests. Furthermore, many of them are almost on the threshold of losing their own languages (dialects), dress, festivals and beliefs.
On macroscopic level too, the populace of Assam has also felt their basic human rights tormented. Even wiki observes- “Assam continues to be one of the forefront states where human rights abuses have been committed by India. Resultant secessionist and pro-independence movements have intensified the political situation, with widespread allegations of human rights abuses being committed by Indian security forces that have claimed thousands of lives in the state.”
Problems and issues confronted by Assam seem to be endless with native population bearing the worst brunt.
While commenting on these issues in an exclusive interaction with the Kashmir Scenario Executive Editor, Rameez Makhdoomi,Founder, Ganatantrik Party,SunielPavan Das stated –“The situation in Northeast especially Assam is heading towards chaos as both the Central and state Governments are falling miserably to address the aspirations and sentiments of the masses .The region is facing diverse problems – Illegal immigration from Bangladeshis to Assam being the gravest problem. Tribes are also feeling threatened by foreign migrants. The issue of identity crisis among people of Assam, loot and plunder of resources, tyrannical caste system promoted by Brahminical forces and also the diverse issues faced by people of Assam and other problems faced by the rest of the states of Northeast have a potential to make this region the next Yugoslavia and if these problems remain unaddressed the situation in future can get out of control.”
On ground zero, the manner in which the Government of India and the state Government have failed to address then burning issues of Assam, the masses are simply feeling tortured and a lava is brewing in entire Assam which if unaddressed can engulf entire Northeast.