In news– The Union government signed the tripartite Karbi Anglong agreement promising to fulfil all the conditions for development of the Karbi people(Assam) within the stipulated time.
Karbi Anglong agreement & Its features-
- The agreement grants greater devolution of autonomy to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) apart from providing protection to the language, culture and identity of the region and reservation to the Karbi people.
- It was signed by the Centre, five insurgent groups from the region and the state government.
- Those present included representatives of
- The 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).
- The Kuki Liberation Front (KLF).
- 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.
- 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.
- For the first time, Karbi and Scheduled Tribes people will get reservations.
- In no Sixth Schedule region, there is provision for reservation to a Scheduled Tribe. This accord will grant Scheduled Tribe status to Karbi staying in the plains as well.
- 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.
About Karbi Anglong-
- Located in central Assam, Karbi Anglong is the state’s largest district.
- It is a melting pot of ethnicities and tribal groups — Karbi, Dimasa, Bodo, Kuki, Hmar, Tiwa, Garo, Man (Tai speakers), Rengma Naga.
- A major ethnic community of Assam, Karbis are dotted by many factions, and marked by ethnic violence, killings, abductions, taxation since the late 1980s.
- The Karbi have been demanding a separate state since 1946 and their movement took the shape of an insurgency which intensified in the 1990s.
Source: PIB
