Assam: Centre likely to form a committee to look into protection of rights of Assamese people as per Assam Accord
Facing severe pressure from various civil society groups to reject the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 as it violates the Assam Accord of 1985, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has urged the Centre to form a committee to look into Clause 6 of the Accord that speaks of constitutional safeguards to Assamese people.
In a meeting lasting nearly two hours in New Delhi with Union home minister Rajnath Singh on May 30, Sonowal apprised him of the series of ongoing protests against the Bill by the majority community. While the Accord, signed after a six-year student agitation against undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh, says the cut-off date for any foreigner residing in the state for Indian citizenship should be March 25, 1971, the Bill, presented by the Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha in 2016, favours citizenships to Hindu Bangladeshis.
Sonowal reportedly said after the meeting that the home minister “has assured that before taking any step, the people of Assam will be taken into confidence. All stakeholders would be consulted”.
As per a statement issued by the home ministry after the meeting, “The Home Minister assured the Chief Minister that a committee will be set up at the earliest in consultation with the state government.” The committee would look into providing constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect the social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.
Apart from the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiotabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), the two student bodies that spearheaded the 1980s agitation, a fairly new organisation, Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), has also put up the demand for constitutional safeguards to Assamese people. The PVM, however, calls for constitutional safeguard to the families of those who featured in the state’s 1951 National Register of Citizens.
The organisation, which had been carrying out a signature campaign in the state, submitted a charter of demands with over four lakh signatures to local district commissioners, circle officers and SDOs on May 19. Opposing the Bill, it said, “Taking 1951 as the base year, reserve land, government employment, trade licenses, reservations in education, etc. only for those who were citizens of India in 1951 and their progeny.”
Tripura: BJP govt, like the former Left Front govt, decides to file special leave petition in SC seeking to protect the jobs of 10,323 govt teachers
Even though the BJP, in the run-up to the recent assembly polls in Tripura, had vehemently criticised the then Manik Sarkar government for appointing 10,323 government teachers by flouting the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) guidelines, 2001, its government has, in a clear U-turn, decided to follow the former Left Front government’s move to file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court seeking protection of their jobs.
On March 29, 2017, the apex court, hearing three SLPs – one by the then state government, one by the affected teachers and another by those who would benefit from the termination of those jobs – upheld a 2014 order of the Tripura high court which terminated the services of the teachers recruited by the state government in 2010 and 2013.
Asking the state government to initiate a fresh recruitment policy through a Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) as prescribed under the RTE Act by May 31, 2017 and complete it by December 31, 2017, it allowed the affected teachers to continue on their jobs till December 31, 2017.
In order to protect their jobs post-December 31, the earlier government, facing a crucial election, recruited those teachers along with some others in various teaching and non-teaching ad hoc positions under the education department for six months, the terms of which would end on June 30.
With the date nearing now, the BJP government, in a cabinet meeting on May 31, decided to file an SLP in the Supreme Court seeking extension of their jobs till June 2020. As per news reports, chief minister Biplab Deb raised the issue recently with Modi.
Tripura education minister Ratan Lal Nath. Credit: Tripura government website
State education minister Ratan Lal Nath said at a press meet after the cabinet meeting that the decision was taken keeping in mind the lack of teachers to man 4,928 government schools. Similar to what the then Left Front government argued, the new education minister said it would lead to a collapse of the education system in the state.
Soon after the new government took over, it had issued a notification seeking applications to fill 12,222 teaching positions. Nath has, however, told reporters, “We did not get enough qualified candidates yet.”
“Currently, the state requires 12,222 teachers of all categories but there is no solution in sight as suitable candidates are not found even after conducting TET, a mandatory provision of the Act. Altogether 7, 29,000 students are studying in 4,928 government-run schools and the number of teachers stands at around 40,000,” he said.
As per the guidelines, candidates are to have certain professional degrees and percentage of marks in specific subjects to be qualified as teachers. Nath said the state has only six institutes that give Bachelor of Education degrees, making it impossible to fill up the posts as per the guidelines. The Biplab Deb government has recently urged the Ministry of Human Resources and Development to give a one-time relief to the state as without it, the government would not be able to meet the demand of teachers in its schools.
Mizoram: Poll-bound state sees a campaign to remove newly recruited governor with RSS background
A day after RSS pracharak and BJP Kerala unit president Kummanam Rajasekharan was sworn in as the new Mizoram governor on May 29, two state-based outfits have begun a campaign to seek his removal from the post.
The People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM), an anti-corruption civil society organisation turned political outfit, and the state chapter of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) have urged all political parties of the poll-bound state, NGOs, student bodies, churches and common Mizos to oppose his appointment by the Modi government, stating that the new governor “is radical-Hindu, anti-secularism that goes against the Indian Constitution”.
In a letter written to the Mizoram Kohran Hruaitute Committee, a confederation of 13 main churches of the state, it called the new governor “anti-secular”.
A PRISM statement issued to local reporters said, “We all know that Mr. Kummanam Rajasekharan was newly sworn in as the governor of our state. He is well-known for his anti-secularism that goes against the Indian Constitution. He has been a hardcore member of RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Aikya Vedi; well known as being against Christian missionaries and Christians in general. He was the general convener of Nilakkal Action Council and was directly instrumental in the Nilakkal Hindu-Christian conflict of 1983.”
The statement, issued jointly by PRISM president Vanlalruata and general secretary Lalrinzuala Chawngthu, also said, “Rajasekharan was also one of the key accused when American Christian missionary, Joseph Cooper, was attacked and injured, and was actively involved in attempting to drive out about 50 Christian missionaries they had listed in 2003. He was the person who had asked the then Governor to take action against the then Chief Secretary when Kerala Chief Secretary delivered God’s word in the bicentenary celebration of Malankara Orthodox Church in 2015.”
Mizoram governor K. Rajasekharan with BJP president Amit Shah. Credit: PTI
The GCIC said, “The Christians in Mizoram in particular and those of the country, in general, feel disturbed and very much let down after the appointment of a hardcore Hindutva fundamentalist” had been appointed as the governor of a state where 87% of the people were Christian.
PRISM, which felt that appointing “a political person” like Rajasekharan could affect the politics of the state set to go for polls, also staged a protest on May 29, the day of Rajasekharan’s swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.
Mizoram, the only northeastern state not under the rule of BJP or its allies, goes to the polls at the end of 2018. Recently, the BJP, for the first time, registered an electoral victory in the state by winning five seats in the Chakma Autonomous District Council and grabbed the position of its chief executive member with help from six members of the Congress, its arch rival at the national level.
