Amit Shah said that the agreement will prove to be another important milestone in the direction of making north east extremism free by 2025.
New Delhi: Aiming to end decades-long of Adivasis, tea garden workers in the north eastern state Assam, a historic agreement was signed on Thursday between central government, Assam government and representatives of eight Adivasi groups.
Singing of agreement took place between groups including BCF, ACMA, AANLA, APA, STF, AANLA (FG), BCF (BT) and ACMA (FG) in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and MoS, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Rameswar Teli besides others were also present on the occasion.
Amit Shah said that in accordance with the Prime Minister’s vision of a peaceful and prosperous North East, this agreement will prove to be another important milestone in the direction of making northeast extremism free by 2025. He said that after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, many efforts have been made in the direction of making the northeast peaceful and developed, the most important of which is to establish peace in the Northeast. He said that 1182 cadres of tribal groups of Assam have joined the mainstream by laying down arms.
Shah said that the MHA has taken steps to develop the northeast by promoting and developing the rich culture of the region, settling all disputes, establishing peace and accelerating development in the northeast to make it peaceful and prosperous. He said that due to lack of communication and conflict of interests, different groups took up arms due to which thousands of lives were lost in the encounter between these groups and the state governments and central security forces.
The Union Home Minister said that the central government has decided that before 2024, all border disputes between the north eastern states and all disputes related to armed groups will be resolved. “In the last three years, the Government of India, the Government of Assam and other governments of the north east have entered into several agreements among themselves and with various extremist groups. NLFT agreement in 2019, BRU-REANG and Bodo accord in 2020, Karbi Anglong agreement in 2021 and Assam-Meghalaya Inter-State Boundary Agreement in 2022, which resolved around 65 per cent of border disputes between the two states,” Shah said.
The agreement provides for setting up of an Adivasi Welfare & Development Council by the Assam government with the objective of fulfilling the political, economic and educational aspirations; protecting, preserving and promoting social, cultural, linguistic and ethnic identities; and ensuring accelerated and focused development of the Adivasi inhabited villages/ areas as well as tea gardens all over the State. The agreement also provides for rehabilitation and resettlement of armed cadres and measures for welfare of the tea garden workers. A special development package of Rs 1000 crore will be provided over a period of five years for development of infrastructure in Adivasi inhabited villages/areas.
