Terming this a historic day for the North East region, Amit Shah said that the agreement will prove to be another milestone in the direction of making North East region extremism free by 2025.
A tripartite peace agreement signed on Thursday between the union government, the government of Assam and eight tribal groups of Assam to resolve the decade old crisis of tribal groups and tea garden workers in Assam.
The agreement provides for the establishment of a Tribal Welfare and Development Council to ensure speedy and focused development of tea gardens.
The agreement was signed in the presence of home minister Amit Shah by leaders of eight tribal groups – the Birsa Commando Force, Adivasi People’s Army, All Adivasi National Liberation Army, Adivasi Cobra Military of Assam and the Santhal Tiger Force.
Terming this a historic day for the North East region, Amit Shah said that the agreement will prove to be another milestone in the direction of making North East region extremism free by 2025.
The home minister said that 1,182 cadres of tribal group of Assam have shunned the path of violence by laying down arms and joined the mainstream, adding that the union government is committed to resolving all border disputes between the North Eastern states and all disputes related to armed groups by 2024.
To this end, Amit Shah pointed to several agreements signed to ensure peace and development in the North Eastern region over the last three years. He claimed that the NLFT agreement in 2019, the BRU-REANG and the Bodo accord in 2020, Karbi Anglong agreement in 2021 and Assam-Meghalaya inter-state boundary agreement this year have resolved around 65 per cent of border disputes in the North East region.
Reduced insurgency incidents
Shah stressed that it is the responsibility of the government of India and the Assam government to fulfil the political, economic and educational aspirations of tribal groups. To this end, a special development package of Rs. 1,000 crores will be provided over a period of five years for infrastructure development in villages and areas with tribal populations.
The union home minister underlined that around 8,000 insurgents have joined the mainstream since 2014 by laying down their arms. He said that the year 2020 recorded the lowest number of insurgency incidents in the last two decades. In comparison to 2014, there has been a 74 per cent reduction in the incidents of insurgency in 2021.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the agreement will provide social justice and political rights to the people who have left the path of violence. He said, this agreement will also ensure the welfare of these people as they came into the mainstream.
