Committee for implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord to meet on 24 July

July 20: A high level committee was formed for taking a call on the implementation of the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord. The said committee will reportedly hold its first meeting on 24 July, 2019. Sources revealed that  the meeting is scheduled to be held in the North Block, New Delhi.

The 13-member committee headed by former Gauhati High Court judge, Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma will also include Subhash Das, IAS (Retd), Pallav Bhattacharya, IPS (Retd), Niloy Dutta,-Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh, Ramesh Borpatragohain-Advocate General of Assam, Wasbir Hussain-Senior Journalist, Prof. Srishtidhar Dutta (Retd), Prof. Jaikanta Sharma, Sumanta Chaliha-author, Samujjal Bhattacharya, Chief Adviser, All Assam Students Union (AASU), President & Secretary of AASU. Joint Secretary (North East) in the Ministry of Home Affairs will be the Member Secretary.

Clause 6 of the Accord Accord states that “Assamese people” would be granted “constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate” to “protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage.”

The committee will assess the appropriate level of reservation of seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies for the Assamese people and will also suggest measures to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous languages of Assam.  The Committee will submit its report within 6 months from the date of notification.

The high powered Committee may also suggest any other measures as may be necessary to protect, preserve and promote cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

However, not a single person from Barak Valley was included in this high level committee.