By KISHALAY BHATTACHARJEE
It is not very often that the top headline in Indian media is dominated by issues beyond Kolkata in the East. The television channels on Monday screamed, “Gorkhaland peace finally?”; “Darjeeling set for Historic Gorkha Pact”. Bimal Gurung the man on the driver’s seat said “this day could have come earlier but the previous government did not allow it.” The Indian Home Minister Mr Chidambaram said, “a historic event after years of strife and conflict” and the new Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms Mamata Banerjee announced “a historic day for Darjeeling residents.”
For those who have followed the Gorkhaland issue since Subhas Ghising in the eighties made the rest of the country look beyond Darjeeling’s famed Tiger Hill sunrise, this pact promises to be just another footnote of history rather than history itself.
The footnotes currently include greater autonomy and financial control:
What Gorkha autonomous body will control? Tourism, Agriculture, Public Health; Can appoint Group B, C, D employees; Appointment of school and college teachers.
What Gorkha autonomous body will get? Special financial package of IRs 6 billion for development of hill regions over the next three years.
So this particular body Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has much more power than the Gorkha Hill Council (GHC) which was formed in 1988. The autonomy to employ in B, C and D categories is significant because several areas have been brought under the categories like for example land belonging to key plantations, one of the key demands of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). Besides controlling tourism, agriculture and public health, it will acquire new departments like school service commission and college service commission.
Darjeeling is celebrating. The tripartite agreement signed on Monday between the government of India, the government of West Bengal and the GJM has created an elected autonomous body for the administration of the hill subdivisions of Darjeeling district. The people will now administer themselves.
For the last six years, administration had become dysfunctional. The erstwhile Darjeeling GHC had become virtually defunct. Bandas and strikes had paralyzed life. Education was affected, tourism and livelihoods too. That is why they are calling it historic. But hasn’t one seen the government sign such treaties before?
Let us not forget that the GJM had been agitating for a separate state of Gorkhaland. Often the agitation as we know took resort of violence. Within two months of becoming chief minister of West Bengal Ms Banerjee appears to have convinced the Morcha to agree to an autonomous body. The body will have 45 elected and 5 nominated members. But what made Mr Gurung and Inc accept this autonomy? Autonomy was anyway on the platter but he would take nothing else but a state.
There are issues which will have to be thrashed out though. A committee is also being set up on to study which mouzas (Villages or areas within a town or a city which pay a nominal tax against the land.
This system is traditional and helps maintain land records.) in the plains have Gorkha-dominated areas so that they can be brought under GTA. This was one of the demands of the Morcha. The use of the name Gorkhaland and the proposal to bring Gorkha-dominated areas under GTA are controversial. Several organizations in the plains feel Gorkhaland gives the demand for a separate state some amount of legitimacy. Adivasi organizations amongst others say they will not allow the inclusion of plains areas GTA. So it is not all over yet.
The Indian Home Minister Mr Chidambaram added a rider to the agreement saying it is an opportunity for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration to show that they can deliver. The problem is if GTA delivers, then development could change life in Darjeeling and perhaps blunt Darjeeling´s demand for a state of its own.
But I have greater concerns. This is not as I have mentioned the first tripartite treaty. It is neither the first autonomous district arrangement in North Eastern India. The idea of granting autonomy is almost as old as Indian Independence. The first autonomous district council was in Assam’s North Cachar Hills now called the Dima Hasao District Autonomous Council. In 1952 this area was granted autonomy under the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution and has since had 10 terms. But a drive across this district is good enough to assess the development of the area.
Its human development index is abysmal and infrastructure in ruins. It accommodated militant groups and the Council allegedly siphoned off development fund for purchase of arms. It still has two armed groups on a ceasefire agreement threatening to break the treaty in order to exact more from the government. Despite high-profile investigations by central agencies on politician-bureaucrat and militant nexus no accountability has yet been fixed. The drift of these details is basically to underline the risks of assuming that autonomy means development.
Another case in point is the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act which was enacted in 1971. Perhaps one of the most disturbed areas of the country these hills have been on fire for decades with virtually little or no development. Militancy, however, has developed and flourished across these hills.
The list of such autonomous councils plagued by fissures and corruption is long and the trend worrying. While the instrument of granting autonomy was for greater development, it became a tool for appeasement of pressure groups rather than the idea of real development.
The Indian Home Minister Mr Chidambaram added a rider to the agreement saying it is an opportunity for GTA to show that they can deliver. The problem is if GTA delivers, then development could change life in Darjeeling and perhaps blunt Darjeeling´s demand for a state of its own. Is that why autonomous councils fail to function?
While I would like to join the celebrations in Darjeeling, my footnote to this ‘historic agreement’ is to keep in mind the ‘lessons learned’ from similar agreements and arrangements. Autonomy is not necessarily a license.
The writer is North-East Region Bureau Chief of NDTV, a leading Indian television news channel. On a sabbatical now, he is Senior Fellow at Institute of Defence Studies Analysis in New Delhi
kishalayb@gmail.com
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