Bezbaruah Committee and Issues of Security and Welfare of North-East

Govt. of India has constituted an eleven-member Committee on 5th February, 2014, headed by Madan Prasad Bezbaruah, an eminent retired IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre , to examine various kinds of concerns, including security of persons hailing from the north-eastern states living in the Metropolitan areas, causes behind the violence and discrimination against them, suggest measures to be taken by the Govt. to address these concerns and recommend on legal remedies and render its report within two months. The Committee has been officially notified by Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the backdrop of the recent regrettable incident of death Nido Tania, an Arunachal Pradesh student studying at Jallandhar.

The unfortunate student was involved in a fracas with shopkeepers and reportedly assaulted by them in one of the prominent of markets in a south Delhi locality inhabited by middle and upper class  north Indians, with a substantial number of residents whose parents had migrated to India from erstwhile West Pakistan as refugees post-Partition. There are also residents from the lower income group in the locality, from eastern India. The significant point is that, the locality was of fairly cosmopolitan character but nonetheless, the incident could not be avoided. The fallout has agitated many of the north-easterners in Delhi, who have attributed the case as one of violence resulting from so-called racial profiling people of their region. The exact cause of Nido`s death, within a few hours of him being beaten up and the administering of pain-killing drugs to him thereafter by his friends, is still to be authoritatively determined.

A point worth reckoning is that, earlier also, there have been incidents of north-easterners being assaulted, raped, etc. in Delhi as well as artificial scare on their welfare being created by identified and unidentified elements, not only in Delhi, but also in places in states like Karnataka in the south. Some of the incidents were found to be of normal criminal nature and similar to crimes committed against other Indians, and not racially oriented. However, there were some instances where, the perpetrators of crimes against north-easterners were found to have taken advantage of their targets being in new and unfamiliar environment, and also had anticipated local passivism to such occurrences. The scare which occurred in the south India about a year ago, leading to a temporary mass exodus of people - tribal and non-tribal - from the north-east, particularly the youngsters, back to the home region, was detected by the Govts. at the Centre and the states concerned, to have been caused by SMSs generated by anti-India elements, at the behest of external sources.

The credentials of the Committee set up by MHA are not questionable. However, it would have been more appropriate to have set up a body with active social and political leaders rather than basically retired officers (five members of the Committee are retired IAS officers, while two of the members  viz. Madan Bezbaruah and Hertbert Syiem, have retired more than a decade ago), to indicate a panacea to the problem, which is not limited to personal security of individual north-easterners, but concerns their welfare in the broadest sense, and also impinges  on the very sensitive aspects of unity and integrity in an all-encompassing manner, of  India. It would have been more befitting to have had such a Committee with say, former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno  Sangma – a national leader of repute from the north-east - as its head, and a few society leaders of stature of different political views from the region, and also including persons from other parts of India who have delved into the socio-economic aspects of the region and the cultural proclivities of its people, in the recent period. Such a body would have more vibrant and authoritative.

The Committee, has to recommend measures within the framework of India`s Constitution. Modification of the existing laws or their amplification and also enactment of new laws as deemed necessary, to promote the objectives set out in the Committee`s terms of reference, is within its mandate. However, the Committee has to be cautious in recommending legal and administrative steps so that, they are not construed to bring about distinction among Indian citizens on the basis of places of their origin or residency. For example, a complaint of assault emanating from a person, irrespective of whether he or she is from any of the states of the north-east or any other part of India, has to be acted upon by the state law and order establishment at the place of occurrence, with alacrity and responsiveness as stipulated by the law and administrative directives concerned. It is however important that, whenever a north-easterner  raises a complaint, the state officials concerned should give due attention, and empathetically try to appreciate the cause which may entail some extra effort and sensitivity on their part,  particularly because the complainant is in an environment quite different from his home surroundings and may be inhibited by the local milieu.

More than legal measures, it is the improvement in attitudes of people and institutions in various parts of India, towards their fellow citizens of the north-east, which will be of essence. The Committee should endeavour to lay down a time-bound  administrative action plan towards this objective. Such a plan, in the form of a charter, could be eventually adopted by the National Integration Council (NIC), as that would be the most appropriate forum at the national level involving the  Union Govt. as well as also the State Govts. whose Chief Ministers are the Council`s members. The implemental aspects relating to the plan and the charter would be the most crucial aspects, and penal administrative measures may have to be built in the execution process so that, the  officials of the Union or the states, actively implement the same in a duty-bound manner and  appropriate spirit.

Arvind Kejriwal, the new Chief Minister of Delhi, has already declared that the Delhi Govt. schools will ensure that their students study a chapter in a relevant subject in their curriculum, on the north-east, its people and cultural attributes. The Central Board of Secondary Education, and other boards at the all-India level, as well the boards in all the states, should provide for suitable content relating to our north-east. There has to be similarity also in treatment of the matter, so that, the unique nature of the north-east region`s unique yet varied intra-regional culture, within the overall Indian milieu, is understood and appreciated by the youngsters of the country as a whole. The Bezbaruah Committee has to lay down contours of such action, within a suitable administrative framework. Education being a subject within the Concurrent List of India`s Constitution, will necessarily require a consensual approach and the instrumentality of the NIC, will be appropriate.

Not only a more interactive discourse among the educative people and the intelligentsia of the north-east and other parts of the country is necessary, but also an interaction among the people in the lower social and less educated rungs of society is required. People should get to know and respect each other, their fellow citizens, wherever they are, be it in the realm of education, or when employed side by side or even during short visits as local tourists outside the north-east and within the region. For this to happen, lowering of inter-regional barriers like inner-line permits, etc., would be a sine-qua-non. The Committee cannot avoid considering such issues, and should come out with recommendations, which takes care of regional sensitivities while reckoning the long-term interests of the north-east and its pe ople, which is to ensure their development commensurate with those of other states and promotion of  an environment of healthy appreciation of each others social and cultural characteristics through the country. After all, people from all parts of India should visit and get an opportunity to serve in the north-east to know the rich culture and heritage of the region, and love the region as their own, and be obliged to respect and protect the northeasterners when the latter does likewise east of the Siliguri corridor.

The Bezbaruah Committee should follow the footsteps in the manner of the Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma Committee on the Nirbhaya Rape Case, a come out with decisive recommendations which are implementable within the stipulated two-months set for it,  without creating any inter-regional or inter-community divergence or hiatus. An administrative approach which compulsorily promotes appreciation of the  multifaceted culture of India will be judicious. Tweaking of  existing legal provisions which ensures prevention of atrocities against tribal people  of the north-east may also be contemplated.