Skip to content Skip to navigation

Solving the 'ST' issue: Need of the hour

Star crossed Assam witnessed yet another assault last night when a powerful bomb planted on the tracks ripped off the luggage van of the Rajdhani Express killing five persons and injuring four others. The 2423 A Down Rajdhani Express was proceeding from Dibrugarh to Guwahati between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations in Golaghat district at about 1.06 am on the ill fated night of December 13.

Though the police have not yet ascertained the identity of the militants however they claimed that Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) militants were presumed to be behind the blast.

A Central team is coming to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the blast. It is alleged that the Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta has asked the chief secretary to take measure and beef up security in the state. The recent violent incidents occurring in Assam prior to days before the Panchayat Polls has jolted the Centre. It is fearful of the probability of more violence in the state if the ULFA seizes this opportunity to join hands with the Adivasi outfits and unleash fresh violence in the state.

Sadly, the governments both at the Centre and the State have failed to find a solution to the burning problems of Assam. Governments have come and governments have gone but none had any breakthrough to solve the issues afflicting Assam.

Moreover, the inability of the Central government in finding concrete steps to solve the issue of including six communities of Assam in the list of scheduled tribes has aggravated the situation blowing it out of proportion. Organisations representing the six communities have gone into agitating mode threatening to make the situation even worse. As a result of this it is the people of Assam as a whole undivided and irrespective of the communities they belong to are burning in the fire of a political pyre.

The decision of including the six communities in the list of scheduled tribes list has been a long awaited one as it was way back in 1990 when the proposal was put forward by the state government. Meanwhile the existing tribal groups are not at all amused over the inclusion of the six communities fearing the future of their rights and privileges.

The government needs to take a firm decision at this juncture and put an end to the conflict that threatens to tear apart an already fragmented Assam.

Comments

jaay's picture

This is another very unfortunate incident, a loss which has absolutely no meaning to anybody. Simply killing couple of people in the name of reservation, this does not gel with the cause. The politics has got so murky that no matter how much we try to cleanse it, it gets murkier. I think whoever introduced this quota system, should have been hanged publicly. Was religion not enough for fighting that he thought quota should be brought in, so that people have alternates for fighting and our politicians never lag behind in scoring points over dead bodies. Government should have thought of common farewell schemes, rather than thinking on individual caste lines. Judiciary calls it crime if a common people even refer something on caste line, but these politicians keep on harping in open about caste and never let THOSE people forget that they are someone SPECIAL. I think they are the one who should be prosecuted and pulled up for claiming to be champions for the SPECIAL people. Done even talk about solving these issues, they will never let it die and they would rather prefer people get burnt and dead than solving these issues. Nice article.

Pages

Add new comment

Random Stories

Bhut Jolokia production at a Sivasagar firm

17 Jul 2008 - 10:23pm | editor
Bhadreswar Dihingia, A farmer collects "Bhut Jolokia" or "Naga Chili" peppers in his field at Bakata in Sivasagar district of Assam on 17-07-2008. Bhut jolokia, a thumb-sized chili...

Police occupation of Kalaigaon and Tangla PWD IB resented

6 Apr 2017 - 1:36pm | AT Staff Reporter
The long time police occupation of Kalaigaon and Tangla PWD Inspection Bungalows (IB) have been resented by people.Both the IBs had been the public places for meeting visiting government officials...

Flood in Dhekiajuli

25 Jul 2008 - 2:28pm | editor
Commuters move ahead through the flooded water in the Rakashmari area in Dhekiajuli on 24-07-08. Pix by UB Photos.

Teachers’ Day in Barpeta

5 Sep 2015 - 9:32pm | AT News
Barpeta district observed the teachers day along with other parts of the country marking the birth anniversary of Dr S Radhakrishnan on Saturday. Speakers at the central function organized in the...

Other Contents by Author

The entire world is facing a tough time dealing with the onslaught of terror that arms have wrecked upon us. Whether it is the arms of a terrorist, a soldier, a miscreant or a school kid arms seem to have taken control over man. The world wars, the cold wars or the war on terror, man has become a slave to his arms. The war on Iraq saw the dependence on arms, the terror attacks in America, Britain or India and the disturbed scool kids in America who opened fire upon his own school mates had the common instrument in the form of sophisticated weapons that were used to annihilate the peace and sanctity of man. Assam is no exception to this world phenomenon as it has been trying to come to terms...
It was in the year 1935 that Assamese cinema made its entry into the world of entertainment with its first landmark movie Joymoti by Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala. Assamese cinema continued its journey in a slow-paced sensitive style, especially with the movies of Bhabendra Nath Saikia and Jahnu Baruah.But despite its rich history, and its artistic successes, Assamese cinema has failed to make a lasting impression in the national level. Thouh the beginning of the 21st century saw a new trend emerging in this genre a trend that emphasised on the commercial success of films by toeing the style of Bollywood blockbusters. But the results were short lived as it could’nt stand a chance...
The wheel of fortune in Assam seems to be taking a turn towards better days. After lunching of projects by the government and the world bank’s initiative towards development schemes now other sources are eyeing Assam and testing its waters for further development projects. The recent visit by Tata Consultancy Services CEO and MD S Ramadorai raised hopes of major investments in the IT sector in the state. He inspected two major sites for the proposed setting up of IT hubs—one location near IIT Guwahati measuring 100 acres and the other close to the Software Technology Park of India of about 140 acres.Ramdorai stressed the need for an ideal location for the proposed IT park that...
Its raining jobs! Well soon it is hoped that it will actually when the unemployed of the state will no longer need to go from pillar to post in search of that coveted government job. The launching of the Employment Generation Mission by chief minister Tarun Gogoi is a welcome move at a juncture when the state is flooded with the educated unemployed.The mission aims to generate employment opportunities for 1.87 lakh people at a cost of Rs 669 crore. Mentionably, the mission is based on a study on generation of substantial employment opportunities in Assam by noted economist Dr Jayanta Madhab. The study also suggested the proposed approach for tackling the unemployment problem. Such a move...
“Cleanliness is next to godliness” only if practiced practically instead of just lisping theoretically! Proper sanitation at home can only lead to a cleaner, healthier society but sadly this time tested maxim seems to have fallen on deaf ears of the general public.Contaminated water, poor sanitation have always been the causes of many an epidemic in our society. The recent outbreak of Diarrhea that has plagued the locality of Uzanbazar since the past few days is an instance of both public and government apathy towards this problem. Two patients, including a nine year old boy died and 18 were hospitalised after an outbreak of diarrhea was reported in Padumpukhuri area of...
After the raging havoc unleashed by the fury of floods Assam now runs the risk of drought that is looming large over the farming family due to the alleged anomalies in seed distribution. Man and Nature both are in their elements in Assam whether it is the raging rivers or the ravaging rebels everyone is targeting the Assamese people in the form of floods and ethnic killing sprees. After the floodwaters destroyed the Sali crop in some parts of the state the government resolved to help the farmer-community by distributing direct-seeded rice varieties like Luit and Lachit. This resolution came as a favourable opportunity for the flood hit farmers as these crops can be sown and harvested after...
At stroke of midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation. This landmark event was preceded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's famous speech titled Tryst with destiny.“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.” Our country is celebrating the 60th year of its Independence this 15 August 2007 . Independence from its imperialistic rulers—a sweet fruit of the...
The world is slowly making way for a brigade of young women who remain single by choice. Many such young single women are emerging in our society who have broken the shackles of tradition and asserted their independence. Our society which earlier frowned upon the concept of single woman, terming them old maids and the like, have today gradually but significantly started accepting these free spirited souls who defy the tag of being married and also hate to tag along their better halves as second fiddle. Single mothers, live-in relationships and single working women living a carefree life are no longer a taboo as today many urban women prefer to live alone without being tied up by the bonds...
The popular belief that men are from Mars and Women are from Venus stands corrected.Women are from Venus but today they can easily straddle to Mars as well for there is hardly anything that a man can do which a woman cannot, provided she wills. Everyone has an inherent will to survive against odds, to put a brave front during troubled times which sometimes get faint with the onslaught of time. External factors lead to further loss of faith in oneself and life and then there comes a time when a woman loses all hope and becomes a mere shadow of her earlier self. This is when she falls prey to the scheming monsters of the world that comes in the form of dowry demons, abusive relationships or...
Finally some eyebrows have been raised on the increasing pollution levels in the city. Guwahati ranks high in the pollution charts of the country competing with metros like Delhi and Calcutta. Though the other cities leapt into action in order to reduce the air pollution causing serious danger to the denizens Guwahati is waking up a tad bit later. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Assam Oil Division has taken an initiative to convert petrol-run autorickshaws into LPG system in a phased manner. This, if implemented would prove to be a great step towards improving the damaged caused by the increased level of pollution in Guwahati. The decision by IOC was taken after increased level of carbon...