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

SMILE Festival Concludes

26 Apr 2009 - 11:48am | bibharani
The three day SMILE film festival concluded in with some new steps to taken forward in the future. The audience and Ex- SMILErs formed ‘Smile Movie Club’ which will be screening...

Lokpeng Primary School celebrates Silver Jubilee

8 Jan 2016 - 8:20pm | HK Roy
Lokpeng Primary School, Siang district celebrated Silver Jubilee yesterday on Jan-7 with pomp and show. Education Minister Tapang Taloh gracing the occasion as Chief Guest congratulated the school...

Witch hunting rerun in Kokrajhar

25 Jul 2017 - 8:47am | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
After a brief gap, yet another witch hunting incident has triggered shock and anger in Koktajhar where a section of local residents in a remote hamlet assaulted a person who is now undergoing...

Snakebite blots on healthcare in Udalguri district

30 Jun 2017 - 9:53pm | Robertson Tanti
The poor medical facilities in tea estates of Assam have come into focus once again after a tea worker died due to lack of treatment after being bitten by a snake on Thursday. Twenty Eight year old...

Other Contents by Author

Cine star Sanjay Dutt popularly known as Munna bhai was sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment for the 1993 serial blasts case by a special court in Mumbai on July 31. The curtains came down on the 13 year long trial with a sobbing Sanju baba pleading for leniency but Judge PD Kode of the TADA court cancelled Dutt’s bail plea citing that his acts were “eminently dangerous” and showed a “high element of criminality”. It is said that Justice delayed is Justice denied and justice was definitely denied to Sanjay Dutt which came a calling thirteen years after his alleged crime of illegally possessing an AK-56. No doubt that possession of Arms is illegal...
The war of words rising out of the illegal migrants issue between the AASU and the AMSU is heating up by the day and the chances are that this development may push the real issue behind and turn into a political war of words. These organizations should take concrete steps by motivating the people and making them realize the consequences of the exodus of people into our territories from Bangladesh. They should leave aside the religious issues for this is not a religious battle as the Assamese people are a secular lot. This is evident in the peaceful coexistence of all religions here since decades but the continuous influx of Bangladeshis irrespective of their religious bent is causing great...
It’s happening again! With the persistent fury of the rain gods many parts of Assam is reeling under flood waters for the umpteenth time. Year in and year out we witness the damage and destruction that the flash floods and monsoon rains bestow upon us and we can do little but watch in helpless horror. The relentless downpour in the hills as well as the plains of neighboring Arunachal Pradesh has made the Brahmaputra and its tributaries flow above the danger mark putting many at risk. Meanwhile the continuing rain in Bhutan has caused massive erosion on the western banks of the Aie river right from Daosri to Dhaligaon in the North of NH-31©. Frequent breaches in the embankment...
Assam is a cauldron of violence at present . No amount of talks, prayers, or security measures is going to take away this epithet from Assam. Rebel groups were, are and will always continue the dance of death in our mother land whether we like it or not. The wellbeing of the subjects of Assam are of no concern to any extremist group as all of them are busy in achieving individual aims at the cost of the people and making them pawns in their dirty politics. After all the goal of every group is to procure the ruling chair and when one group comes overground when their aims are achieved a new dissident group will take their place. Bomb blasts have become a daily affair in our lives if not...
The recent spurt in crime and violence in the state is a danger signal and needs to be curbed with immediate effect. There is an alarming rate of dacoities where single elderly people have been targeted resulting in their death in many cases. Kidnappings are on the rise with murdered FCI official P C Ram, Cement Corporation of India’s mining engineer KN Jha who died of cardiac arrest while in captivity and junior engineer with PWD Ajay Deka being the newest victims. The statistics of abductions in the state in the year 2006 are staggering where a total of 303 adult males and 460 adult females were abducted of which 274 males and 384 females were recovered. Moreover there were a...
The use of Muga and eri silk is quite closely associated with the culture of Assamese society and occupies a unique place in the socio economic life of the people of Assam. It is not possible to ascertain correctly the exact nature of how weaving was first introduced in Assam but in the olden days every Assamese house reverberated with the shuttles of looms and each and every women of Assam knew the art of weaving. Men folk in those days only wore those clothes which were woven by their mothers, wives or sisters. This may be attributed to the patriotic bent of the people of Assam in olden days and also deliberate measure by the government at that time for it was obligatory on the part of...
Racism is a belief or doctrine that differences in physical appearance between people (such as those upon which the concept of race is based) determine cultural or individual achievement, and usually involves the idea that one's own 'race' is superior. Indians the world over have experienced racism in various forms sometimes or the other. The East India company during its hold over India had rampantly practiced racial discrimination and looked upon indians with suspicion and hatred. If we delve into thepages of History it appears that as an ideology, racism first appeared during early modern Europe in Spain during the Reconquista, and then during the 19th century, where “...
India’s Northeast is a rainbow land blessed by nature’s bounty. Its colourful, it’s mysterious and it boasts of a medley of diverse people. The northeast is an ethno cultural frontier, encompassing much of India’s rich but lesser known mongoloid heritage; a transition zone of linguistic, racial and religious strains. The states of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are the seven states that constitute the northeast. They are also known as the seven sisters. All these states were parts of a single mother state—Assam. The hill tribes of the northeast are different from their counterparts in other states. They form...
The timeless beauty of the Taj Mahal- the symbol of love has defied the vagaries of time. This 17th century marble mausoleum built by emperor, Shah Jehan in memory of his beloved queen Mumtaj Mahal is the epitome of Mughal architecture and also pride of every Indian. The Taj tells the story of love grief and immortality that is carved in ancient art. And therefore it is s no surprise that the Taj was included into the new list of Seven Wonders of the World. The announcements were made in a packed Benfica Stadium in Lisbon where the Taj was declared as one of the seven wonders. In a colourful ceremony in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to coincide with the date 07.07.07, Bollywood star...
In an age when we are trumpetting the cause of woman emancipation, holding forth the cause of the girl child, talking about eqality of gender, the ugly blot of dowry deaths annihilate all the tall claims of suh high profile issues. Apparently these find primacy only in rhetoric rather than in reality. Bride burning , atrocities on women etc were maladies that had afflicted other parts of the country especially the northern parts iof India but slowly these have penetrated into the Assamese society as well. Earlier Assam was the only state which was untouched by the dreaded disease of dowry but today it has raised its ugly head even in our own society. A survey recently exposed that a few...