Home Ministry committee suggests ILP in Assam

Union Home Ministry appointed committee has suggested that 1951 should be the cut-off year for defining the indigenous people of Assam and the introduction of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to control the movement of people from outside the state.

New Delhi: A high-level committee appointed by Home Ministry has suggested introduction of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Assam.

The 14 member committee on Clause 6 of Assam Accord has also suggested that 1951 should be cut off year for defining the indigenous people of the state.

Officials in the Home Ministry told ETV Bharat on Monday that the committee which was set up to look into the issues for implementing Clause 6 has completed its report last week.

"The committee has suggested introducing ILP in Assam and at the same time it has also suggested that 1951 should be cut off for defining the indigenous people of Assam," officials said.

Interestingly, in the final updated National Register of Citizen (NRC) that was published last year in Assam, 1971 was set as cut off year for identifying Indian citizens living in Assam.

The committee unanimously recommended that those who are residents of Assam in 1951 and their descendants irrespective of community, caste, creed and religion will be considered as indigenous people of the state.

"It has also suggested that ILP should be introduced in Assam so that movement of people from outside the state could be controlled," officials said.

Notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, as many as four states in North East including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur comes under the ambit of ILP.

People from other states who want to visit these ILP areas, need to take prior permission from the concerned authority before their visit.

The home ministry official who is privy to the report said that the committee has also suggested two options for the reservation of seats for the indigenous people in the Assam Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies including 67 per cent reservation for them.

The 14 member-high-level committee headed by Justice (retired) Biplab Kumar Sarma was appointed last year to look into the issues for the implementation of Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord.

Clause 6 envisages constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguard to protect preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

Although the committee has completed its report, they are now waiting to formally handover the findings and suggestions compiled in the report to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Ever since Assam Accord was signed in 1985 by the then central government, Assam Government as well as All Assam Students Union (AASU)

The Accord was signed to end years-long anti-foreigners movement in Assam.