SHILLONG, May 7 — The North East Study Group (NESG) has identified militancy as a symptom and not the disease affecting the North Eastern region. “The disease is alienation from which the region is suffering”, it has observed. The Study Group headed by veteran administrator S K Agnihotri was constituted in 2001 by the Union Home Ministry to go into the problems of the region and suggest remedies thereto.
For the last fifty years, the North East has been deprived of attention and development by the Union government. “This has happened because the region is not on the radar of Delhi, J&K is”, said K Saigal, member of the Group, which was on a visit here, yesterday. The team, which included Lt Gen S K Pillai (retired), felt that the sense of alienation of the North East has been accentuated by the British colonial rule.
They were critical of the Centre’s policy of tackling the militancy problem of the North East by applying force. “Instead of using guns to quell the rebellion, we need to resort to the civilised way of talks and discussion,” Saigal asserted. The three members were unanimous in their view that the Army should be gradually withdrawn from fighting militancy and the task handled by the civil police. All the draconian laws like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the Disturbed Areas Act should also be repealed, they said.
Under the enlarged terms of reference of the Study Group, it is to develop a long-range vision for the North East as to integrate the region with the rest of the country. On the basis of the vision, to develop a pro-active strategy for the North East and to suggest measures for regressing militancy and establishing effective governance.
The NESG has also been mandated to study the tribal problem in the North East in the context of militancy and role of foreign hand in the provocation/promotion of inter-tribal and tribal non-tribal clashes in the region.
Saigal, a former IAS, observed “the colonial pattern of economy is continuing in the North East. Barely 300-400 families in the region have gained from development plans leaving nothing for the people.” The present form subsidies which benefit only the industrialists and corrupt officers and ministers need to be stopped and replaced by subsidising people’s schemes, he pointed out.