Nagas of Nagaland (NTC) submits memorandum to PM Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) “representing the Nagas of Nagaland” welcomed Prime Minster Narendra Modi on his maiden visit to Nagaland. NTC said PM’s visit was “most crucial” and at an “appropriate time”, with people looking upon Modi’s decisive leadership for solutions to numerous problems. NTC president, Lendinoktang Ao and general secretary Nribemo Ngullie Sunday submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister for his perusal and prompt response to the “long cherished dreams”. Article 371A of Indian Constitution: The 16th STATE OF NAGALAND was created in 1963 by an Act of Parliament and in the Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1962 Sec. 2(b) w.e.f 1.12.1963, a special provision i.e. Article 371A was inserted. The state of Nagaland has been formed to meet the demand of the Naga tribes that they should have a separate home land and for which the State of Nagaland within the Union of India was created by an agreement between the GOI and the Naga Peoples’ Convention. Therefore, Article 371A is inalienable to the people of Nagaland and cannot be compromised under any circumstances. The NTC observes that policy of inclusiveness need be given paramount importance in the event leading to any settlement. Restoration of Pre-1989 Funding Pattern with stringent financial discipline: As per the 16-Point Memorandum of 1960 submitted by the Naga Peoples’ Convention, Nagaland State was created as the 16th State of India in 1963. The 11th Point in the Memorandum demanded that Nagaland be funded from the Consolidated Fund of India as per 90:10 ratios. That 90% be grant-in-aid and 10% is soft loan in aid of the State’s revenue. Accordingly, the State of Nagaland was funded in the said pattern for 26 years. However, the GOI without any notice or consent of the State discontinued the pattern in 1989. The reversal of the same had negative impact on the financial health of the State. NTC demanded restoration of pre 1989 funding pattern. NTC urged upon GoI to evolve an effective mechanism to supervise and meticulously monitor all developmental activities to ensure judicious utilization of funds (CSS and State funds). Assam-Nagaland Border issue: vis-à-vis demarcation of clear territorial jurisdiction for the State of Nagaland through the process of Article 3 and 4 of Indian Constitution: The Principal interest of the colonial power in India in the 18th and 19th centuries were to seek their own interest, profit, desires and conveniences in the vast and rich land of India without comparable regard for the interests of the colonized land. The Tea Cultivable Areas attracted one on their greatest interests in Northeast and after the seizure of the Ahom Kingdom of Assam by the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, the Colonizers coveted the Naga areas in the plain adjoining the Ahom Kingdom for their Tea cultivation. Unlike in the Ahom Kingdom, the Naga Tribes had no central authority; the land belonged not to any Government but to the Tribe and the Village; Without the consent of the unaltered Villagers, the Colonial Administration illegally constituted the virgin jungles of the Naga Areas along the Assam-Nagaland plain into Tea Gardens and into Reserved Forests which were subsequently Transferred to Assam Districts for their own rather than the convenience of the Owners. This is core issue for which the Nagas for once were united in demanding its return right from the first formal meeting with the Simon Commission in 1929. The Nagas put up a petition to the Simon Commission for return of the Transferred Forests back to the Naga Hills. Then after 18 years, in 1947, June 27 to 29 the Governor of Assam Sir. Akbar Hydari came to Kohima and negotiated a 9-Points Agreement with the Nagas; the Governor, the Secretary to the Governor Mr. Rastumji and the Premier of Assam, Gopinath Bordoloi, appended their signatures to document in their own hand, vowing to abide by all the Terms of Agreement: One of the Terms of the Agreement was the return of the Reserved Forests taken away from Naga Hills. Then in August 1957, in pursuant of the desires of the Naga People’s Convention, the Government of India amalgamated the Tuengsang-Mon Area inhabited by Nagas of the then North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA) to Naga Hills and formed a separate Administration Unit called Naga Hills-Tuengsang Area (NHTA) but the transferred integral Lands of the Nagas were not included in the NHTA. The Nagas were greatly dissatisfied and demanded the creation of a full fledged NAGALAND STATE with all their ancestral Lands taken away from them be included. When the negotiations were being carried on in Delhi with Nehru, the 1st Prime Minister of India, all of a sudden Mr. AZ Phizo, the Leader of the Nagas demanding Sovereign Independent State of Nagaland, appeared in London on June 12, 1960 ostensibly on way to United Nations to submit the Naga Case; the News splashed in the papers in London and all the News Papers and Medias in India in the morning. To prevent Phizo’s Naga Independence Demand, in 1960, Nehru quickly concluded the negotiations with the Naga People’s Convention with a 16-Point Agreement between the Government of India and the Delegates of the Naga People’s Convention. In the haste of creation of the 16th STATE OF NAGALAND with Special Provision of Article 371A of the Indian Constitution for Nagaland, the simple Naga Delegates were informed that the Boundary questions would be normally dealt in the processes laid down in the Constitution of India but the Transferred Areas were never returned to Nagaland. Point 12 and 13 of the 16-Point Agreement, 1960 were agreed upon appreciating the position that it would be essential to restore to the Nagas the areas transferred to the plain districts of Assam by the Britishers for their administrative convenience and the neighboring Naga inhabited areas to join the proposed State of Nagaland. The Naga delegation was prevailed upon to accept the State on the consideration that only after Nagaland became a State, they could take recourse to the provisions of Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution for the restoration of the areas transferred out of Naga territory and allow the Naga inhabited areas to form the new State. It may be mentioned that after coming into force of the Constitution of India, the boundaries between different States should in fact be altered by increasing and or decreasing the areas of respective State by different enactments made by the Parliament to removed their grievances of Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution in accordance with Point 12 and 13 of the ‘16 Point Agreement’. It was on the basis of the final agreement arrived at in July 1960, late Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, on 1st August 1960 announced in the Parliament, the Government of India’s decision to establish ‘Nagaland’ a state of India comprising the territory of the then existing Naga Hill Tuensang Area. After accepting Statehood, the Naga people had hoped that the Government of India, according to their assurance given to the delegation, would take immediate action to re-adjust the boundaries between the two States of Assam and Nagaland by returning all the reserved forest and other areas transferred out of the then Naga Hills to Assam. For more than half a century, Naga people have been still waiting without any solution to the problem in sight. The people have become restive and emotionally charged with doubt that the fate of ‘16 Point Agreement’, the very basis of Nagaland Statehood would also meet the same fate as that of the ‘9 Point Agreement’ of 1947. Unfortunately things never emerged as expected in spite of verbal promise from Jawaharlal Nehru who unfortunately passed away prematurely in 1964 and the Nagas today over the 51 years later, feel deceived by the words of the Articles in the Constitution of India. The State of Nagaland has no Physical Map with clear demarcations on the ground till today accepting the imaginary line shown as Nagaland Map in the Surveyor General Map of India. Separate High Court for Nagaland State: Taking note of 16-Point Memorandum, whereby it was committed for a separate High Court for Nagaland and the Article 214 of the Constitution of India, which allows every state to have its own High Court, NTC said Nagaland being one of the “senior-most states” needed to have a High Court of its own. It said that when other NE states could have their own High Court, why not Nagaland?, being one of the oldest state. “Having its own high court would solve a great deal of problems it has been facing over the years while it would also help the subordinate courts to function better”, NTC stated. In view of the above predicament and situational realities, NTC impressed upon Prime Minister to sympathetically and decisively respond to the aspirations of the citizens of the State and restore the good health of the State to come at par with other States for Integrity and Prosperity of India.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:25:00 +0000
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