Guwahati, April 1 — Questions are mounting over whether indigenous people of Assam will receive the constitutional protection envisaged under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, as the issue has been largely absent from election rallies. While ruling party leaders speak about curbing foreign infiltration, they have not addressed the specific guarantee of constitutional safeguards for the State’s indigenous communities.
In 2019–20 the Government of India set up a committee led by Justice Biplab Sharma (Retd) to recommend measures to secure constitutional protection for Assam’s indigenous people; the panel submitted its report in February 2020. According to the committee’s findings, several major steps — including changes requiring Central action — were proposed, but the Centre has yet to implement them despite public assurances from the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister at the time that the recommendations would be acted on immediately.
The Assam state government has carried out measures that fall within its remit, but the committee’s principal recommendations need Central approval. Chief among these is the protection of political rights: the panel proposed reserving between 80 and 100 percent of seats in the State Assembly, Parliament and local bodies for indigenous people — a move that would require a constitutional amendment and therefore must be taken up by the Central government.
Other key recommendations include the creation of an Upper House for Assam with reserved seats for indigenous communities, and reserving 80 percent of Group C and D posts in Central, semi-central and public sector units for the State’s indigenous population. The committee also urged that Assam be brought under the inner line permit (ILP) system — a regulatory regime that requires non-residents to obtain permission to enter and stay in the State — a decision that rests with the Centre.
The report notes that bringing Assam under the ILP would remove the State from the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. With the core proposals awaiting Central action and little public debate on Clause 6 during the current campaign season, indigenous groups and voters are left uncertain about when, or if, the committee’s far-reaching recommendations will be implemented.
Original Source: https://assamtribune.com/indigenous-safeguards-under-clause-6-ignored-in-assam-poll-rhetoric
Category: Assam,Featured
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Publish Date: 2026-04-01 08:49:00
