POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE CONFLICTS ALONG THE ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH FOOTHILL BORDER

North East Resources Study Series 1:1-2015-16 Foreword POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE CONFLICTS ALONG ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH FOOTHILL BORDER: A STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE BEHALI FOOTHILL OF ASSAM In the past decades, and more specifically in the last two, there has emerged a strong public concern regarding the dominant neoliberal economic path. Among numerous contestations, one key arena is that of the privatisation of public goods and the commons, and the consequences on societies and the environment. Even as the juggernaut of privatisation tramples on, there is visible resistance to be seen by peoples’ formations against the private appropriation of natural resources and the loss of the commons. Resistance has manifested in diverse forms. There are movements of poor peasants and landless people struggling to gain greater access and control over land and seed. Pastoral and forest-dependent communities defend their grazing lands and access to forest commons. Traditional fisher folk communities strive to defend the common access to the sea. Author: Chandan Kumar Sharma Publication date: February, 2017 © ActionAid India This report is a part of the ActionAid India’s project entitled “Conflict Mitigation through creation of a regional hub for natural resources in Northeast India”. The project is supported by the European Union and co-funded by Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI). The views and opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and compilers and do not necessarily represent the views of ActionAid India. Publication date: February, 2017 ©ActionAid India Published by: ActionAid India, Guwahati Regional Ofice, 2B, Mandovi Apartments, Opposite Rabindra Bhawan, GNB Road, Ambari, Guwahati, Assam, Pin: 781001 The materials in this publication may be reproduced in any form for education or non-profit uses, provided ActionAid India is duly acknowledged. However, the reproduction of the whole book should not occur without consent of ActionAid India. Designed and Printed at www.faircrow.in There are movements for commons across the globe, including peoples’ initiatives on reclaiming water commons in Latin America and Europe. Movements for water commons are emergent in our own country, the most recent being the reclamation of lakes in Bengaluru. The issues involved range from community housing and mutual home ownership in Indonesia, community land trusts in Great Britain and urban gardening in big cities all over the world. The introduction of community currencies in diferent parts of the world is also an example of reclaiming the market as commons. There has been recognition for installing in policy and law, protections against privatisation of what is considered a common good. Panchayati Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) and the 6th Schedule of the Indian Constitution, for example ofer such protection to tribal communities in India. While there are several alternatives that emerging for public policy, there is a need for public policy making in a welfare state to respond to the needs of vulnerable communities more pro-actively in the current context. The developing discourse on commons that reflect the popular aspirations of vulnerable communities is perhaps best articulated in the “Reclaim the Commons” declaration at the World Social Forum in Belém 2010, which proclaimed that “... a new vision of society is arising - one that honours human rights, democratic participation, inclusion and cooperation. People are discovering that alternatives and commons-based approaches ofer practical solutions for protecting water and rivers, agricultural soils, seeds, knowledge, sciences, forest, oceans, wind, money, communication and online collaborations, culture, music and other arts, open technologies, free sotware, public services of education, health or sanitization, biodiversity and the wisdom of traditional knowledge.“ The northeastern region of India is currently at a sensitive stage, encountering very significant challenges, as it undergoes very rapid transitions at many levels. The thrust for a growth-oriented economy through increased investment in infrastructure especially in transport, communication and power, marked by the manifold increase in the exploitation of natural resources, is creating uncertainties and giving rise to a new era of tensions. There is therefore urgency, for all stakeholders to engage on these issues and navigate paths to amicable solutions, that will protect and benefit the afected communities and ensure that environment in one of the bio-diversity hot spots of the country is conserved for the future generations. This series of studies and notes on the status of natural resources, written by a set of prominent researchers on the subject, is an attempt to bring to the fore the issues and challenges confronting academics, policy makers, grassroots communities, the media and the general public in the Northeast today. We hope they can contribute to a balanced strategic debate and the emergence of progressive policies and practices in the ongoing search for alternative, even if they appear dificult as of now. We are grateful to the authors for taking time out from their various responsibilities to contribute to this series. We would also take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of the various teams of community-based workers, who informed and supported the researches and whose presence gives courage and voice to their communities. We share this publication as a contribution to an on going conversation. I welcome readers to share their thoughts with us so we can learn from each other. In solidarity Sandeep Chachra Executive Director, ActionAid India I II Acknowledgementnt: I am grateful to ActionAid for providing the financial support for writing this report. I must place on record the contributions of Dr. Prarthana Barua and Mr. Hana Padi, the two Research Associates of this project, in collecting the field level data. My sincere thanks are also due to Lakhi Kurmi and Haren Kayastha for their help during filed visits. Chandan Kumar Sharma III IV Acronyms CONTENT Page No Page-1 Page-4 Page-11 Page-32 Acronyms Glossary 1. Introduction AREA OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY PERIOD OF THE STUDY METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION 2. Historical Background HILLS–PLAINS RELATIONSHIP DURING THE PRECOLONIAL (AHOM) PERIOD THE IMPACT OF COLONIAL POLICIES ON THE FOOTHILLS COLONIAL TEA PLANTATIONS AND THE FOOTHILLS THE POSTCOLONIAL STALEMATE 3. Conflicts in the Behali Foothills along the Assam–Arunachal Pradesh Border THE BEHALI FOOTHILLS: VILLAGES AND DEMOGRAPHY GENEALOGY OF THE CONFLICT NAHARJAN: A VILLAGE IN THE FOOTHILL BORDER NARRATIVE FROM LOWER TARASSO 4. Conclusion References V AAPS AAPSU AASU MLA NDFB NEFA NH NSCN NSF PHC SC Arunachali Agrason Pratirodh Samiti All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union All Assam Students’ Union Member of the Legislative Assembly National Democratic Front of Bodoland North East Frontier Agency National Highway National Socialist Council of Nagaland Naga Students’ Federation Primary Health Centre Supreme Court Glossary begari a system of labour management used by the forest department under which the forest villagers were required to render manual service for various works of the department bigha a traditional term of measurement of land area in several states of India. Its size varies from state to state. In Assam, 1 bigha = 1/3 acre (approx.) duar gateway or pass gaon bura village headman garh an Ahom system of fortification haat village market khat landed estate posa a payment ofered by the foothill dwellers of the Ahom state to the hill tribes to stave of raids by the latter satra neo-Vaishnavite monastery of Assam VI 1 INTRODUCTION With the division of colonial Assam into diferent states, resulting in discord among them. It may states, the problem of inter-state boundary be noted that the Biswanath district was created disputes emerged as one of the most persistent in August 2015 with the two subdivisions namely, issues in the northeast. The geographical locations Biswanath and Gohpur, of the erstwhile Sonitpur of the foothills have made them natural epicentre district. of such disputes. More importantly, the changing This report presents a detailed account of the with the emerging resource use patterns among Behali foothills, its demography, the resource geographical levels with the people of the plains as communities living there have turned foothill use pattern of the communities and its changing landscapes play in determining the well as the hills and contributed to the borders into a seriously contested space in recent dimensions, and the nature of the conflict in this socio-economic and political processes integration of the economy between times. Although the conflicts between individual foothill border area. Although the Behali Reserve of diferent societies is well known. This the two. Traditionally, the hill tribes states have their own specific character, there Forest area is the main focus of the study, the role could be both positive (or facilitating) bartered raw cotton, rock salt, iron, are many generalities that inform these disputes. study also engages with the issues and concerns of and negative (or constraining). However, spices, oranges, etc. in exchange for Overall, the conflict in the foothill borders today the dwellers of the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh the facilitating and constraining attributes rice, dried fish, silk, etc. from the plains. has become a complex problem which needs to be to obtain a holistic view of the issue. of landscapes are also contingent on The foothills also constituted strategic addressed urgently. However, it is not a problem the nature of human intervention. This passages for the communities engaged that can be solved merely by drawing a legally study explicates this in the context of the in trade and commerce beyond their demarcated boundary. It is a human problem management of the foothill regions along own habitats. and needs to be resolved accordingly. Further, the T he vital role that problem is embedded in the emerging political the borders of the northeast Indian states During precolonial times, the foothills economy in the foothill border areas, the dynamics as fluid boundaries served as critical of which have to be adequately understood. An in- The foothills, as natural borders between sites interaction depth study of the conflict at the grassroots level the plains and the hills, occupy a crucial under the aegis of the medieval is needed to unravel the various narratives and position and state formations in the Assam valley. nuances concerning it which are oten lost in the economic landscape of northeast India. However, the colonial regime stifled larger, generalizing narratives of the state and They are of special significance for the this system of interaction by turning media. Assam valley which can be conceptualized the foothills into hard boundaries as a network of hills, foothills and valley. and an instrument for controlling the Most of Assam’s border areas with the hills. Such a measure understandably neighbouring states are constituted by created deep asymmetries between foothills. The people inhabiting the foothills the existing social landscape and have enjoyed the critical status of an the emerging politico-administrative intermediary group in the political as well arrangement. as socio-economic interactions between arrangement was further pursued and the inhabitants of the hills and the plains. reinforced by the postcolonial Indian They have established linkages at many state. of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. 1 demographic landscape of the foothills coupled in the socio-political of hills–plains This colonial AREA OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVES The main objectives of the study include the following: 1. To understand the historical background of the conflict of the foothill borders in general and that of the Assam– Arunachal Pradesh border in particular. 2. To understand the traditional resource use in the area and its changing patterns in contemporary times. 3. To map the historical and the changing demographic landscape of the area and the contestations among communities arising therefrom. This study is focused on the Behali area of Assam which has witnessed recurrent violence in its foothill border areas with Arunachal Pradesh in recent years. The Behali Reserve Forest along the foothills of the Assam–Arunachal border, under the Biswanath subdivision of the Biswanath district of northern Assam, has come under serious encroachment by communities from both the 4. To gather the views of the grassroots communities and civil society representatives from both sides of the border on the conflicts and to examine whether there are meeting points between them. 5. To examine possible routes of solution to the problem. 2 PERIOD OF THE STUDY the area under study and by using the techniques of observation, interviews and focus group The study was conducted for eight months from February 2015 to August 2015. METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION discussions. Interviews of various stakeholders of the conflict from both sides of the border were conducted. These include the forest dwellers, civil society representatives, and the forest oficials, etc. The study is ethnographic in nature, and uses Secondary data has been collected from books, both primary and secondary data. Primary data newspaper reports, government records, etc. has been collected by conducting field study in 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND down with mule-loads of rock-salt, gold- HILLS–PLAINS RELATIONSHIP DURING THE PRECOLONIAL (AHOM) PERIOD dust, musk, woollens, yak-tails, Chinese silk etc. and carried up diferent kinds of cloth, raw-silk and thread, rice, dried fish and the like. The Mishmis, who served as During the period of the medieval Ahom kingdom (1228–1826),1 the middlemen with the Kachins on the Assam’s links one hand and the Chinese on the other, with the tribes of present-day Arunachal bartered salt, woollens, ivory, copper, Pradesh (erstwhile North East Frontier gold, amber, honey and mishmi-teeta Agency – NEFA) bordering the plains (copus-teeta).2 was limited to the Apatanis, the Abors (now called Adis), Daflas (now called Nyishis) and the hill Miris, with whom there were commercial exchanges in the weekly haats (village markets). It was contact with the plains of Assam that engendered the development of Nefamese (aka Arunachalese) as a lingua franca. As historian H.K. Barpujari writes: Barpujari also mentions the various fairs that flourished at the foothills as they became centres of trade between the hills and the plains. This was especially true of Bhutan, which had strong trade relations with areas ranging from central to western Assam from time immemorial. The Bhutanese maintained their links with the plains of Assam through the (T)here had been regular trafic between the people of the plains and the hills. The hillmen had to depend by and large on the neighbouring plainsmen for their requirement of foodstuf and other necessaries. Every winter through the duars or the passes, the Bhutias Bijni, Sidli, Ripu and Goma duars (literally, gateways or passes) leading to Goalpara and the Daranga pass to Kamrup. The bulk of the trade was carried on in the three fairs – Udalguri, Ghagrapara, and Daimara – adjacent to Bhutan, and later Daranga and Subankhata in the district of Kamrup. and their neighbours in the east came 1 The Ahom kings ruled over a considerable part of the Brahmaputra Valley (although the area under their control kept oscillating) from early 13th century to early 19th century. 3 2 H.K. Barpujari, 1993, p. 113. 4 Similarly, trade with Tibet across Bhutan and between the Daflas and the plains people. Further, tribes inhabiting the hills south of Sivasagar and the foothill regions. It relegated these processes Tawang was carried on by the Khampas through the latter also faced raids and forceful collection of Lakhimpur districts, from the river Dikhow to the and the role of foothill tribes to the periphery in the passes of Dhansiri and Udalguri,3 as well as tax by the Daflas. The Ahom administration found river Burhi-Dihing. The Ahom rulers gave them the imagination of the plains people. Ever since, the Kariapar duar. Commerce with Tibet in the it extremely dificult to protect its subjects from revenue-free lands and fishing rights in the foothill the image of the foothill tribes has become that of first decade of the 19th century amounted to as such conflicts in the remote foothills where it had areas which were known as Naga khats. The Nagas a dispensable, remote people for the mainstream much as around Rs 2 lakh per year.4 but a symbolic presence.6 settled in the khats, which were otherwise part of population and policymakers alike. the Ahom territory, and undertook cultivation of An important major harmonizing factor in The (1603–41) various products, including rice (since the hills did The colonialists needed Assam mainly for its the foothills was Assamese neo-Vaishnavism, constructed the Dafla garh in the Gohpur not have enough land for such cultivation). The tea and later petroleum and treated much of propagated by the 15th–16th century social subdivision of the Biswanath district in an Nagas in turn paid tribute in the form of elephant the region as a bufer zone against Burma and reformer Sankardev and his disciple Madhabdev, attempt to secure the safety of its foothill regions. tusks, spears, clothes and cotton to the Ahom China. To ensure indirect control over the region with its liberal religious ideology. It brought many However, in order to maintain enduring peace kings. The foothill regions also witnessed barter they modified and co-opted the existing control tribal groups in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in the foothills, Pratap Singha formally granted trade between the Naga tribes and the Assamese mechanisms including the Ahom posa system.8 and in its foothill areas under its ambit through a a posa (see glossary) right to the Daflas and a in the weekly haats. The growth of Nagamese as a In 1852 itself, they coerced the Nyishis into process of proselytization undertaken by its wide few more hill tribes. In fact, the posa, which was language is evidence of their close interactions.7 In surrendering their right of collecting posa in lieu network of satras. The foothill tribes which came hitherto collected ‘illegally’ by the hill tribes, was short, the khat system represented a mechanism of a fixed payment. Although this was apparently under the sway, to a lesser or greater degree, of regularized by the condition that they should show that allowed the critical foothills to be used by done with a view to securing peace and stability in neo-Vaishnavism include mainly those living along allegiance and pay tribute to the king. The Ahom both the hills and the valley. the foothill regions, in fact it brought the foothill the foothill areas of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, kingdom thus created boundaries throughout the such as the Noktes, the Daflas, the Misings, the foothill regions which were vastly diferent from Akas (now called the Hrussos), the Singphos, etc. modern boundaries. The garhs formed defences Ahom king Pratap Singha against raids, but their most important feature During the Ahom period the main concern of the was the bufer zone. Unlike hard boundaries that rulers, so far as the frontier tribes were concerned, are carefully delineated, the bufer zones were sot was to contain them within their hills and forests as boundaries; parties across such boundaries had they disturbed peace in the foothills. Ahom strategy shared rights and obligations. It was in the interest with the tribal neighbours was marked by a policy of the Ahom kingdom to maintain peace in these of accommodation and diplomacy. Force was used regions, but with the posa, the Daflas too became only when considered absolutely necessary.5 The stakeholders in this peace. Ahom policy of conciliation is best exemplified by its relations with the Daflas. The latter came down Similarly, the Ahom rulers followed a policy of to the foothills with their hill products once or accommodation with the diferent Naga tribes twice a year to exchange wares or collect essential bordering the upper Assam plains, which had items from the plains dwellers. Such contacts accepted (occasional problems notwithstanding) sometimes turned hostile, leading to clashes the suzerainty of the Ahom state. Ahom relations 3 Ibid., p. 114. with the Nagas were mainly confined to the 4 Bhuyan, 1949, p. 35. 5 Sharma, 2012, p. 216. 5 regions under colonial control by limiting the THE IMPACT OF COLONIAL POLICIES ON THE FOOTHILLS The advent of British colonialism in Assam in the 1820s led to a large-scale transformation of the conventional political and economic systems of the entire northeastern region. The immediate objective of the colonial power was to establish efective control over the Assam valley and then extend its control to the surrounding hills. This resulted in the political reorganization of the region with the Assam valley as its core. The new political unit that came to be known as Assam incorporated the neighbouring hills with new concepts of boundary and territoriality dismantling their traditional meanings. The colonial policies had a disjunctive efect on the traditional hills–plains relationship and the socio-economic dynamics of 7 6 Ibid. 8 Misra, 2004, p. 50. Fernandes, 1999, pp. 3579–82. traditional area of movement of the hill tribes and making them dependent on the British. Not stopping at this, the colonial regime introduced a series of restrictive regulations on the hills– plains relationship. Measures like the Excluded Areas Act, the Partially Excluded Areas Act and Inner Line Regulations, although ostensibly aimed at protecting the hill areas from the plainsmen, virtually put an end to the interaction between the people of the Brahmaputra valley and the neighbouring hill tribes. Although the Inner Line system was introduced in 1873 apparently to restrict the political jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioners of the border districts, in efect, its main impact was to limit the movement of the plains people into the hills. In 1875, beyond the Inner Line, the Outer Line was demarcated as far 9 S.K. Barpujari, 1992, p. 244. 6 as the river Burai, which was the external territorial of tea and one witness tea plantations in these limit of the frontier.9 It should be mentioned regions throughout Assam. The process of influence’ over the Angami Nagas in the 1870s.13 The aggressive land-grabbing ventures of the that prior to this, the various hill tribes violently transformation of the ‘jungles’ and ‘forests’ to (tea) British planters received full support, explicit or revolted against the attempt of the British to ‘gardens’, however, hardly entailed the interests of implicit, of the colonial regime. Such exercises The foothill regions experienced another level control their traditional economic and political people living in those areas. Most of these areas were undertaken in the case of land of other of demographic change even prior to the spaces. The Nyishis, for example, resented the were village commons or community forests or foothill tribes too, if necessary. In the process, independence of India in 1947. Many tribal people, attempt of the colonial regime to settle sections common hunting grounds. The tea plantations considerable expanses of the foothill region, which mainly the Bodo-Kacharis, migrated to the foothill of their tribe in the foothill regions. In their bid coming up in large acreages not only usurped constituted the economic and socio-cultural areas because large-scale settlement of immigrant to control hill tribes, the colonial administration traditional community land; by doing so they landscape of the foothill tribes, were encroached Muslim peasantry from erstwhile East Bengal since sometimes also resorted to the closure of the duars also caused a rupture of the traditional social and as a pressure tactic. They employed this method, economic life of the Assamese peasant society. for example, against the rebellious Akas in 1860. By creating enclosures in large areas which put Another method used to control the recalcitrant strict restrictions on the entry of outsiders, the hill tribes was stopping the payment of posa. This plantations also severely disrupted traditional tactic was used against the Abors (now called the inter-village communication in upper Assam. Adis) in 1893. This compelled villagers to take long detours (of several miles) around plantations to reach The duo of Inner Line and Outer Line thus placed their destination (this might be the next village). limits not only on the movement of the plains Besides, this land grabbing oten gobbled up people to the hills but also on that of the hill weekly marketplaces, which constituted crucial tribes towards the plains. In 1887, for example, the sites of not only economic interaction but also Deputy Commissioner of Lakhimpur district was 11 social networking. directed to prevent any settlement of immigrant hillmen within a strip of 5 miles beyond the Inner Line, and to strictly enforce, especially in the case of the Nyishis, prohibition against the crossing of the Line without a pass and the removal of the existing settlers to the east of the Subansiri or to a safe distance from the hills.10 COLONIAL TEA PLANTATIONS AND THE FOOTHILLS One of the major disjunctive factors for the traditional landscape in the region was the introduction of the tea plantation economy. The foothills ofered ideal locations for the growth 10 H.K. Barpujari, 1992, p. 245. The manner in which the tea plantations have redefined social (besides economic) space in the valley is too well known to discuss in detail here. But there has been little discourse about the impact of the tea industry on the foothill regions. It may be mentioned that the rapid expansion of tea plantations in the foothill areas of the erstwhile Sivasagar district12 was a main reason for the British attempt at securing efective ‘control and 11 Historian Amalendu Guha notes, ‘The planters had already enclosed by 1901 some one-fourth of the total settled area (or five percent of total area) of Assam Proper, under their exclusive proprietory rights…Acreage under tea formed only eight to ten percent of the occupied tea area in the early seventies (i.e., 1870s) and some twenty nine percent even as late as 1947. Why did the tea gardens enclose excess lands or why did the government allow them to do so? Such a policy…obviously aimed at forcing the local farmers into acceptance of plantation employment’ (1991, p. 191). 12 The then Sivasagar district consisted of the present day districts of Sivasagar, Jorhat and Golaghat. 7 upon by the plantations. This seriously stifled the historical function of the foothill areas as the customary site of socio-economic exchanges between the valley and the neighbouring hills. Understandably, the plantations also brought about considerable demographic changes in the foothill regions. The indentured labourers of the plantations brought from outside the state eventually settled around plantations as peasants ater their contract periods were over. These dramatic changes inevitably created conditions for conflict of interest in future among various stakeholders over the local resources. reports are also sated with ‘cases of conflict of interests between the tea planters and particularly the hill tribes in the districts of (Daflas), Lakhimpur (Abors) and Sivasagar (eastern Naga groups) in upper Brahmaputra valley. The bone of contention was how to accept land as a medium of relation between the hill and the plain. The plantation management tried to speak the language of 13 acceptable to the tribes. the early 20th century led to considerable loss of their traditional land. The British administration encouraged this immigration of peasants, hoping to collect more land revenue by settling them in the fallow and wasteland areas of the Brahmaputra valley.15 This migration was accompanied by a surge of immigrants from Nepal who settled mainly in the remote foothills and forest areas of Assam, leading to further displacement of the indigenous tribal people. While the Ahom state did not make any serious attempt at controlling the hills and foothills – which for them mainly remained a space for facilitating sustained peaceful interrelation between the The contemporary British military and political Darrang land as commodity.’14 Naturally, that was not hills and the plains – for the colonial power, like the valleys, the hills too had to be controlled and converted into a single political unit. Various British military and political reports made indirect references to the connected histories of tea plantations and the British northeastern frontier. For instance, Governor Reid’s report 16 amply proves how plantations, by usurping the foothills, sought to make the hills dependent upon the valley.17 Similar to the Ahom state, the colonial government did not generally attempt to directly Barpujari, 1992, p. 225. 16 14 Baruah, 2007, p. 7. 17 15 Sharma, 2001. Reid, 1942/2013. The present conflict around the borders of Assam with Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh can also be traced to this colonial policy. 8 administer the hills. But they conceptualized the some reason over the years, without any proper relation between the hills and the valley very markers, the boundaries became disputed sites.18 diferently from the Ahoms. The key to this relation lay in the role performed by the foothills. THE POSTCOLONIAL STALEMATE The situation has not undergone any change in the post-independence period. It witnessed a process of reorganization of colonial Assam beginning with the formation of the separate state of Nagaland (erstwhile Naga Hills District) in 1963 followed by others. The irony is that even the communities of the region have come to treat the colonial cartographic paradigm as sacrosanct and allowed it to become the basis for airing space-centric identitarian rhetoric. The simmering tension in the inter-state border areas throughout the region testifies to this with neighbouring states locked in bitter brawls with each other for control of the foothill regions. Most of these states being part of colonial Assam, the latter features as the common opponent in these inter-state disputes; it has also come to bear the brunt of disgruntlement of the neighbouring states with frequent raids and encroachment in the Assam foothills by the hill tribes, oten with alleged support of the governments of the neighbouring states. In other words, rather than facilitating a harmonious relationship between the plains and the hills, the foothills have become the focal point of antagonism and conflict between the two. As pointed out by a forest oficial of the Behali reserve (who did not wish to be named), the reserve forest areas bordering Assam and Arunachal Pradesh very oten become a zone of conflict between the two states because the people of Arunachal Pradesh are unhappy with the boundary line demarcated by the Survey of India during the declaration of the North East Frontier Agency in 1951. The problem cropped up ater Arunachal Pradesh became a separate Union Territory in 1972 which required a clear demarcation of the boundary. He maintained that as there was a historical relationship between the two states, the people of Arunachal Pradesh very oten claim rights over some foothill areas of Biswanath and Sonitpur districts such as Chariduar, Naduar, etc. from where they used to collect posa during the Ahom reign, a practice that continued during colonial rule. the markers of the inter-state border. When the The various initiatives at resolving the protracted boundary impasse have not borne any fruit so far. The Sundaram Commission constituted in 1971, which submitted its report in 1979 on the resolution of this boundary dispute, was spurned by the Nagaland government even as it was accepted by the Assam government.19 Subsequently, the Shastri Commission (1985) too failed to break the deadlock. In 1988, the Assam government filed a case in the Supreme Court (SC) of India to settle the border issue with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. In September 2004, ater more than a decade and a half, the SC appointed a local boundary commission to resolve the border issues of the three states of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. And all stream changed its course or the tree fell due to 18 Kikon (2008) also mentions this. 19 The report, however, was not made public. That a mutually acceptable division of the states would be dificult to achieve was already known. Despite this, the cavalier and arbitrary manner in which the inter-state border was demarcated was incredible. A stream here, a tree there became 9 the states agreed to maintain status quo on the border. However, simmering tension and sudden violence in the foothills along the foothill border that Assam shares with its neighbouring states have been a recurring phenomenon. It is worth reiterating that much of the territories in the Assam–Nagaland or Assam–Arunachal border – invariably foothills – which experience ethnic tension and violence today are interspersed with tea plantations. In recent times, conflicts have occurred at a number of places in the above-mentioned foothill areas where Assamese small tea growers have begun plantations. For example, in the Geleki area under Sivasagar district, these plantations came under attack by a large armed group of Nagas, allegedly backed by a faction of the militant group National Socialist Council of Nagaland, NSCN (IM), on 5 July 2007. Not only were the plantations raided, over 50 houses and cattle stock in the three border villages, namely Sonapur, Dhekiajuri and Borholla, were also destroyed. Two persons, Sarafat Ali of Sonapur and Min Bahadur Chetri of Borholla, were shot dead. Another person, Kamal Bahadur Chetri of Soraisojia village, was critically injured when he stepped on a landmine planted by the raiders before they returned to Nagaland and died later. The three villages were inhabited not only by immigrant Nepali and tea tribe settlers, but also by some Muslim migrants drawn to the area by its fertile land and other livelihood opportunities.20 The attack provoked the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) to clamp an indefinite economic blockade along the Naginimora–Mokokchung road, a part of which falls under Sivasagar district. It also declared a ‘district bandh’ to protest against the 20 ‘Morning Mayhem on Border’, The Telegraph (Guwahati), 6 July 2007; ‘Nagaland Miscreants Attack Villages in Assam: Three Killed’, The Hindu, 6 July 2007. government’s failure to protect life and property in the border villages.21 The afected people of Nagaland, especially the Konyaks of the Mon district, expressed unhappiness at the steps taken by the AASU. The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) also urged the AASU not to resort to agitation, and called for a dialogue to resolve the crisis. Interestingly, the NSF stated that the incidents could not ‘be expected to happen between the indigenous peoples’ of the two states. Calling upon the people to maintain trust and mutual respect, the NSF claimed that such incidents were instigated by ‘adversaries through the third parties infiltrated in the border areas’ to divide the ‘age old family’ of the indigenous people of northeast. It also called for ‘not defending the illegal immigrants in the border’. This makes it obvious that the NSF is strongly opposed to the settlement of non-indigenous immigrants in the foothills.22 Nevertheless, ater the SC-appointed commission of 2004 failed to make headway in solving the border issue, the SC appointed a three-member local boundary commission led by Justice (Retd.) S.N. Variava, in September 2006, to identify the boundaries of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The commission was to undertake hearings of the concerned states and others on the issue. Meanwhile, Justice Variava opted out as the commissioner and was replaced by Justice (Retd.) Tarun Chatterjee in January 2010. In August 2010, the SC appointed two mediators to find ways to resolve the boundary dispute, emphasizing that border disputes between states should be resolved through mediation. In September 2011, the mediators submitted their report to the Chief Justice of India, even as the commission continued to visit diferent sites of conflict along the foothill borders and held discussions with stakeholders from the concerned states to find a solution to the disputes. 21 Ibid. 22 ‘NSF Calls for Peace’, http://www.nagalim.nl/ news, July 2007 (accessed on 13 January 2009); ‘NSF Demands Security in Border’, http://www. nagalim.nl/news, July 2007(accessed on 13 January 2009). 10 3 CONFLICTS IN THE BEHALI FOOTHILLS ALONG THE ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH BORDER belonging to Assam. The Arunachal government from the river Teok to the Charaipung police station, denied these charges.27 The situation at the border a distance of almost 10 km inside Assam. However, was brought under control by police vigil as well a number of big tea plantations (Bimalapur, as some initiatives on the part of the civil society. Lahdoigarh, Rangchali, etc.) intersperse the area. However, the tension in the area remains. Although Since the 1980s, some Assamese villagers have the Wanchos come to the local markets in Assam, started small tea plantations in a forested hilly the people from the Assam side are scared to tract called Barkula located within this area by venture beyond the point where an Assam Police reclaiming forest land. Gradually, adjacent to battalion post has been stationed ater the 2010 these small plantations, small dwelling units and violence. 28 Assam shares a long border with Teok was identified as the oficial a couple of small shops and tea stalls came up Arunachal Pradesh. There are a number boundary and within a distance of 2 km from the police station. of sites of tension and conflict along Arunachal, traditionally people from Later, the Assamese small tea planters introduced this border. The boundary dispute the Wancho tribe from Russa village, some Wancho youths to this enterprise as well. between Assam and Arunachal began located in the hills of Arunachal According to the local Assamese planters, this ater a notification was issued in Pradesh, came down to the jungles gradually whetted the appetite among the Wancho 1951 on the basis of the report of the of the area for hunting and other youths for more land for expanding tea cultivation one-man Bardoloi Committee which purposes, river. and there have been occasional tensions in the demarcated the boundary between Gradually, the Wancho settlements area over this issue.25 One fact that has prompted the two states. However, while there grew, and in the early 1980s, a the Wanchos to stake their claim here is that no have been occasional low-key conflicts village came up in the area. Later on, Assamese village exists in the area.26 There have along the border, they did not assume another village came up. According also been reports of alleged involvement of NSCN to locals of both the communities, militants in instigating the Wanchos. serious proportions until the conflict in the Charaipung area under the Sonari subdivision of Sivasagar district in August 2010. The area shares borders with the Tirap and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh and the Mon district of Nagaland. between crossing Assam this the Wanchos and the Assamese shared cordial relations even in the In August 2010, several dwelling units were gutted, recent past. Besides regularly visiting cattle burnt and small tea plantations destroyed in the local weekly haats, namely this area, allegedly by Naga militants. The media Nagahaat 23 and the one adjacent to and the local people accused the government the Charaipung police station (which of Arunachal Pradesh of taking the help of they still do), the Wanchos would Naga militants camping in the area to grab land in earlier times visit and stay in the The inhabitants of Arunachal across Assamese villages for days together the Assam border in the area belong during the Assamese Bihu festival.24 to the Wancho tribe. Although the river 23 It is to be noted that the Wanchos, due to their closeness with the Konyak Nagas, are regarded as a Naga tribe by the Assamese. 24 11 It is to be noted that there is no Assamese village Debajyoti Bhuyan, now in his late 50s and one of the earliest small tea planters in the area, told me this during my visit to the area in September 2011. Pomtom Wancho, aged 45 and Taijom Wancho, aged 40, from Kamku Russa village – whom I met near the Barkula hill while they were on their way back to their village from the market at Charaipung – also conveyed to me that the Assamese–Wancho relationship has been very cordial. Interestingly, I also met a young Wancho girl from the same village who works as a computer instructor in a higher secondary school under the Assam government at Charaipung. 25 As told by Debajyoti Bhuyan. Such conflicts over land and other forest resources have also contributed to the simmering tension in the Behali foothills, which culminated in largescale violence in January 2014. The Behali foothills come under the Behali Forest Reserve area along the Assam–Arunachal Pradesh border. Part of this reserve is claimed by Arunachal Pradesh as its territory and is referred to as Tarasso. Behali Forest Reserve falls under the Biswanath district of Assam while the area under it claimed by Arunachal Pradesh comes under its Papum Pare district. Because of these claims and counter claims by the two neighbouring states, there exists a situation of tension in the foothills even as there is continuous encroachment in the forest area from both sides. 26 I witnessed that in the entire stretch from the river Teok to the Charaipung police station, there is hardly any human settlement, although legally that area belongs to Assam. 27 The local Assamese villagers suspect the involvement of the Arunachal Pradesh government in the incident. Some also feel that NSCN militants might have put pressure on the Wancho chief at Russa to act to drive out the Assamese small planters from the area. 28 In a visit to this battalion camp, which houses a platoon, in September 2011, I witnessed the subhuman conditions (without toilets, proper drinking water and electricity) under which the jawans lived. 12 13 Map of Assam And Arunachal Pradesh Map of Behali Reserve Forest And The Areas Under Encroachment 14 Source: Forest Range Ofice, Behali THE BEHALI FOOTHILLS: VILLAGES AND DEMOGRAPHY Behali falls under the Biswanath subdivision of Biswanath district. It is bounded by Arunachal Pradesh in the north, the river Buroi in the east, the river Borgang in the west and the river Brahmaputra in the south. The area is well known for the Behali forest which was declared a forest reserve by the British colonial government in 1917. In 1965 the forest department of Assam communities and others began to settle in the by the Arunachal tribes.31 It should be noted that established three forest villages within it, area, encroaching on forestland. ater their retirement from tea plantations, a namely Bihmari, Serelia and Kolaguri. Each large section of the labourers settled in the fallow family of these forest villages was allotted 10 For example, in the 1980s, some flood-afected lands near Assamese villages, and many of them bighas of land by the forest department in Mising people from the Lohitmukh area of became daily wage labourers in these villages. But return for which the villagers provided labour Biswanath district migrated to this area. Since gradually, with the pressure on land increasing, for various works of the forest department (this the late 1980s, a significant migration of poor, many also started migrating and settling in forest system is known as begari). These villages were landless Bodo tribal people has occurred in the reserve areas. That is why one witnesses a large 30 area under the patronage of the Bodo nationalist number of Adivasi settlers in the forest reserves groups agitating for a separate state for the Bodos of Assam. The majority of the inhabitants of the by dividing Assam. In a bid to create contiguity other villages of the Behali reserve are also ex- among the Bodo inhabited areas of Assam, which tea garden workers, followed by other indigenous they lacked in their proposed area for the separate tribal communities such as the Misings, Karbis, state, the Bodo groups – especially the insurgent Bodos, etc. The villages that belong to Arunachal group National Democratic Front of Bodoland Pradesh include Dikal, Radhasu, Tarasso, Bormai, (NDFB) – actively facilitated the settlement of Pampela, and Naharjan Karbi Block. Most of the the landless Bodo people in areas with no Bodo inhabitants of these villages, other than Naharjan population. The forest reserves in the northern Karbi Block, are Nyishis. initially inhabited by Adivasis or tea tribes, Map of undivided Sonitpur District showing Behali Reserve Forest and Tatasso region of Assam were their prime target. As a result of this, a large forest under various forest reserves According to the account of the local people, in northern Assam completely disappeared in a Naharjan Karbi village was earlier within the matter of a decade or so. boundary of Assam but now the people of that village are voters of Arunachal Pradesh and the Source: Forest Range Ofice, Behali It covers an area of 14,016 hectares. However, the area under the reserve is shrinking due to encroachment and the reserve itself has become a site of conflict between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. According to sources at the Forest Range office, Behali, around 2500 hectares of land of the reserve is under encroachment by people from Arunachal while 1800 hectares has been encroached by settlers from different parts of Assam (see Map). 15 Nepalis, Karbis, Nyishis and, to some extent, the Assamese community. Gradually, during the 1980s, more people from the above-mentioned 30 The Adivasi community in Assam consists of the descendants of tribal communities such as Santhals, Orangs, Mundas, etc. who were brought to Assam mainly from the Chotanagpur region but also from other areas of eastern and south India by the British colonists, in the later part of the 19th century, to work as labourers in the tea plantations of Assam. These people later on became permanent residents of Assam. Subsequently, the community came to be referred to as the tea tribe in Assam. At present, from the original three, the number of village has been renamed Naharjan Karbi Block. villages in the Behali Forest Reserve has increased The government of Arunachal Pradesh provided to 14, which has put considerable pressure on facilities like drinking water, electricity, etc. to this the forest resources. The new villages seem to be village, because of which the villagers agreed to the result of encroachment in the Behali Forest become Arunachal voters. Interestingly, in several Reserve from both Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. foothill border areas which sufer from acute The villages which belong to the state of Assam shortage of basic amenities, the villagers oten are Rampur, Naharjan, Rangagarh, Sialmari, threaten the government of Assam with becoming Thandapani, Naharjan, Kajiamati and Gosala. part of the electorate of the neighbouring states Thandapani village was established by the forest which promise these facilities. department during 1984–86 and the inhabitants of the village are the Santhals, who are ex-tea Previously, cultivators from the Nyishi tribe, who garden labourers. They were brought from some are mainly located in Arunachal Pradesh, came other parts of the state by the forest department down from the hills, engaged in cultivation of rice evidently to protect that area from encroachments 31 Discussion with Babita Marak. 16 to be noted that a large section of the Nyishis have of land that are part of the Behali Reserve Forest. The villagers complain that they are also involved in large-scale tree felling, hunting of wild animals and farming. The Nyishis, however, rebut such allegations by claiming these forests as part of also been traditional inhabitants of Assam along Arunachal. and other crops in the area and then returned to the hills. Gradually, however, a section of them became permanent settlers even as a section of the Nyishis still follows the old practice.32 However, it is the Assam–Arunachal foothills in the Biswanath ii. Three primary schools and two churches at Tarasso, Pamela and Bormai in 1991. iii. A road through Behali Forest Reserve connecting Balijan and Tarasso in 1992. iv. Pillars in Behali Forest Reserve for transmitting electricity (constructed by the Department of Power, Arunachal Pradesh, 1998). and Lakhimpur districts of Assam.33 In 1965, there It was in 1987 that the forest department of Assam were cases of the Nyishi (then called Daflas) families took the initiative, for the first time, to evict engaging in fishing in Sap Khowa beel, a wetland encroachers from the Behali Reserve Forest. The v. A concrete school building in Bogijuli (2001). inside the Behali Forest Reserve. This provided situation worsened during the eviction of 1988 vi. A girls’ hostel at Tarasso (2002). the poor Nyishi families a complementary source when three Nyshi villagers died in firing. Again in of livelihood. These small cultivators did not pose 2001, the department evicted encroachers from much of a problem to the forest department in Upper Tarasso and Bogijuli. The government of terms of encroachment or denudation of forest. Arunachal Pradesh strongly opposed this drive However, the situation turned serious when Nyishi and filed a case in the SC which ordered both elites began reclaiming large acreage of forest land Assam and Arunachal to maintain status quo on for cash crop cultivation in the area.34 the border. GENEALOGY OF THE CONFLICT According to the people of the area and the forest oficials, Arunachal has not been following the court order and has established one forest beat ofice at Tarasso. The Arunachali Agrason Pratirodh Samiti (AAPS–Committee for Resistance against Arunachalese Aggression)– formed by the villagers of the foothill areas from the Assam side to resist the encroachment on Assam’s land –accused the Arunachal government of establishing the following infrastructure in the border area (those ater 2001 are in violation of According to the local people, the border dispute in the area is because of the encroachment from both sides of the border in the Behali Reserve Forest. However, they point out that until 1980 the forest did not witness any noteworthy encroachment. It was apparently in 1982 that the first encroachment by people from Arunachal occurred in Upper Tarasso (as mentioned above, Arunachal Pradesh claims a large part of the Behali foothill areas as part of Tarasso under its Papum Pare district). The encroachment then gradually extended to Lower Tarasso. the SC order): i. Today, the villagers of Assam allege that despite the status quo, sections of the Nyishis, mainly Nyishi elites, are engaged in capturing large expanses 32 Discussion with some members of the local communities and a former range oficer of the Behali Reserve Forest. 33 In late April 2009, a Nyishi businessman, an inhabitant of Assam who spoke fluent Assamese, was abducted from 17 One primary school, one beat ofice and one water supply project within the periphery of Behali Forest Reserve (1988). the area by suspected Bodo militants; the businessman’s brother was an MLA in Arunachal Pradesh. 34 Discussion with forest oficials. further allege that ater each conflict, both sides would sit together and agree to maintain status quo on a new boundary line. In the process, these organizations complain, Assam has been continuously losing land to Arunachal. Various incidents in the subsequent period added to the prevailing tension between the two states. The local boundary commission visited Behali/Tarasso again on 12 November 2013. The representatives from both sides submitted their memorandums to the commission. According vii. Bus stop at Tarasso; the Arunachal government started bus service to the area (2003). to a senior AAPS activist, ater the visit of the commission, the encroachment from Arunachal increased again, and AAPS set up camps in viii. A road through Behali Forest Reserve connecting Tarasso and Naharjan (constructed by the Arunachal Public Welfare Department, 2004). the foothills with local villagers to resist such The AAPS has also alleged that on 22 December 1987, encroachers from Arunachal Pradesh kidnapped three workers of the forest department of Assam, and released them ater two days. Assam villagers who increased encroachment encroachment.35 On the other hand, the president of All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) president Kamta Lapung alleged that it was the at Tarasso ater the visit of the local boundary commission.36 The tension culminated in the violence of 29 As encroachment continued, in February 2005, the forest department of Assam evicted 255 households from the Behali Forest Reserve. Although only 18 households among these were from Arunachal, this incident created tension between the two states. January 2014 – by far the most violent border conflict in the area. According to the narrative of the AAPS activists, their camps in the remote Chauldhowa area, along the border within the Behali Reserve Forest, came under attack in the aternoon of 29 January 2014. The local villagers Amidst the encroachments and claims and counterclaims, the above-mentioned local boundary commission first visited the area in September 2006. Local organizations from Behali claim that ater this visit, encroachment from Arunachal intensified, leading to a series of conflicts. They allege that in all these conflicts, the Assam forest department remained a silent observer, citing status quo on the border. They alleged that an armed mob of around 100 people from Arunachal, supported by personnel from the Indian Reserve Battalion, Arunachal Pradesh, fired 35 Discussion with Bibek Das, leader of the AAPS. 36 ‘Assam villagers encroaching on land at Taraso, says AAPSU’, 21 November 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes. com/city/guwahati/Assam-villagers-encroaching-onland-at-Tarasso-says-Aapsu/articleshow/26120047.cms (accessed on 8 February 2015). 18 upon the occupants in the camps, leading to the under encroachment by the Nyishis from Arunachal The the Mising Centre (PHC) which is located 14 km across the death of at least 15 and injury to several others. Pradesh, and if this continues, the villagers of households of the village is better in comparison southern part of the NH52. There is no provision The victims belonged to various communities like Naharjan would be compelled to leave their village. to the Adivasis. The Misings rear cows, goats, of electricity and drinking water in the village. the Adivasis, Nepalis, Garos, Karbis and Assamese. Or, since the government of Assam has neglected pigs and poultry, and cultivate various seasonal A couple of households have tube wells; others This was immediately followed by a public outcry the improvement of facilities for the village, these vegetables as sources of income. The villagers, are dependent on river water. As a result, the in the area and the local organizations clamped a villagers too might become Arunachal voters to however, maintain that it is very dificult to villagers oten sufer from water-borne diseases avail facilities from that state’s government, as has rear livestock such as cattle, goat, etc. This is like cholera, typhoid, etc. The women are the occurred in the case of Naharjan Karbi Block.37 so because if any cattle strays into the Nyishi most vulnerable segment of the population, their villages, they never get their livestock back, vulnerability peaking at the time of child birth. blockade on all vehicular movement to and from Arunachal Pradesh. The deadlock continued for several days before a temporary settlement was reached at the initiative of various civil society organizations from both the states, including Naharjan village consists of 22 households economic condition of resulting in heavy losses for them. There is one primary school in Thandapani village belonging to both the Mising and the Adivasi communities. The villagers of Naharjan allege that Naharjan village is located almost 10 km from which is at a distance of about 3 km from Naharjan. encroachment in the area from the Arunachal side the National Highway (NH) 52 and the road This means that the young children of Naharjan has been going on unabated and they live under connectivity to the village from the highway need to cover a distance of 6 km everyday to governments of both the states for such violence considerable fear and apprehension.38 Socio- is very poor. For any medical emergency, attend school. Their is one high school in the in the foothills. The chief minister of Arunachal economically, the village is extremely backward. the villagers have to visit the Primary Health nearby revenue village called Bihmari. announced monetary compensation to families Most of the inhabitants earn their livelihood by of those who were killed or injured in the incident. working as daily wage earners in Bihmari revenue While there has not been such violence since then, village located in the vicinity of the Behali reserve. the local villagers fear that trouble might recur in Some of the Adivasis also work in the Nyishi the area at any moment, given the volatility of the households at Tarasso as daily wage earners or situation, unless the problem is resolved. contractual labour. But they complain that they the AAPSU, AASU and NESO, and the blockade was lited. The organizations criticized the Road to Naharjan village are not oten paid due wages.39 They complement NAHARJAN: A VILLAGE IN THE FOOTHILL BORDER their income by selling forest products such as area beyond this village (which include Upper herbs, papaya, elephant apple, etc. in the distant weekly markets. A few of them are also engaged in rice cultivation, the produce from which is never enough to feed their families as the land is not suitable for summer paddy. The ex-tea garden labourers are generally not interested in the cultivation of vegetables or other seasonal crops like mustard because they fear being uprooted and Lower Tarasso) comes under its territory. It at any moment.40 The study seeks to understand the conflict over resources in the Assam–Arunachal foothill border by focusing on a single village called Naharjan in the Behali area, located at a critical position on the border. Arunachal Pradesh claims that the has been mentioned earlier that the people of a part of the village, that is, Naharjan Karbi Block, have registered their names in the electoral list of Arunachal Pradesh. Some AAPS members allege that land adjacent to Naharjan village is already 19 37 Discussion with Lakhi Kurmi, a woman activist of AAPS from the Adivasi community. 38 Discussion with Chandrakanta Doley, Lal Bhumij and Modgu Orang. 39 Discussion with Birsa Orang. 40 Discussion with Modgu Orang and his daughter in-law Malati Orang. 20 A Mising household Church at Naharjan An Adivasi household 21 Mising settlement at Naharjan 22 The villagers point out that the track they use is involvement of the owner of the rubber garden in regarded as the line of demarcation by Arunachal the incident. According to them, the owner might Pradesh. They allege that the area beyond that have done this to make the villagers flee out of road is already under the control of the Nyishi fear so he could then grab the land to expand his settlers from Arunachal Pradesh. There is a big rubber plantation. 42 Rubber plantation adjacent to Naharjan village rubber garden adjacent to that road owned by a Nyishi from Arunachal Pradesh, who is a Gaon Panchayat councillor. Labourers of that rubber garden live in the three houses across the track. The Adivasi villagers of Naharjan said that although these households belong to the Adivasi community from Assam, they come from The villagers also pointed out that the vast forest area opposite their village, untouched until a couple of years ago, has been now cleared by the Nyishis from Arunachal Pradesh. Members of a local environmental organization, Nature’s Banyapran, claimed a nexus between the timber mafia of Assam and a section of people from a diferent area and the Naharjan Adviasis have no Arunachal Pradesh who want land. The allegation interaction with them. 41 Interestingly, the villagers is that they joined hands in engaging the poor and said that prior to the violence of 29 January 2014, illiterate forest villagers as wage earners to fell the they had heard the sound of firing in their village standing trees, smuggled out the timber from the on the night of 12 January. They suspected the forest and let the land cleared for encroachment. Village track claimed by Arunachal Pradesh as the line of demarcation A former forest oficial of the Behali reserve investment. While tea plantation in the foothills is pointed out that during the 1980s, while the as old as colonial times, rubber plantations have Nyishis of Arunachal Pradesh oten came and also become popular in recent years. settled for two or three years in the foothill areas and sometimes even in the forest reserve These elites encourage ordinary Nyishi villagers to to cultivate mustard, they settle settle permanently and clear areas on a large scale However, the scenario changed so that they can use the reclaimed land for tea and drastically in the last 10 –15 years, with a rich rubber plantations. They also hire labourers from and politically powerful section of people Assam, mainly from the ex-tea garden community. from Arunachal Pradesh becoming involved This is also seen in the rubber plantation adjacent in encroachment. This section is part of the to Naharjan village. It is evident from discussions newly emerging elite constituted of contractors, with the local villagers that the Nyishis who were bureaucrats, politicians, professionals, etc. that is initially engaged in subsistence farming activities changing the balance of the relatively egalitarian in the area were poor people who used the land tribal society of the state. With capital in their in the foothills periodically. However, the newly hands, they look for suitable investment. They emerging plantations owned by the tribal elites have found the foothills which are favourable for from Arunachal Pradesh are permanent and tea and rubber plantations as the ideal areas for commercial in nature. permanently. 41 Discussion with Pranjal Kutum, Lal Bhumij, Runu Bhumij did not 42 Discussion with Pranjal Kutum and Haren Kayastha. 23 24 The forest oficial also observed that the forest It has been observed that many landless people department of Assam made an efort to stop from various parts of Assam, especially the Mising, timber smuggling from Arunachal and closed all ex-tea garden labourers, Nepalis and Bodos are forest check gates in Assam in 2010. But a Member settling in the reserve forest by occupying small of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Arunachal plots of land. Local organizations of Behali such as Pradesh visited the forest department ofice to AAPS are of the opinion that rather than allowing request it to reopen the gates. The forest oficial the Arunachalese villagers to encroach upon the blamed the government of Arunachal Pradesh for reserve forest, these landless people settled in its failure to provide an alternative livelihood for Assam for a long time should be alloted the land. its people; this is what has forced them to take It is evident that initially, a poorer section of the to timber selling which has ultimately resulted in people began to encroach on forestland for their the encroachment of the forest. The forest cover livelihood. But gradually the scenario changed is diminishing day by day, and as the people have with the involvement of a rich and politically 1990s that it became a flourishing business. Since no other source of income, they are engaged in powerful section of people from Arunachal and then, illegal timber felling and their sale to timber further encroaching on the forest areas, goaded timber smugglers of Assam, evidently acting in absent in the Behali reserve. While the people of smugglers from Assam has become an important by the vested interests of a rich and powerful collusion. Local villagers also point a finger of Upper Tarasso were using valuable timber for the source of income for a section of the people construction of their own houses and addressing from Arunachal Pradesh in the area. As there is other household needs, they did not engage a scarcity of fertile cultivable land in Arunachal in any commercial activities such as selling of Pradesh, timber selling became a viable source timber. They were also not aware of the market of income for these people who do not have any value of the timber. It was only during the late other source of income. Newly encroached area opposite Naharjan village Another forest oficial revealed that until 1986– 87 the illegal timber business was completely Land allegedly encroached and then abandoned by the Nyishis ater AAPS protest (Arunachal hills in the horizon) Land reclaimed for vegetable cultivation at Naharjan section of society. According to the forest oficial, allegation towards a section of forest oficials. Arunachal Pradesh is not following the SC order They contend that the illegal timber business of 2006 to maintain status quo in the border area, enjoys the patronage of these oficials without which compels the Assam forest department to which the business would not have been possible. evict Arunachalese encroachers to protect the reserve forest. It is clear that communities of Assam have also encroached upon the Behali Forest Reserve, but 25 26 according to the AAPS activists, this is to a much lesser extent compared to the Arunachalese, with the Nyishi elites commandeering large expanses for rubber and tea plantations. The AAPS activists also claim that the total land encroached upon by these elites in the area is much more than the land occupied by the ordinary Nyishi settlers in the area. The flourishing business of illegal timber felling in the reserve forest, oten aided by political forces and the forest department, adds another dimension to the emerging political economy of the area. consists of 11 households with a total population of 44 and Lower Tarasso, which is adjacent to the Assam boundary, has 54 households with a total Rubber plantation in Lower Tarasso population of 334. The fieldwork for the present study was conducted mainly in Lower Tarasso. The total literate population in Lower Tarasso is 189, while that of Upper Tarasso is 26, of which 14 are male and 12 are female according to the 2011 Census. The literacy rate is quite high in comparison to other small villages of the states. There is only one government primary school. photo given to prashanta da The church and a residential settlement at Lower Tarasso town, for more serious medical issues via pattern of villagers on the Assam side. There is no Balijan Road in Assam. But the villagers feel customary community land here like other parts of that the road is not safe.The primary occupations Arunachal Pradesh.43 of the villagers of Tarasso are agriculture and NARRATIVE FROM LOWER TARASSO While Tarasso is formally a part of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh claims the village under its Papum Pare district. The village is divided into two parts: Lower Tarasso and Upper Tarasso. According to the Census Report of 2011, Upper Tarasso 27 cattle rearing. Wet rice cultivation is the common The inhabitants denied any knowledge about Most of the parents send their children to the practice and they derive their income from selling any villager’s involvement in illegal commercial Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya School, Balijan. rice, vegetables and poultry products to people activities with forest resources. They said, of Assam in the local haats. Generally, every local however, that there are a few villagers who are The village has a PHC with two doctors and other Niyishi household has 5–6 hectares of land and the involved in cash crop cultivation. The villagers medical staff, but it lacks testing equipment, richer households have up to 40 hectares of land. are generally hesitant to invest in horticulture as adequate medicine and emergency kits. People This is in complete contrast to the landholding have to travel to distant Itanagar, the capital 43 Techi Jarnia, a woman member of the Tarasso Gram Panchayat. 28 down as a symbol of peace and mutual friendship. Any case of conflict between the villagers from both the states was to be discussed and resolved at the site of this foundation stone. Both sides had their representatives in the committee. However, the Nyishi villagers complain that the villagers of Assam started bringing up every petty or minor issue before the committee for resolution. Such behaviour, they say, prompted the Arunachal villagers to walk out from the committee and it thus collapsed. However, they felt that the peace committee should be revived with formal and strict rules of adherence. They also feel that the border markets should be better organized.46 Mustard plantation at Lower Tarasso Discussion with government oficials, journalists and academics in Itanagar revealed that most of them believe that the implementation of the Bardoloi Committee was not justified and the it involves considerable expense. They fear that to the Burmese invasion in the early 19th century such cultivation may be destroyed by the Assam when they joined hands with the people of forest department during its eviction drives, which Assam to fight against the Burmese. They tend 44 will take a heavy toll on the farmer. Interestingly, to view the ongoing border conflict as not with while the attitude of the ordinary Nyishis towards the Assamese people but with the non-Assamese the Assamese people is cordial, the outlook is very communities mentioned above. According to the diferent towards Nepalis, Adivasis and immigrant local villagers, traditionally the relations between Muslims, who they believe are non-indigenous the communities inhabiting the forest areas are people. This was clear during interaction with quite cordial; it is the Assam forest department the Nyishi villagers of Tarasso. They are upset which causes tension and conflict with its eviction that the Assamese media projects the conflict in drives. They allege that these periodic eviction the foothill border as between the Arunachalese drives against the Arunachal villagers by forest and the Assamese, oficials from Assam are in complete violation of which has created hatred and distrust between the two communities. They boundaries were drawn without proper analysis. Interestingly, they also emphasized that the status quo imposed by the SC in the border area should be maintained until a further verdict is given. Mobilization and activities in border areas should be stopped and checked. Further, they argue for the creation of a bufer zone in the border area. The villagers also highlighted the issue of apprehension and insecurity of the people of Arunachal about travelling through Assam (they do not have any alternative to this as yet owing to geographical constraints) during times of conflict in the foothill areas. Even generally speaking, the villagers seem to be distrustful about people from Assam. According to them, while people from Assam come to Tarasso to buy vegetables, rice, etc. without any fear, the Arunachal villagers Nyishi settlement at Lower Tarasso the status quo ordered by the SC.45 are also unhappy about the movement initiated against them in the border areas by the activists of Assam. The Nyishis of Arunachal oten refer The communities from both the sides set up peace committees in 2003 to settle disputes through mutual cooperation. A foundation stone was laid 44 Techi Hachang, gaon bura (village headman) of Lower Tarasso village, and Techi Tasso, member of the Tarasso Gram Panchayat. 29 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid. 30 4 CONCLUSION Men at a discussion in a Nyishi household feel insecure about going to Assam. They also organizations from Assam responsible for this. complain that it is on account of wrong information These organizations, according to the Tarasso and suspicion that organizations from the Assam villagers, have facilitated the settlement of many side readily block the highway, causing untold people from diferent parts of Assam in Tarasso miseries to the Arunachalese. To address this, by clearing up existing forest. This has adversely they feel that the government should construct a afected the cordial atmosphere between the road bypassing Assam. people from the two states living in the border areas. The villagers at Tarasso emphasized that both the The villagers admit that the dense forest in the states need to be sensitive to the local issues to border area is now completely gone. They hold grapple with the problems of border areas. It is clear that although the unrest in of land in the plains. Nonetheless, it the foothills appears to be the result of does seem that the most important disputes amongst the ordinary people factor behind the current conflict in the living there, it is more a conflict between Behali foothills is the usurpation of a states and powerful vested interests vast acreage of land by Nyishi elites for seeking to establish control over the the cultivation of cash crops such as tea, resources in the foothills, including land rubber and mustard. and forests. However, it also appears that while the tribal elites from the The changing dynamics of resource use hill states are allegedly engaged in in the hills have come into conflict with encroaching Assam land in the foothills the livelihood needs of the agricultural for cash crop cultivation, there is an communities in the plains which are increasing demand for cultivable land already facing an acute shortage of among the ordinary tribal communities land owing to population growth, of the hill states as well. Our personal immigration, observation and interactions with local development-induced villagers and civil society leaders suggest etc.; many of them have settled in the that the shrinking of agricultural land forest areas along the foothills. Besides, for traditional shiting cultivation due a vast section of the tribal population to increased development activities, of the plains who earlier practised population usurpation shiting cultivation have also turned into of traditional community land by the sedentary cultivators, leading to a rapid tribal elites for cash crop cultivation expansion of the extant agrarian frontier. growth and flood and erosion, displacement, have compelled the hill tribes to search 31 for new land in the foothills. Further, a Despite such an emergent volatile section of the hill tribes is now gearing scenario, the foothill areas today have up to change their traditional shiting been pushed to the extreme margins cultivation to sedentary agriculture, of both state and public memories, which calls for permanent occupation except in times of border conflicts. 32 Basic necessities such as proper roads, schools, to the forests. But the creation of the separate It needs no reiteration that in order to address Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest hospitals and drinking water facilities are rarely state of Arunachal Pradesh necessitated the the problems of the communities along the Rights) Act50 .which ofers a broad and flexible found in the foothill areas. Every year malaria, strict demarcation of the boundary with Assam, foothills it is essential to sort out the border issue framework for addressing forest conservation and Japanese encephalitis, etc. assume an epidemic restricting the movement and resource use of its in a sustainable, mutually acceptable manner. livelihood needs of forest dwellers. form in many foothill areas. Assam has been communities in the foothills areas that became For this, the concerned states must eschew the particularly negligent in this regard. While part of Assam. Besides, a transformation of the administratively driven, territory-centric mind-set However, much depends on the proactive role of neighbouring states have invested somewhat in agricultural economy of hill tribes is underway and opt for a historically informed, people-centric the concerned governments as foothill conflict building infrastructure in the foothill areas, Assam from shiting to settled cultivation, including cash approach.49 It is noticed that oten disputes take is politically an extremely sensitive issue. No has not done so, citing the SC-mandated status crop cultivation by a section of their elites. All place between the two states when one state tries government can aford to be seen as ceding its quo. A comparison between Lower Tarasso and these have created a new political economy in the to build a road, a police outpost, or any government territory to another state. But it is also clear that Naharjan clearly testifies to this. foothill border. No solution of the conflict of the structure in the border areas. Such exercises, as the concerned states have to move beyond all foothills is possible without taking into account one can see, almost invariably are more a way the posturing and work out a mutually agreeable this intricate situation. to stamp a state’s authority over an area rather give-and-take solution to the foothill border than an expression of genuine interest towards conflict. For this it is imperative that they enter In so far as the eforts at resolving the foothills border conflict is concerned, one observes that they are informed by a strong juridico- In fact, the inability of the central government and its development. The other state would invariably into a more meaningful engagement with the local administrative bias. Indeed, a legally mandated various commissions appointed by it from time to protest against it as an encroachment on its land. communities and the civil society organizations. boundary is important from the perspectives of time to find an amicable settlement to the border The point, however, is that the foothills should not the respective states. However, it is obvious that issue is ample testimony to the problems with the be used as an instrument of aggrandizement of the the border issue, with its complex social, economic administrative/legalistic approach. Even when concerned states. Access to the resources in the and historical background, cannot be solved by a legal mandate comes through, the concerned foothills is critical, especially due to the changing merely resorting to legal measures. states would hardly accept accountability for the demographic, political and agricultural dynamics actions of the so-called non-state actors who are in the region, for the communities from both the At this stage, it will be useful to recapitulate some mainly accused of perpetrating border conflicts in plains and the hills. The forest department also of the complexities that have created the conflict. the foothills. Significantly, hearing a petition of the has to play a more creative role in ensuring this. As mentioned, the changing land use pattern in government of Arunachal Pradesh on 15 September While it must protect the forest from large-scale the hills and the demographic pressure in the 2015 against Assam’s alleged encroachment on its felling of trees, whether for timber smuggling or for plains have put heavy pressure on land and other territory (thereby violating the SC-mandated status cash crop plantations, it can have more inclusive resources in Assam, pushing more and more quo), the SC asked both the states to desist from engagements with the poor communities from people to the foothill region. The foothill forests, creating another border problem within the country both the states inhabiting the forests. Here the traditionally used as commons by communities (referring to India’s existing border problems forest department can creatively explore the both from the plains and the hills, were turned with some of its neighbouring countries). It also provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other into reserve forest during colonial times, which stated that if necessary, it would direct the central restricted the access of communities to them. government to intervene to prevent a volatile Again, while the territory under Arunachal Pradesh situation from emerging in the boundary dispute was separately administered since the colonial between the two states.48 This might, however, times, there was always free movement of people further complicate the situation. 49 in the foothill forests, with hill tribes having access 48 ‘SC for border patch up’, The Telegraph, 17 September 2015 33 It may be mentioned here that in case of AssamNagaland boundary dispute while the Assam government seeks a legal solution to the border dispute, the Nagaland government has been pressing for an out-of-court settlement to the issue in a ‘spirit of give and take’. However, although the Naga stand is commendable, the allegations of intimidation and encroachment against them has not helped in generating confidence among the Assamese people. 50 Popularly Known as the Forest Rights Act which was passed in the Indian Parliament in December 2006 34 References: Barpujari, H.K., ed. 1992. The Comprehensive History of Assam. Vol. II. Publication Board Assam, Guwahati. —— ed. 1993. Comprehensive History of Assam. Vol. V. Publication Board Assam, Guwahati. Barpujari, S.K. 1992. ‘Paramountcy in Hills’. In H.K. Barpujari, ed., The Comprehensive History of Assam, Vol. V. Publication Board Assam, Guwahati. Baruah, M. 2007. The Problematic of Space and Historiography on Tea Plantations in Upper Brahmaputra Valley. XXIII ICHR Lecture, Guwahati. Bhuyan, S.K. 1949. Anglo-Assamese Relations 1771–1826, Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Govt. of Assam, Guwahati. Fernandes, W. 1999. ‘The Conflict in the Northeast: A Historical Perspective’. 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Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 36, no. 52. —— 2012. ‘The State and the Ethnicization of Space in Northeast India’. In N.G. Mahanta and D. Gogoi, eds., Shiting Terrain: Conflict Dynamics in North East India. DVS Publishers, Guwahati. 35 36 Chandan Kumar Sharma is Professor in the Department of Sociology, Tezpur University, Assam. 37 38 39