constituent assembly of india debates (proceedings)- volume vii

To
SIR,
THE CHAIRMAN,
SUB-COMMITTEE.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, MINORITIES,
TRIBAL AREAS, ETC.,
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA,
COUNCIL HOUSE, NEW DELHI.
I have the honour to forward herewith my Sub-Committee's report on the Tribal and Excluded Areas
of Assam. The report has been drawn up by us after a tour of the Province which included visits to the
Lushai Hills District, the North Cachar Hills Sub--Division, the Mikir Hills and the Naga Hills District. The
Committee could not visit the Garo Hills District on account of bad weather and difficult communications
and the Jowai Sub-division of the Khasi Hills District could not also be visited for the same reason. We
however examined witnesses and representatives of the Garo Hills District at Gauhati and paid a visit
also to certain Garo villages on and near the Goalpara road. At most of the places we visited, we had to
be satisfied with a visit to the headquarters of the district or tract and with a visit to one or two villages
in the neighborhood. To visit places in the interior would have taken us a great deal more of time and
delayed our report considerably. Representatives of the tribes however visited the headquarters, even
from long distances, and on the whole we feel that we have been able to get into contact with all the
important representatives of the hill people and to take their views on the future administration of the
areas. We have also taken the views of the different political organisations in the province and recorded
the evidence of officials.
2. Except for the Frontier Tracts and Tribal Areas, we co-opted two members from the tribes of each
of the districts visited. The co-opted members, with the exception of Mr. Kezehol (representative of the
Kohima section of the Naga National Council and himself an Angami) who submitted his resignation
during the final meeting at Shillong, discussed the proposals and signed (subject to dissent in the case of
Mr. Kheloushe & Mr. Aliba Imti) the minutes of the meeting.
3. In connection with the co-option of members we would like to mention the "District Conference"
convened by the Superintendent of the Lushai Hills as an elected body purporting to be representative of
the whole of the Lushai Hills. The election to this body which consisted of twenty chiefs and twenty
commoners with the Superintendent himself as President was boycotted by the Mizo Union which was the
only representative body of the Lusha is at that time and clearly could not be regarded by us as
representing more than a section of opinion, largely that of certain officials and chiefs controlled by
them. Consequently the criticism that we co-opted members without consulting the Superintendent or
his conference carries, in our opinion, no weight.
4. In the Naga Hills, the Committee had to face a similar situation in the sense that certain officials
were influencing the extreme elements of the Naga National Council. Discussion of a number of points
could not be carried on to the full extent on account of lack of agreement within the Naga National
Council but we understand that on the occasion of the Governor's visit to Kohima, the more reasonable
elements put forward their views. We find that our proposals not only contain the substance of these but