constituent assembly of india debates (proceedings)- volume vii

clear that the irregular shape of this area makes the administration from centres outside the area rather
inconvenient which apparently is the reason why the district has had to be split up between two plains
districts. Being a rather sparsely populated* area with rather less than 50 persons to the square mile and
containing no communications other than the railway passing through it, it has apparently not been
considered suitable for treatment as a separate district. The Provincial Government has at present under
consideration a proposal for the making of the whole of the Mikir Hills area into a separate sub-division,
perhaps on the analogy of the North Cachar Hills Sub-division. Divided between two districts as it is and
consisting of inhospitable territory in which jhuming is the only method of cultivation practised while
malaria takes its toll, it has been sadly neglected in many ways and special steps are necessary for its
development. Very obviously the present state of affairs where it is divided between two districts cannot
continue if the area is to be developed and it should be made either a district or a sub-- division with its
headquarters somewhere in the middle of the bend so that it is accessible from both extremities. The
area includes certain mouzs Barpathar and Sarupathar inhabited very largely by non-tribals which even
at the time of the constitution of the partially excluded areas were considered doubtful areas for
exclusion, and the Provincial Government have since taken a decision that the areas should be added to
regularly administered portions as soon as possible.
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* It may be noted however that the Lushai Hills are also sparsely populated and there is no railway
running through it.
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The Mikir are probably the most backward of all the tribes of the Assam Hills though this
backwardness is probably not their own fault. There are pockets of Mikir in the North Cachar and the
Khasi Hills. Like the Garo and Khasi the Mikir desire the consolidation of their own tribesmen under a
single administration. Unlike the Lushai or the Khasi Hills, Christianity has made little progress here.
While the special customs of the Mikir, their addiction to jhuming cultivation etc. necessitate that an
arrangement must be made by which they are able to maintain their own system, the Mikir Hills at
present find representation in the provincial legislature although through the restricted franchise of the
headman, and opinion generally is that there is no objection to the extension of adult franchise in the
area. The sparse population may give rise to certain practical difficulties in organising elections there but
it would appear that these are not insurmountable.
The Mikir Hills are inhabited to some extent by Cachari (about 2,000) Rengma Naga and a few Kuki,
but on the whole, the population may be regarded as uniform.
In view of the comparatively backward state of the Mikir and the fact that there are no self-governing
institutions of a statutory type locally, it is necessary in introducing institutions of this kind to arrange for
a period of supervision and guidance in other words, any local council set up in the hills should at first be
subject to the control of the local District or Sub-divisional officer.
G. N. BARDOLOI
(Chairman),
J. J. M. NICHOLS-ROY,
RUP NATH BRAHMA.