constituent assembly of india debates (proceedings)- volume vii

2. Coming to the actual recommendations made by the two Sub-Committees, we are of the view that
although certain features are common to all these areas, yet the circumstances of the Assam Hill
Districts are so different that radically different proposals have to be made for the areas of this Province.
The distinguishing feature of the Assam Hills and Frontier Tracts is the fact that they are divided into
fairly large districts inhabited by single tribes or fairly homogenous groups of tribes with highly
democratic and mutually exclusive tribal organisation and with very little of the plains leaven which is so
common a feature of the corresponding areas, particularly the partially excluded areas of other
Provinces. The Assam Hill Districts contain as a rule, upwards of 90 per cent of tribal population whereas,
unless we isolate small areas, this is generally not the case in the other Provinces. The tribal population
in the other Provinces has moreover assimilated to a considerable extent the life and ways of the plains
people and tribal organisations have in many places completely disintegrated. Another feature is that
some of the areas in Assam like the Khasi Hills or the Lushai Hills, show greater potentialities for quick
progress than tribes in the other Provinces. They may also be distinguished by their greater eagerness
for reform in which they have a dominant share than the apathy shown by the tribals of some other
Provinces. Having been excluded totally from ministerial jurisdiction and secluded also from the rest of
the Province by the Inner Line system, a parallel to which is not to be found in any other part of India,
the excluded areas have been mostly anthropological specimens; and these circumstances together with
the policy of officials who have hitherto been in charge of the tracts have produced an atmosphere which
is not to be found elsewhere. It is in these conditions that proposals have been made for the
establishment of special local councils which in their separate hill domains will carry on the
administration of tribal law and control the utilisation of the village land and forest. As regards the
features common to tribal areas in other Provinces, the Assam hill man is as much in need of protection
for his land as his brother in other Provinces. He shares the backwardness of his tract and in some parts
the degree of illiteracy and lack of facilities for education, medical aid and communications. Provision is
necessary for the development of the hill tracts in all these matters and we have found it necessary to
recommend constitutional safeguards of various kinds.
3. The differences between Assam and other areas as well as certain common features have been
indicated above. While in Assam the Hill Districts present features of their own and the Assam Sub-
Committee have confined their recommendations on the whole to these tracts, it has not been possible
for the other Sub-Committee to deal with the problems of the tribes in exactly the same manner. The
special features of the hills have been mentioned and they distinguish almost to the same degree the
tribesmen in the hill and the tribesmen in the plains of Assam as they do the regular plains inhabitants.
The total population censussed as tribal in the plains of Assam is about 1:5 million out of which possibly
some 50 per cent. consists of tea-garden labour, drawn in part from other provinces. This portion of the
plains tribals is of course a population which has assimilated in high degree the life of the plains. The
stable population of plains tribals is more or less in the same position. As regards other Provinces, the
degree of assimilation is on the whole greater whether the tribesman is found in the hills or in the more
accessible parts although some of the small tribes in the Agency Tracts of Orissa and Madras have hardly
come into contact with the plains. In any case their outlook is totally different. From the very manner in
which partially excluded areas have been formed it has not been possible to include large numbers of
tribals who are scattered about in the Provinces irrespective of whether their condition was advanced or
otherwise. It has been necessary therefore to treat all persons of tribal origin as a single minority and
not separately as in the case of Assam. In this method of treatment therefore the recommendations for
other Provinces differ radically from the proposals for Assam. The excluded and partially excluded areas
however contain considerable concentrations of tribes people and generally they are in hilly and
comparatively inaccessible areas with no communications and facilities for the development of the
population. Land for them also is a vital factor and protection of the tribals' land is an essential need. The
financial requirements of the Scheduled Areas are considerable, and the Centre will have to come to the
assistance of certain Provinces at any rate. Thus the essential features of the proposals for the tribals of
Provinces other than Assam are proportionate representation for the tribals as a whole in the Legislature,
the scheduling of certain areas as in need of special attention and in which the protection of land and the
social organisation of the tribals is an indispensable need. To facilitate the proper administration of the