Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

In the Name of the Community 203
Frontier Agency Panchayat Raj Regulation, 1967. An Agency Council was also
created as an apex body in the whole territory. The Agency Council was converted
into a Legislative Assembly in 1975 and a five-member ministry was
formed under the chief ministership of P.K. Thungan without elections to
the Legislative Assembly being held. The first assembly election was held in
1978. The introduction of the Panchayat Raj brought about a significant
change in the traditional village council of Arunachal Pradesh. It gave a new
orientation to politics in the state and helped the formation of an Arunachal
civil society instead of a group of fragmented tribes and communities. It has
also changed the outlook and broadened the political horizon of the people.
It was in 1978 that electoral politics was first introduced in the state and the
assembly elections paved the way for the introduction of a modern participatory
and representative government.
13. The figures exclude Tirap district, where elections were not held.
14. Human security refers to freedom from hunger, torture and imprisonment
without a free and fair trial, discrimination against minorities and women,
and domestic violence. The basic freedom from all these diverse forms of
violence, along with the positive freedoms that allow each human being to
enjoy life to the fullest without imposing constraints upon others engaged
in the same pursuit, have to be guaranteed to all sections of society (Upadhyay
2002a).
15. The tribal societies of Arunachal Pradesh have a strong tradition of selfgoverning
institutions. Among all its 26 major tribes and more than 100 subtribes,
some form of traditional self-regulating institution exists. The most
prominent among them are the Kebang of the Adis, the Builiang of the
Apatanis, the Nyele of the Nishings, the Mele of the Hrussos, the Tsorgan
system of the Monpas, the Jung of the Sherdukpens, the Abbala of the Idu
Mishmis, the Pharai of the Kaman Mishmis, the Mockchup of the Khamtis,
the Ngojowa of the Wanchos, and the Mungphong or Nockthung of the
Tangsas. Although common descent, kinship and blood relations generally
form the basis of political union among the tribal people, territorial compactness
appears to be the dominating factor of political union among the
tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. Some of them are monarchial, while others are
republics, some are democracies of a direct type, and others function through
a chieftain or a small representative body. A few bodies are oligarchic in
nature, limiting the choice of membership of the council to certain houses
or clans (Pandey et al. 1999; Roy Burman 2002; Talukdar 2002).
16. Our assertions are based on the narration of a few women students belonging
to these districts.