Bodoland

Bodoland बड़ोलेण्ड
—  Region/Aspirant state  —
Flag
Country	India
State	Assam
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)

Bodoland (Pron:ˈbədəʊˌlænd/ˈbəʊdəˌlænd) (Bodo: बड़ोलेण्ड) is an area located in the north bank of Brahmaputra river in the state of Assam in north east region of India, by the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh; inhabited predominantly by the Bodo people. Currently the map of Bodoland includes the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) administered by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The territory came into existence under the BTC Accord. The map of Bodoland overlaps with the districts of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri in the state of Assam. At present, Kokrajhar serves as the capital of Bodoland.

Introduction

Bodoland is the gateway to the beautiful North Eastern Region of India, which was created very recently by curving out some area of eight districts of Assam namely Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Darang and Sonitpur within the state of Assam. It is an autonomous Administrative unit constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India covering an area of 8795 Sq. Km (Provisional). The administrative unit has been created with a mission to accomplish development in the area of economic, education, preservation of land right, linguistic aspiration, Socio-culture and ethnic identity of Bodos and above all to speed up the infrastructure development of communities in the BTC area. The actual functioning of council was started on 7 December 2003 by constituting the 12 members of the Council provisionally. After the Council Election on 13 May/05 and subsequent bye election in November/2005 all the 40 Members of Legislative Council has been formed to look after the development works in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts. The remaining 6 (Six) Members are nominated by the Governor of Assam from the unrepresented Communities. Thus altogether 46 M.C.L. As represented in the Council from all communities of BTC Area for area development. As per Memorandum of Settlement in the tripartite talks in the year 2003, 40 (forty) subjects have been entrusted to the BTC Authority for all round development of the people in this area. Subjects namely (i) Tribal Research Institute, (ii) Lotteries and Theatres etc., (iii) Intoxicating liquors etc., (iv) Registration of Birth and Death yet to be taken up by the council. The entire area covered under the BTC has been recognized with Kokrjhar as original district and forming other new district thus totaling 4(four) districts in BTC Area. The area under those four district has been estimated as follows:

Sl No Name of the District Area in Sq. Km.

1 Kokrajhar 3169.2

2 Chirang 1069.96

3 Baska 3056.89

4 Udalguri 1673.93

Demand for a homeland, called Bodoland

The early history of Bodos is largely unknown. For centuries majority Bodos remained as farmers, weavers, and peace loving society. Like many cultures in the world today, Bodos are also ethnocentric or nationalist society. Cultural assimilation with Assamese was not productive. In brief, before the British Raj, Dimasa Kachari Kingdom may have included a vast area extending far and beyond Assam, a small state in the North-East India. History suggest that Dimapur was the capital of Kachari kingdom (Dimasa Kachari kingdom), The Dimasas are part of Tibeto-Burman Bodo race. The British-India colonial rulers effectively adapted divide and rule policy for over 300 years. It is likely that Kachari were lagging behind their fellow Indians in terms of education and employability. Since the time of British Raj, Assam is known to produce oil and natural gas, and Assam tea. Before independence (1947), North-East India was a remote place.

Compared to other parts of India, such as West Bengal and Maharastra, opportunity for general and mass education came to North East India only after Indian independence (1947). Following Indian independence, the Bodos were given the opportunity to take advantage of scheduled tribe (ST) status. This process lead to the creation of tribal belts and blocks, protected lands meant for farming and grazing, specifically for the Bodo people. However, the list of ST in Assam continues to grow. There are a sizable number of Assamese who are claiming ST or SC status.

Plains Tribals Council of Assam

In the early 1960s the Plains Tribals Council of Assam (PTCA), a political party representing Bodos and other plains tribals of Assam realized that tribal belts and blocks were gradually being acquired by rich landlords or new immigrants through illegal means. Moreover, Bodos had little or no access to economic aid that were given by the central government. Without economic package to the Bodo dominated areas, education was a distant cry. In those days, there were hardly any roads and other infrastructures that connected Bodo dominated area to the main cities of Assam. These were the reasons for which, in 1967, PTCA demanded a Union Territory called Udayachal, to be carved out of Assam. The proposed Udayachal map included mainly those areas that was known as tribal belts and blocks. The creation of tribal belts and blocks (for scheduled-tribes) was a mechanism to protect farming and grazing lands mainly from rich landlord and illegal immigrants. The demand for Udayachal never materialized. Due to persistent apathy of successive governments towards Bodo community, by the end of 1970s it became clear that Bodos had a little or no influence in the Indian political process. Specifically, in Assam Bodos areas were very much neglected. Often the financial packages meant for tribal-development were diverted and misused. For similar reasons, Khasis and Garos, carved out Meghalaya from Assam. In the late 1980s, All Bodo Students' Union's (ABSU) became very concerned about decades of neglect and apathy by the subsequent state government towards the Bodo community. ABSU and Bodo political parties jointly demanded a separate state, called Bodoland. However their ultimate goal is to become an indistinguishable part of India. They equally want to contribute in the development of their nation.

All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU)

The official Bodoland Movement for an independent state of Bodoland started on March 2, 1987 under the leadership of Upendranath Brahma of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU). The ABSU created a political organization, the Bodo Peoples' Action Committee (BPAC), to spearhead the movement. The ABSU/BPAC movement began with the slogan "Divide Assam 50-50". The ABSU/BPAC leadership of the movement ended with the bipartite Bodo Accord of February 20, 1993 and the creation of the BAC. The accord soon collapsed amidst a vertical split in ABSU and other Bodo political parties brought about mainly by the split between S. K. Bwiswmuthiary and Premsingh Brahma, and violence erupted in Bodo areas leading to a displacement of over 70,000 people.

he cashbook showed entries of both the amounts paid by the tea companies. Sometime in 1991, we heard that a meeting between the ULFA and the BdSF(boro security force) was held in a camp inside Bhutan. Ther it was agreed that ULFA would also have camps inside Bhutai ' and the two groups would fight the Indian government togethellf We found this new underground group highly motivated. was extremely difficult to get information about their activitiel l Our only successes were in intercepting them when they move; between Udalguri and Bhutan. The broken countryside of border area was ideal for ambushes. The Bodos (Boros) W€1'€l.‘i_ very close-knit tribe. They were physically tough and many sf theff were in the police and the Assam Police battalions. We wa/rned our units to be careful about guarding arms and amiiaunitiof Despite this, the BdSF struck the battalion HQS of 7 AP battali located in a Reserve Forest near Kokrajhar.

By this time, the Bd  had moved westwards and established several camps in Bhutj  across the borders of Bongaigaon, Barpeta and Nalbari districf 

One night a'group of the BdSF entered the campus of the battali The sentry on duty between 2400 hrs and 0200hrs was a Boro He opened the lock of the perimeter gate of the quarter-guard The group came into the quarter-guard and entered the guardrod; where the other sentries were sleeping and opened fire, injuri several of them. By this time, the Boro sentry had opened » main kat (armoury) and they took out 160 Self Loading and 5 LMGS. One of the raiders went behind where the rear senii had an LMG fixed, which he could only swivel round. Hearixf the commotion at the front, this sentry swiveled his LMG waited. When the BdSF man who had gone to silence the re; sentry rounded the corner, the rear sentry fired a burst from LMG, killing him instantly. Bold text The Commandant lived behind if Quarter Guard across a small nullah. He had an LMG and half? section of men with him. If he had come out he could have stopp' the group. He chose not to come out and the Battalion lost 16 SLRs and 5 LMGS. This was one of the most shameful episodes of the insurgency in Assam. The personal diary of the insurgent who was killed was interesting. He was a courier as could be seen by his frequent movements. He had faithfully entered all the items of expenditure incurred hy him, including payment of one rupee to a beggar, his bus fare and purchase of Uma magazine for thirty- five rupees!

Bodo students plights

Even after independence, for several decades, higher education was out of reach for most Bodos. Universities and higher educational institutes are located in far away places such as Gauhati (now called Guwahati), Shillong, or Dibrugarh. Moreover, year after year majority Bodo students were not admitted to some of the best educational institutes in Assam like Cotton College, Assam Agricultural University, Assam Engineering College and Gauhati University. In addition, even after obtaining a university diplomas, Bodo youngsters had limited or no job opportunities. These reasons fueled disappointments among many Bodo students. Although, Bodos were given ST quota, most of those jobs or opportunities often went unfilled. Every office in Assam were filled with Assamese speaking people, from high-ranking officers down to simple office peons. Creating easier educational opportunities for Bodos became first goal for ABSU. When the All Assam Students Union's (AASU) agitation to drive out illegal immigrants (year 1979-85) was slowing down, the demand for a separate state called the Bodoland was gaining momentum. The demand solely depends on the equal rights for everyone as described in constitution of India.

Despite the Bodo accord, neglect remains, with no economic improvement is evident in Bodo dominated areas. Lately, there have been few signs of efforts to improve these situations. However, there are thousands of people still languishing in refugee camps in very poor conditions, which includes both Bodos and non-Bodos. Their lives have been disrupted several times in last two decades. Although, a few dozen single lane roads have been repaired in last few years, while hundreds of bridges and other infrastructures remain in neglected condition. The national highway is in the process of expansion. Whether the creation of BTC(BTAD) addresses the issues of Bodo self-determination remains an open question.

See also

• Bodo people
• Bodo culture
• Bodo language
• Bodo Sahitya Sabha

External links

• Official Website
• ABSU