Don't mix Mission Bhumiputra and Mission Basundhara: All Assam Tribal Sangha

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The AATS (All Assam Tribal Sangha) has urged the State government not to mix Mission Bhumiputra and Mission Busandhara since these two are different entities.

Talking to The Sentinel, AATS secretary general Aditya Khakhlari said, "The government has sought the certificates issued under the Mission Bhumiputra for the Mission Basundhara scheme. The government does not accept the age-old caste certificates in the Mission Basundhara. It is nothing but harassment."

He said that under the Mission Bhumiputra online service, the government issues caste certificates to ST students reading from Class IX-XII. "However, issuing such caste certificates to adult people has not yet started. How justified is the government seeking caste certificates issued under Mission Bhumiputra for Mission Basundhara Scheme? How can adult ST people get caste certificates issued under Mission Basundhara when the process has not started? We request the government to accept the ST certificates that AATS issues and the deputy commissioners countersign them," Khakhlari said, and added: "Mission Basundhara has sought caste certificates of parents, Xerox copies of the voter list and affidavit from the court. It is harassment. The government should stop. Many tribal-populated places in the state are still non-cadastral. The government should survey such lands immediately and give land rights to the tribal people for the land under their possession for generations. It should also provide land rights to devottor and xatra lands."

Khakhlari said, "The wetlands of Dhemaji and Majuli districts have become arable and homestead lands. The government should also issue myadi patta for such lands. It should also convert the 'gram sabha myadi' to myadi patta."

He said that AATS took all these decisions at its joint executive meeting with the All Assam Tribal Youth League held recently. The meeting decided to take out a bicycle rally from December 15-21 to make the tribal people aware of Mission Basundhar 2.0 in the state. The rally would also cover the BTR, where non-tribal people rampantly encroach upon tribal lands. The other demands for BTR are providing land rights to forest dwellers as per the Forest Land Rights Act and land rights to the landless. The meeting also demanded the government to extend the last date for application for Mission Bhumiputra up to March 30, 2023.

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