NAGALAND PEACE ACCORD AND RECENT DEVELOPMENT

 NSCN was established in 1980 and divided in two NSCN(IM),NSCN(K) due to difference in ideology.But,due to India's effective counter insurgency program and constant pressure exerted on insurgent outfit by Indian security forces.The NSCN(IM) was forced to sign a ceasefire agreement with India back in 1997 and later the other fraction of NSCN including the khaplang also signed a ceasefire agreement with Indian government.So,over the last two decade Indian government has been looking to initiate Naga peace process in order to settle the age old political crisis that date back to pre Independence.

Finally in 2015 a historic agreement was signed between Indian government and Naga representative including the NSCN(IN) and various Naga political group but this framework agreement was not acceptable to NSCN(K) fraction and hence it broke the ceasefire and it continued its insurgency against Indian government by establishing a strong base in Myanmar.But,however as per the terms of 2015 agreement talks between Indian government , NSCN(IM) and Naga political group progressed with governor of Nagaland RN Ravi playing a key role of interlocutor but over the last few weeks major differences have emerged between RN Ravi and NSCN(IM) and it threatened to derail the ongoing Naga peace process.See,a couple of months ago governor has written a open letter to Indian government labeling NSCN(IM) as a armed gang and openly challenging the legitimacy of state government and Indian constitution.Than recently Indian security forces had even targeted few cadres of NSCN(IM).So,as a result NSCN(IM) has started demanding the Indian government to remove RN Ravi as interlocutor and due to hurdle being placed by the peace process the naga decided to make the confidential agreement of 2015 public and details of the agreement has raised concerns in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.

See,Nagas are willing to accept India's sovereignty but demanding greater autonomy for nagas inhabited areas and they are probably expecting the Indian government to grant their constitution of their own.One of the strongest demand of Naga group especially that of NSCN(IM) is to keep all Naga inhabited areas of North East united under the so called "Greater Nagaland" or "Nagaland".This demand of NSCN (IM) has raised lot of concerns in NSCN(IM) and Arunachal Pradesh. The representatives of Arunachal Pradesh have reasons to fear because the Naga peace process might affect the territorial integrity of the state.

See,since the NSCN was established its primary objective was to unify all the Naga inhabited areas in the North East areas of India and to establish this region as separate state or country by gaining independence from India and constitution.This demand of NSCN arises from the fact that Naga tribe are not just limited to state of Nagaland but they can be also found neighbouring Manipur,parts of Assam,Arunachal Pradesh and as well as in parts of Myanmar.So,the stated objective of NSCN has always been to unify the Nagaland inhabited areas and establish the so called "Nagalyam" or "Greater Nagaland".Over the last four decades NSCN has rejected the Indian constitution and today since the insurgent movement has been weekend even though they are willing to accept Indian sovereignty they are still unwilling to accept the supremacy of Indian constitution.       

DAUGHTER REMAINS A DAUGHTER BUT SON IS A SON UNTIL HE GETS WIFE

" Daughter remains a daughter and son remains a son until he gets a wife",this beautiful line said by Supreme Court in the landmark judgement given on Hindu succession act of 1956.See,the question was whether the daughters have rights over the ancestral property?The Supreme Court gave the answer by these beautiful lines.This is so ironical,on one side women are fighting for getting permanent post in combat,equal rights,feminism and here we are again back to the scratch. 

See,the Hindu succession act 1956,which provides for succession and inheritance of ancestral property states that in a Hindu joint family only the male child being recognized as a legal heir to ancestral property whereas the female sibling of the male child has no claim and this discretionary law of succession and inheritance found in Mitakshara School of Hindu law was codified in Hindu succession act.This law applies to Hindu,Brahmans,Sikhs,Jains as well as the follower of Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj.This discretionary provision against the female child is extension of orthodox patriarchal rule found in religious law.But even though the HSA does not apply for Muslims,Christian,Parsis and Jews such discretionary laws of patriarchal and succession can be found in other religion as well but in different form and differnt variation e.g. in Islam there is no such distinction created between female and male child when it comes to succession both the male and female child are recognized as legal heirs to ancestral property but in practice the female child is given only half of the shares as compared to male child.

So, in order to address this discriminatory nature of Hindu Succession act,this law was amended in 2005 and under section 6 oh HSA 2005,the daughters were also recognized as coparcener and equal rights to ancestral property was recognized by birth.In legal terms coparcener basically refers to birth right to ancestral property.The amendment introduced to HSA was in line to recommendation of 174 law commission and it was designed to address the gender based discrimination with regard to succession and inheritance of ancestral property.But this gender based discrimination does not end even after the introduction of amendment by 2005 because of the confusion surrounding interpretation of section 6 of HSA.

See,the amendment act came into effect from 9 September,2005 so it was not clear whether the amendment provision of section 6 would be applicable from 9 September,2005 onward or would it have a retrospective application that is amended provision apply for previous cases or not that is before the amended act came into effect.So,while interpreting the this confusion of section 6 of amended act the Supreme Court and High Court took a different views in multiple cases .In 2005 case SC declare that the amended provision of section 6 would apply only if the daughter and father are living as of 9 September,2005.So,basically this ruling of SC does not involve retrospective application of law and with respect to cases arising before 9 September,2005 gender based discrimination continued under HSA. Then in 2018 SC had ruled that section 6 of HSA also applied retrospectively.So,through the latest judgement SC has clarified its position and it has settled the confusion surrounding the interpretation of section 6.The SC had ruled that daughters have equal right to inherit the property and this position lies retrospectively.        

ASSAM NOT OPPOSED ILLEGAL FOREIGNERS ON RELIGIOUS LINES

Over the year the state of Assam has received the influx of refugees and illegal migrants from neighbouring  East Pakistan and Bangladesh following the partition of 1947.There was huge influx of refugees from East Pakistan into Assam than later in late 1960 the atrocities committed by Pakistani Army in East Pakistan against Bengali minority pushed number of refugees in India between 1961 and 1971.Then after East Pakistan was liberated with India's assistance and after Bangladesh was established as independent country in 1971 there has been constant inflow of illegal migrant across border into Assam and this large scale migration of illegal foreigners pose a threat to their unique culture,language,their faith,political rights,their opportunity and their resources.So,this opposition by native Assamese against the large scale entry of illegal foreigner from East Pakistan and Bangladesh has lead to socio ethnic tension and even communal violence.

This lead to Assam agitation which was primarily lead by student organization such as All Assam Union and the agitation lasted between 1979 and 1985.This movement in Assam also lead the foundation of insurgency in Assam and it lead to establishment of several insurgency outfit such as ULFA in 1979.Following this violent protest and insurgency the government of India finally began negotiating with protester and this resulted in signing of the Assam accord in 1985.Through the Assam accord government of India made a commitment to the protesters and as per the accord government committed to prevent illegal migrant from Bangladesh by erecting physical barrier.Under the Assam Accord the government also recognizes citizenship cutoff date and 24 march 1971 was selected as cutoff date in order to identify the genuine Indian Citizens in state of Assam and distinguish them from illegal foreigners.

So,this date also became the basis for updating the NRC(national registrar of citizen).Under the Assam accord the government promised to update the NRC which was last updated in 1951 in order to distinguish between genuine Indian citizen and illegal foreigners based on this citizenship cutoff date.So,as per the NRC exercise those who could prove that they have resided in Assam prior to this cutoff date,they would be provided with Indian citizenship and the others would be recognized as illegal migrants.The promised NRC exercise was not held for three decades and it was taken up by the government only after recent intervention of the Supreme Court.Last year the NRC exercise was completed and the final list was also published as per the direction of SC.Under the final list of NRC around 4 million people have been left out and they face the risk of being declared as illegal migrants.

Under the Assam accord clause 6,under which government committed to provide for constitutional,legislative and administrative safe guard,also supported by provision of reservation for native Assamese with regards to seat in State assembly,local bodies as well as regard to government jobs.In order to implement these commitment under clause 6 of Assam accord the government of India was supposed to setup expert committee but the implementation of clause 6 was delayed by several decades and final trigger came up with enactment of CAA.

See,the opposition of native Assamese was against all illegal foreigners from Bangladesh and East Pakistan.There opposition was not on religious line ,they were equally opposed to Hindu migrant as well as Muslim illegal migrant.But,the citizenship amendment act of India created a distinction between these illegal migrant and hence the CAA has triggered massive protest in Assam last year because its provision go against the commitment made in Assam Accord.So,in order to pacify these protesters the ministry of home affairs decided to set up a committee headed by a retired judge Biplab Kumar Sharmaand as per the given term of reference the committee submitted the confidential report to the government but it has been nearly six months after committee submitted the report but unfortunately government is yet to act on it.So,as a result few members were frustrated by governments inaction and they have decided to make public their recommendation which were part of confidential report.