ITANAGAR, Aug 13: The Save Arunachal Save Indigenous (SASI) has urged Chief Minister Pema Khandu to table a resolution in the state Assembly for amendment in Article 371(H) granted to the state of Arunachal Pradesh and to stress for conceding  Article 371(A), or 371(G) in the line of  Mizoram and Nagaland.
Elaborating about  the demands, Vice Chairman SASI, Romjir Rakshap  said that by virtue of being a tribal state Article 371(H) should be brought at par with Article 371(A) of Nagaland and Article 371(G) of Mizoram that gives special provisions to these two states. Nagaland and Mizoram enjoy freedom of religious practice, social practice, Land rights , Customary law etc., and even no act of Parliament can interfere with their tribal practice but our state has not been given such protection, he said.
"Instead of focusing on 6th Schedule, our government should stress on amendment in the  Article 371(H).  The 6th  Schedule mostly gives preference for creating Autonomous council and such practice is not a good idea for a state like Arunachal Pradesh where we have more than 25 major and hundreds of sub-tribes," Rakshap said.
Former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki also passed a private member resolution in the state assembly for the amendment and sent to the Law Ministry but as of now there are no updates. However, now we have BJP government in both the state and Centre as well as three representatives in Delhi including Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju,   they should place the resolution in parliament for the amendments, he added.
Further, SASI also urged the state government to refrain from bringing private member resolution on Arunachal Pradesh Marriage & Inheritance Bill  in the ensuing assembly session.  Our state is young and has a less indigenous population, so bringing such resolution without any discussion and consent of the CBOs, NGOs, and public is not at all good move, it said.
Meanwhile, the Union also appealed to the state government to take strong action against police officials who are slack in checking inner line permit at entry checkpoints.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
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