Adivasi Group Agreement

Context

Recently, a historic agreement has been signed between the Government of India, Government of Assam and representatives of eight Armed Adivasi Groups.

• The agreement was signed to end the decades-old crisis of Adivasis and tea garden workers in Assam.
  
  

About the Agreement

• With the signing of this tripartite agreement, 1182 cadres of tribal groups of Assam have joined the mainstream by laying down arms.
• The eight adivasi groups — which together comprise 1,182 cadres — are All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), AANLA (FG), Birsa Commando Force (BCF), BCF (BT), Santhal Tiger Force, Adivasi Cobra Militant of Assam (ACMA), ACMA (FG) and Adivasi People’s Army (APA).
• These groups have been on a ceasefire pact with the government of India since 2016.
• The agreement is intended to protect & strengthen the social, cultural, linguistic and community-based identity of the groups.
• It also aims to fulfill the political, economic and educational aspirations of the Adivasi groups.
• It also aims to ensure rapid and focused development of tea gardens along with Adivasi villages/areas throughout the state.

Provisions of the Agreement

• The agreement provides for the establishment of a Tribal Welfare and Development Council with a view to ensure speedy and focused development of tea gardens.
• The agreement also provides for rehabilitation and resettlement of armed cadres and measures for the welfare of tea garden workers.
• A special development package of Rs.1000 crore will be provided over a period of five years for infrastructure development in villages/areas with tribal population.

About Tea Tribes Community

• There are more than 1000 tea gardens in Assam where workers originally coming from Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have engaged themselves and subsequently settled in Assam permanently.
• They are known as Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, who are recognized as Other Backward Classes by the Government.
• These people not only constitute a sizable chunk of the population in the State but also play a major role in tea production in the State.
• People belonging to the tea tribes communities are spread all over the State of Assam.
• Economically, they are quite backward and literacy level among these communities is extremely low.