Homeless for 70 years, the uncertainty of the ‘Mising community’

Context

About 12,000 people of the Mising community are residing at Laika and Dadhia villages inside Dibru-Saikhowa National Park of Assam after they were rendered homeless some 70 years ago.The legislator demanded an immediate solution to the 70-year old problem with proper rehabilitation of people of the ethnic community.

About the Mising Community

• The Mising people are the second-largest ethnic community of Assam.
• They were an agrarian community dependent on farming and fishing. But now have turned into forest dwellers.
• The Mising people are Mongoloid and belong to Tibeto – Burmese group.
• Mising families are patriarchal.
• The traditional chief festivals – Ali – Aye- Ligang and Porag are observed by the Mising.
  • These festivals are connected with agriculture (especially Rice).
• Many centuries ago, they came down to Arunachal Pradesh from northwest China.
• They settled in the hills lying north of the upper Brahmaputra Valley in the Siang and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
• In the early part of the 12th century, they migrated down to the plains of Assam in quest of a peaceful and conducive economic life.
• Basically, the Mising tribe resides on the bank of the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
• The change in the course of the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries took place after the great earthquake in 1950 and 1957.
  • This made them, homeless.
  • They shifted in and around the forest region of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Assam.
• Their main problem began in 1999 when the forest was declared as Dibru-Saikhowa National Park making human habitation inside the protected area illegal.

Major problems faced by the community

• Lack of basic day to day facilities such as drinking water, sanitation, electricity, roads, and basic house infrastructure
• There is no provision of minimum healthcare or drinking water supply
• Unreachable school premises
• Excessive rainfall makes the situation worse during the Monsoon.