Student organisations rally against Citizenship Bill

Bijay Sankar Bora

VOWING to put up a resistance against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, students’ organisations of the North-East have been in touch with various political parties, urging them to oppose the Bill in Parliament.

The All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU), a key constituent of the North East Students’ organisation (NESO), claims to have garnered the support of 11 national parties, including the Janata Dal (United), on the issue.

An AASU delegation met Bihar CM and JD-U chairman Nitish Kumar and apprised him of the implications of the proposed legislation. “We had about a two-hour discussion with the CM. We submitted relevant documents, including a 16-point memorandum. He has understood the seriousness of the situation and has assured us he will write to the PM about it. He is against the idea of citizenship being given on the basis of religion,” AASU president Dipanka Nath said.

The AASU as well as NESO maintain that under no circumstances can Centre impose the burden of lakhs of Bangladeshi Hindus on Assam, and that the legislation is a threat to the existence, language and culture of Assam’s indigenous communities. The AASU and 28 indigenous organisations have resolved to take the anti-Citizenship Bill movement to a larger scale, both within the region and outside.

Meanwhile, the National People’s Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government has decided to oppose the Bill, terming it a threat to the political and cultural identity of indigenous communities.

Pan-Naga body bid

The Government of Manipur has condemned the recent statement of RN Ravi, the Centre’s interlocutor for  peace talks with the NSCN-IM, regarding a ‘pan-Naga body,’ as reported in a national daily. The statement triggered vociferous protests by various organisations  in Manipur, especially in the valley.  Subsequently, Chief Minister N Biren Singh came out with a statement that any agenda to disintegrate the state on communal lines would not be tolerated. There has been apprehensions on the possible bifurcation of the state’s Naga-dominated hill areas while negotiating the vexed Naga problem.

The Chief Minister reminded all concerned what the interlocutor had said — that before the culmination of the Naga peace talks, all stakeholders would be consulted. 

Khandu’s plea to Centre 

Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu has called upon the Centre to do away with the practice of considering all north-eastern states as a single entity while rolling out programmes, policies and schemes.

“All north-eastern states – while being looked upon as one single entity from the mainland perspective – are distinct and different from each other. Each state has its own potential and challenges. Even within a state like ours, each region, district and community have their own potential and challenges. I would, therefore, request the Government of India to approve and sanction state-specific programmes and schemes for each of the states in the North-East,” he said.

Anti-poaching dog squad 

North-East-based biodiversity conservation and research organisation Aaranyak, a member of the IUCN, has added four new Belgian Malinois — Misky, Sheela, Leon (male) and Jubi — to its prized K9 anti-poaching dog squad to add more teeth to the anti-poaching drive by Assam’s Forest Department in the state’s rhino-bearing wildlife parks.

The secretary-general and CEO of Aaranyak, Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, said: “The K9 squad now has strength of six Belgian Malinois. The four canines were initially trained by Susan, a dog trainer from Germany. Now, we have an in-house trainer.”

Aaranyak had formed the sniffer dog squad back in 2011 with the induction of a Belgian Malinois dog, Jorba (male) to track down rhino poachers. In 2014, it roped in another, named Babli (female), as a back-up dog. The four new members of the K9 squad were earlier trained around Deepor Beel, a Ramsar site, to acclimatise them with the flood plains and were thereafter taken to the hilly Assam-Meghalaya border.  While Jubi has been stationed in the Kaziranga National Park, the other three are undergoing training.

“The reason why we use this breed is because of their extreme prey drive capability. They are capable of assisting arrests of suspects if the situation demands. Once they pick up a scent and come to a lead, they have the capability of outrunning and bringing the suspect down if he tries to escape,” he says.