The 6th Schedule debate is once again rearing its head in the State. Not surprisingly, a clear pattern of its cyclic recurrence is now more of less established. It would normally come about when the politics of the Assembly variety sinks into a lull midway into its term, and the dreary mediocrity of issueless politics begins looking for new issues to arrest people`™s imagination in order that the elected politicians may have something to save their political careers. This pattern of State politics is not exclusive to the 6th Schedule issue but equally true of so many others, the territorial integrity issue for instance. It is often said threats of war unite the people, and therefore politicians periodically employ sabre rattling as a strategy to achieve this effect whenever the public are restive and the politicians are insecure about their political careers. This is however not to say these issues are trivial.
It is also unfortunate the 6th Schedule issue has also been appropriated by vested interests and made to look like an offshoot of the hill-valley friction in the State. Indeed, because of the consistent portrayal thus, it has become such, thereby something those in the hills must blindly support and those in the valley blindly oppose. This is unfortunate, and must cease to be so. Those of us who have watched politics in the state for at least the last two decades will remember that the 6th Schedule was almost a fiat accompli in the late 1990s, at about the same time the 1997 landmark Naga ceasefire agreement was signed. Rishang Keishing was chief minister, Meijinlung Kamson was the Union minister of state for internal security and O.N. Srivastava was the Governor. There were some token opposition from the valley communities, but not to the spirit of the Schedule but in anticipation of a compromise of the territorial integrity of the State. Rishang had managed to reassure the people the territorial integrity would not be put at jeopardy under any circumstance, and he had begun land surveys to demarcate the territories of the Autonomous District Council, ADCs, to give the 6th Schedule a tangible shape. It was here the stumbling block was encountered. The question was whether there would be six ADCs, (five hill districts plus Sadar Hills), or only five ADCs (with Sadar Hills as part of Senapati district). There was also a third proposal, whereby there would be only two ADCs, with the four `Naga districts` as one ADC and Churachandpur district as the other ADC. Bitter opposition to either of the models was actually what proved the undoing, and not so much valley opposition, as many now so eagerly want it to be seen as.
There is no reason why there should be so much ado over the 6th Schedule. It is an autonomy model for islands of small ethnic communities buried within a larger community. They would be governed by the laws of the State as well as those of the ADCs. Introduced in 1952, it was meant for the former undivided Assam, where the lands and communities roughly beyond the Inner Line, falling within what the British classified as `Excluded Area` (Naga and Lushai Hills) and `Partially Excluded Area` (Khasi and Jantia Hills and Mikir Hills) were given protection under the Schedule`™s provisions. Nagaland refused the offer for the Naga leadership then under A.Z. Phizo thought it was a compromise to their demand for complete sovereignty, which is why Nagaland still does not have the 6th Schedule, though so many in Manipur think it does. The Lushai, Khasi, Garo, Jantia and Mikir Hills were put under the Schedule, but after these original 6th Schedule areas became States in their own rights, the ADCs lost their relevance considerably. In the Lushai hills, (Mizoram) it was abolished for most part but retained in three tiny non-Mizo pockets, namely the Chakma, Lakher and Pawi (Poi). In Assam, Mikir Hills (Karbi Anglong) is still under the Schedule. In Meghalaya too the Schedule is still maintained as it was, so the three ADCs of Khasi HIlls, Jantia Hills and Garo Hills almost totally overlap with the Meghalaya government`™s administrative jurisdictions with the exception of the Shillong capital area which has been de-Scheduled. Some see the Meghalaya arrangement as a problem nonetheless it should be an eye opener for Manipur. If the 6th Schedule must be implemented, it can actually be to the entire State and not just the hills. Let each district have an autonomous ADC administration and let the State administration bind all these autonomous ADCs under a larger roof. As in the case of Shillong, perhaps the Imphal municipal area too could be made the only de-Scheduled cosmopolitan area. This would be a novel experiment in federalism too, but more in later editorials.
Leader writer: Pradip Phanjoubam