From: The Hindu, August 25, 2013
Demand for New States
In Assam, ethnic divides fuel demands
by Sushanta Talukdar
Assam’s ethnic pot is boiling once again with the United Progressive Alliance’s nod to create a Telangana State, spurring the revival of statehood movements by four ethnic groups — the Bodos, the Karbis, the Dimasas and the Koch-Rajbangshis.
While organisations of the Koch-Rajbangshis have demanded a Kamatapur state comprising 15 districts of Assam and six of West Bengal, the other three demands have been raised from the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD), Karbi Anglong hill district and Dima Hasao (the erstwhile North Cachar) hill district which are governed by administrative set-ups enjoying legislative, executive and financial autonomy under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
The revival of the statehood movements raises the question whether its autonomy experiment — thought to be the panacea for addressing territory-linked ethno-linguistic and ethno-cultural identity issues — has failed.
FULL TEXT AT: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-assam-ethnic-divides-fuel-demands/article5056285.ece
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