The Reported 4-Point Indo-IM Settlement, part of the ongoing 3rd Aug 2015 Accord between Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) in Morung Express of Nagaland of 20th April 2016 by one Bharat Bhushan claiming Information from the IM Sources, has serious implications for all Nagas everywhere particularly for those in Nagaland for all time to come.
The IM has remained silent so far neither owning nor disowning the reported Story; both Bharat Sarkars’s Interlocutor Ravi and the Ministry of Home’s Silence so far seems to confirm the believability of the 4-Point Settlement.
The language of the purported Settlement is all in Future Tense, and the silence of both the Entities lends credence to the Settlement having been made.
The 4 Points Settled are reproduced below in Toto under Quotation:
“One, a Pan Naga Hoho (essentially, a supreme Naga Council cutting across Naga-inhabited States) will be created as a statutory apex body with legislative, budgetary and negotiating powers. This will be an elected body and govern the Nagas eventually.
“Two, pending the integration of the Naga areas outside Nagaland into a single administrative unit, Regional Autonomous District Councils (RADCs) will be created for the Naga-inhabited districts of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. These will come under the Pan Naga Hoho.
Three, the Indian Parliament will enact a Special Naga Law which will be incorporated in the Indian Constitution. The Special Naga Law will contain the division of competencies –subjects in the State, Union and Concurrent lists of the Indian Constitution –between the Centre and the Nagas. In this way, what the NSCN (IM) call the Naga Constitution will become an integral part of the Indian Constitution.
Four, all natural resources found in the Naga area below the ground and on the surface will belong to the Nagas. They will have the full right to exploit them except in the cases where they feel that they need to partner with the central government and its entities. In such cases, joint agreements will be signed for exploration and exploitation of resources.” (Quotation ended)
The Settlement Number I Provides:
a). A Pan Naga Hoho with a Supreme Naga Council for all Naga-inhabited States.
1. So far, Nagaland is the only “Naga-inhabited State” with elected Government and with Special Constitutional provision of Article 371A absolutely protecting the Traditional, Customary Practices of the Nagas of Nagaland and “land and its resource” even from the legislative intervention of the Indian Parliament unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland so desires.
There is absolutely no question of a Non-Government NGO given Supreme Power above what even the Parliament of India has refrained. Nagaland State can not be placed under a Pan Naga Hoho District Autonomous Body.
b). Regional Autonomous District Council (RADC) created under Pan Naga Hoho.
2. A District is conventionally only a part of a State; based on the natural similarities of shared common Way of Life, Practices, Culture, Customs, Traditions, Language and ethnicity. The Naga-inhabited Area, of Arunachal or Assam or Manipur States may be made each a District with Autonomous Council under the State to internally administer itself, but with the consent of the States, not without their consent.
An Autonomous District Council; to have “Legislative, Budgetary and Negotiating” (political?) undefined Power independent of the State, is farfetched.
3. As for Nagaland, it is already a Naga-inhabited State of India with an elected Government and Power much above a District Autonomous Council. Nagaland, unlike any other States of India, has Special constitutional protection from the Legislation -Past, Present or Future- of even the Parliament on matters of Traditional Customary Practices of the Nagas of Nagaland.
There is no way, Pan Naga Apex Hoho of District Autonomous Councils (RDACs) of other States (Region?), to have Legislative, Fiscal or Political Power over the elected Government of Nagaland.
c). “division of competencies” into State, Concurrent, and Union lists.
4. The “division of Competencies” is just a categorization of Subject Matters into the ‘State List’, ‘Union List’ and Shared or ‘Concurrent List’ that can be dealt both by the State and the Union Governments, for Legislation and Management. This is a normal conventional division of Subjects between the State and the Union Governments normally followed for all the States of India.
As mentioned above, the State of Nagaland has even the Competency of “Land and its Resources” peculiarly in the Constitution of India under a specific Article no other States of India has.
If the IM could get a “Non-amendable list of Competencies’ for the Regional District Autonomous Councils of Nagas in Arunachal, Assam and Manipur recorded in the Constitution of India, then that would be a ‘Unique History’ greatly benefiting the Nagas directly and even Non-Nagas indirectly.
As for Nagaland, it would not accept re-touching of the Constitutional Provisions to less than what it already has.
d). Nationalize all natural resources found in the surface and below the ground surface.
5. This is a complete negation of the -Private, Family, Clan, Khel, Village and Community –Rights, Unique among the Nagas. In Nagaland State, there is literally not a single square inch of land without an Owner.
Nagas owned their Land from time immemorial; no Royalty, not even in the ancient other than the people, owned the Land. Land should not be alienated from the people; it cannot be alienated from the Nagas.
This Settlement is a foolish negation of the ‘Unique History of the Nagas’, a reversal of inherited ancient ancestral Property.
These are the comments of concerned Elders after long thoroughly open and often hot discussions of Views of the gathered on 14 May 2016, represented here by the following selected persons: