ITANAGAR, 9 Mar: The Indigenous Faith & Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP) has sought early implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion (APFR) Act, 1978 and the issuance of a notification of the draft rule framed under Section-8 of the APFR Act.
In a representation submitted to Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday, the IFCSAP pointed out that “the APFR Act, was passed way back in 1978 and had received the assent of the President of India on 25 October in the same year.”
“The said act, which was published in the Gazette notification, mandated the government to make it come into force at once in the whole of Arunachal Pradesh. However, successive governments in the state have failed to implement it till today,” it said, and made it clear that in the event that the state government fails to implement the Act, it could go for other options like democratic movements and court intervention.
The IFCSAP also appealed to the CM to rename the Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA) to its already notified name -Department of Indigenous Faith & Cultural Affairs (DIFCA).
Justifying its stand, the IFCSAP said that the very objective of creating the department was for a government organ that bears an entity reflective of the indigenous faith and culture with a broad spectrum of promises.
“Accordingly the department was named as DIFCA after its creation and the notification too was issued in that name. However, in a subsequent notification, the terms Faith & Culture were omitted for some obvious reasons,” it said, and appealed to the CM to restore the two terms and rename the department as DIFCA instead of DIA.
A team of the IFCSAP also called on Indigenous Affairs Minister Taba Tedir and requested him to look into the matter.
