[ Dr Joram Begi ]
Introduction
The state of Arunachal Pradesh, practically the gateway of the Indian union from the Northeast, is situated between the latitudes 26° 28’N and 29° 30’N and longitudes 91° 30’E and 97° 30’E. It covers an area of 83,743 sq kms and is the largest state among the eight Northeast Indian states in terms of territorial extent and is surrounded by Bhutan to the west, Tibet and China to the north, Myanmar to the east and Assam and Nagaland to the south. It covers nearly 2.5 percent of the geographical area and about 0.1 percent of the population of the country.
Arunachal remained as a ‘terra incognita’ till the mid 20th century. However, it was known as ‘Prabhu Parvat’ (god’s mountain) in ‘Kalika Purana’. Mentions are also made both in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Parashuram Kund is an important pilgrimage of the Hindus, while the historical ruins of Bhismaknagar and Malinithan are not only associated with the popular Hindu legends but also have ample evidences of flourishing the Hindu civilisation in the region. Similar testimonies can be seen at Ita Fort, Naksaparbat and Bhalukpong. Buddhist culture, both of the Mahayana (Lamaism) and Hinayana (Theraveda), can also be seen in various Buddhist monasteries located in western, northern and eastern parts of the state.
The state has never been ruled by any ruling dynasty, excepting the Chutia Kingdom (1187-1673 CE), who are said to have ruled a part of the foothills around Bhismaknagar. The Ahoms, who ruled the region for 600 years, did not make any serious attempt to bring Arunachal under their rule. Instead, the Ahoms followed a conciliatory policy known as the ‘posa system’, which was introduced by the Ahom king Pratap Singha (1603-1641 CE). As per the system, the Ahom kings demarcated the boundary between the kingdom and the territories of various tribes of the present Arunachal by raising an earthen embankment called Rajgarh Ali and regulating the entry into the Ahom territory through designated gates called duars. A number of paiks, in the adjoining area of the duars (eg, Char Duar, Chhey Duar, Na Duar), were assigned to each tribal chiefs or tribal groups, called Bohotia (eg Dafla Bohotia) to meet the requirements of their respective tribal lords in kind annually. For this, the paiks of the Bohotia were required to pay only 1/4th tax to the Ahom king as 3/4th had to be given to their respective tribal masters.
The East India Company took over the reins of Assam after the treaty of Yandaboo, 1826, which was concluded at the end of the Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826). Initially, the British East India Company followed the Ahom policy of tribal relations, including the posa system. However, it was commuted into cash (1852) and the company took over the responsibility to make the payment directly.
British economic interest – cause of isolation policy
It is to be noted that, since the discovery of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, by Robert Bruce in the jungle of Assam in 1823 (as a matter of fact, Maniram Dewan, of Rangpur, advised Robert Bruce to go to Bessa Gaam, the Singpho chief of Ningru, who was already using tea as a drink) and subsequent British occupation of the region, massive tea plantation was taken up in upper Assam. Most of these tea gardens were located either in the ancestral tribal land or adjacent to it. The planters had to engage in their tea gardens a large number of labourers, brought mostly from central India and eastern India. They became vulnerable to the frequent raids from the adjoining hill tribes.
It is also to be noted that, during the late 1830s, huge deposits of coal were discovered in Ledo in upper Assam, bordering the Tirap region of the present Arunachal. The British East India Company wanted to extract coal without any hindrance from the tribes.
The initial strategy adopted by the British was to pacify the tribes by evangelising them, so that they refrained themselves from regular raids on the planters. That is why Charles Alexander Bruce, the superintendent of tea culture in Assam, requested Francis Jenkins, the then commissioner and political agent of the governor-heneral in Assam, to invite the American Baptist missionaries. This served the missionary enterprise and the ABM Board gladly seized the opportunity. Accordingly, the first missionaries in the Northeast India, Rev Nathan Brown and Oliver Cutter, along with their family members, arrived in Sadiya in 1836. Rev Miles Bronson and his family members joined on 17 July, 1837. However, due to frequent threats by the Singpho and Khamti tribes, and finally after the Anglo-Khamti war of 1839, they shifted to Jaipur, Assam.
At the advice of Captain Hannah, the 2nd in command of upper Assam and in charge of the coalfield of Ledo, Rev Miles Bronson made an attempt in 1839 to establish a missionary centre and a school in Namsang in the present Tirap district of Arunachal. The adventure was, however, abandoned in 1840.
Thus, the British administration and its so-called ‘civilisation mission’ found it ‘’to be extremely difficult, if not impossible’’ to convert the tribes and pacify them from the repeated raids on British subjects and thereby hampering their economic activities in plain of Assam. Obviously, they had to look for an alternative political and administrative solution to the problem.
Politico-administrative evolution and the policy of isolation
Drawing of an inner line: As per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, an inner line was drawn in 1875, between the territory of the present Arunachal and the then Lakhimpur and Darrang districts of Assam. The inner line was drawn more or less on the same alignment of the Rajgarh Ali. Without an inner line permit, issued by a competent authority, no one was allowed to cross beyond this line. The general laws of the country were not to be applicable beyond the inner line. In a way, the territory beyond the inner line was legally left unadministered. Although, in the long run, this inner line permit system proved to be a blessing in disguise in protecting the tribal rights and identity, actually it was not the intention of the British policy. As a matter of fact, they deliberately kept the tribes outside their administration just to save their economic interest in the plain of Assam and to leave the tribes on their own, without interference in their affairs.
McMahon Line – the external line: In 1914, the Simla Convention was held. The convention was convened by Henry McMahon, the foreign secretary of British India, and attended by the representatives of Tibet and China. The convention negotiated for the northern boundary of present Arunachal, running from the corner of Bhutan to the Isu Razi pass on the Burma border (890 kms), largely on the crest of the eastern Himalayas. This line is known as the McMahon Line, after the name of Henry McMahon, the chief negotiator.
Formation of North East Frontier Tract:In the same year, the North East Frontier Tract (NEFT) was carved out of from Darrang and Lakhimpur districts of Assam, with the hills inhabited or frequented by the tribes, as mentioned in the 1880 Act, constituted the tracks. The NEFT consisted of the western section, the Lakhimpur Tract and the central and eastern sections.
In 1919, the western section was renamed as the Balipara Frontier Tract and the central and eastern section as Sadiya Frontier Track.
In 1937, the post of secretary, and in 1943 the post of advisor for tribal affairs to the governor of Assam were created.
In 1943, the Tirap Frontier Tract was formed by carving out from portions of the Sadiya Frontier Tract and the Lakhimpur Frontier Tract. In 1946, the Balipara Frontier Tract was bifurcated into the Sela sub-agency and the Subansiri area.
It is to be noted that the affairs of the frontier tracts were loosely placed under the ministry of foreign affairs, right from the beginning. Although constitutionally it was a part of Assam, the government of Assam had nothing to do with it, but the governor of Assam had the discretionary power as the agent of the viceroy of British India.
Each frontier tract was headed by a political officer whose office was located in Balipara and Sadiya. Their activities were mostly limited to surveying the area and sending punitive expedition against the tribes whenever they committed raids on the British subjects in the plain. There have been a number of such punitive expeditions against different tribes or group of tribes. The Anglo-Abor war of 1911 was resulted from such expeditions. So much so that the payment of the posa was used as an effective instrument of blackmailing against the tribes who committed raids on the British subjects or who refused to surrender before them.
Towards the end of the British rule, attempt was made to explore the territory by sending either military missions or anthropologists.
Beginning of Indian administration:
The Indian Independent Act of 1947 brought the administration of the NEFT directly under the Assam government and the discretionary power of the governor of Assam was divested of. The NEFT (Internal Administration) Regulation, 1948 divided the Sadiya Frontier Tract into the Abor Hills district and the Mishmi Hills district with headquarters at Pasighat and Sadiya, respectively.
In 1950, the constituent assembly of India appointed the North East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Area Committee, popularly known as the Bordoloi Committee, after the name of its chairman, Gopinath Bordoloi. As per the recommendation of the committee, on 23 February, 1951, the Lakhimpur Frontier Tract and the plain portions of the Balipara Frontier Tract, the Tirap Frontier Tract, the Abor Hills district and the Mishmi Hills district were transferred to Assam and placed under the partially excluded area where the 6th Schedule would not be applicable. The remaining part of the NEFT was restored as an excluded area and the discretionary power of the governor of Assam, as the Agent of the president of India, was reinvested. Tuensang division was created in the NEFT, merging from the Naga tribal area.
In 1952, as a forward policy, the headquarters of the Sela sub-agency was shifted from Balipara to Rupa (later on to Bomdila), the Subansiri area from Kimin to Ziro, the Abor Hills district from Pasighat to Along, the Mishmi Hills district from Sadiya to Tezu, and the Tirap Frontier Tract from Margherita to Khela (later on to Khunsa).
Reorganised as North East Frontier Agency: An important turning point was made in the history of the frontier tracts by passing the North East Frontier (Administration) Regulation, 1954. The regulation brought the total area of the frontier tracts, including the hills districts, into a single administrative unit and renamed the North East Frontier Tracts (NEFT) to North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). The frontier tracts and hills districts were also rechristened. The Sela sub-agency as the Kameng Frontier Division, the Subansiri area as the Subansiri Frontier Division, the Abor Hills district as the Siang Frontier Division, the Mishmi Hills District as the Lohit Frontier Division, the Tirap Frontier Tract as the Tirap Frontier Division, and the Tuensang Frontier Tract as the Tuensang Frontier Division.
In 1957, the post of commissioner, to assist the governor of Assam, was created. The Tuensang Frontier Division was merged to the newly created Naga Hills district of Assam in the same year.
Perhaps, learning lessons from the Chinese debacle of 1962, the territory was brought under the ninistry of home affairs from the ministry of foreign affairs, in 1965. Accordingly, the frontier divisions were renamed as districts and the political officers (PO) were re-designated as deputy commissioners (DC).
Introduction of popular government: The president of India promulgated the North East Frontier Agency Panchayat Raj Regulation, 1967, based on the recommendation of the Daying Ering Committee. The regulation created four-tier local self administration – gram panchayat at village level, anchal samiti at the block level, zilla parishad at the district level and agency council at the territory level. The election to the effect was held for the first time in 1969.
The most important milestone in the annals of the state was, of course, the passing of the North-East Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971. The Act provided the union territory status from 20 January, 1972, and NEFA was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh. The administration of the union territory was run by the president of India, acting through the chief commissioner.
Since attaining the union territory status, the pace of development became much faster than ever before. In 1974, the territorial capital was shifted from Shillong to Itanagar. On 15 August, 1975, the Pradesh Council was converted as the provisional legislative assembly and a council of ministers was appointed for Arunachal. The post of chief commissioner was upgraded to lieutenant governor.
Consequent upon the passing of the 55th amendment of the Constitution and the State of Arunachal Pradesh Act, 1986, Arunachal became the 24th state of federal India with a full-fledged legislative assembly and popularly elected government.
Thus, the take-off history of Arunachal is hardly 50 years old. Certain indicators, like education, speak aloud how late it started. As per official record, there were only three primary schools with a total enrollment of 35 pupils in the whole state in 1947. The first ever census of India was conducted in Arunachal in 1961, the literary rate of the state is recorded at 7.23 percent when the all-India literary rate was 28.30 percent. In the census of 1971, the rate was 11.29 percent against all-India figure of 34.45 percent.
For late starting of the state’s growth and its deadly slow pace of development in the initial stages, the ‘policy of isolation’ by the British Raj is primarily responsible. However, the early Indian governments are also responsible to some extent, for their ‘policy of hesitancy’. (Dr Begi is former chief information commissioner, Arunachal Pradesh)
