Congress' "electoral Tsunami" in Mizoram: Why the Congress won a landsliding victory

By - Paritosh Chakma

In the recently concluded MLA elections, the Congress surprised every one by winning 32 seats in the 40-member Legislative Assembly! This surpassed even Congress workers’ own imaginations. It was "electoral Tsunami" for the Congress. The ruling MNF was almost rooted out, struggling to get 3 seats. The newly formed alliance UDA, despite all its tall claims proved to be no factor with 4 seats.

Every one is left guessing and speculating as to what led to this historic win, the first of its kind and magnitute in the electoral history of Mizoram.

Was it a miracle? By no means was it a miracle. It was a vote for change.

There are a complex mixture of several factors which came into play. In my opinion, the main issues were the following:

Killing of Rev. Chanchinmawia: Rev. Chanchinmawia, a veteran and influential Church leader, was allegedly killed. The murder has remained a mystery so far. The accusing figure pointed towards the complicity of the MNF government. The MNF was “compelled” to hand over the case to the CBI, after the Mizoram Police made no headway. The inability of the MNF government to bring the killers to justice did not go well with the Mizoram Presbyterian Synod, the state’s apex church. The church, it is an open secret, plays crucial roles in Mizoram elections. Extremely religious that the Mizos are, the killing of Rev. Chanchinmawia and indifference of the MNF government to nail to killers took the common Mizos away from the MNF.

Corruption: The Congress alleged that Zoramthanga administration was involved in huge corruption of BAFFOCOS money released by the Congress-led UPA government to combat the bamboo famine menace. The visit and lecture of Dr Manmohan Singh in Aizawl who exposed Zoramthanga government’s corruption and inability to deliver good goverance was enough to woo the learned Aizawlites. He shifted the winds in favor of the Congress as the Mizo voters wanted a change for good and corruption free governance. This is evident as the Congress won 8 out of 11 seats in Aizawl city.

Anti-incumbency factor: The Congress did brilliantly exploit the anti-incumbency factor against the MNF. During 10-year rule of the MNF only the leaders (including in the rural areas) benefited financially but not the poor masses. The MNF ignored the masses and paid heavily for this policy. The Congress could convince the voters that it would bring a change. The verdict against the MNF was so strong that Chief Minister Zoramthanga lost in both the seats he contested. This shows the frastration of the people agaisnt his rule and leadership during the 10-year MNF regime.

NLUP card: The Congress played the NLUP card by promising 1 lakh rupees of financial assistance under NLUP scheme for socio-economic development. General voters, especially in the rural areas do “recognize” money and they want some piece of concrete assurance from the political parties. The MNF had nothing new to offer.

Minority factor: The minorites – Chakmas and Brus - are traditional supporters of the Congress Party. They do not determine so mcuh in the government formation but has a critical role to play in at least five constituencies. The Congress continue to charm them.

Mizoram needs an English news website

By - Paritosh Chakma

The one thing which I miss very dearly each day is the absence of English news website from Mizoram to keep myself abreast with the happenings of the state on daily basis.

An online newspaper will enable people of Mizoram have access to daily news of the state even though they may be staying outside the state, for example the students.

In the age of information technology, it is really regrettable, more so given the fact that all other six North Eastern states - Arunachal Pradesh (Arunachal Times, http://www.arunachaltimes.com/), Tripura (http://www.tripurainfo.in/), Meghalaya (The Shillong Times, http://www.theshillongtimes.com/), Nagland (http://www.nagalandpost.com/), and Manipur (http://www.kanglaonline.com/) have online version of their state newspapers, not to speak of Assam which has many of them.

There are at least three English newspapers published from Aizawl – Newslink, The Aizol Times, and the Highlander, and dozens of Mizo dailies, weeklies and even monthlies but they do not have webistes. I know only Vanglaini maintaining a good website http://vanglaini.org/ but I do not understand Mizo so well. Hence, that does not help me.

I must thank to http://zawlbuk.net/ which provides links to “Newslink”. But the links are not regularly updated and sometimes do not cover Newslink daily for a series of days. I must confess that I anxiously keep awaiting such daily updates and I shall be happy if http://zawlbuk.net/ can provide the Newslink news update on daily basis without a miss.

I have been subscribing to the Newslink by post but it takes a long time to reach me. The news get old. But regrettably, even the Newslink fail to cover enough news from rural corners of the state, particularly the social problems.

The Newslink has been the only English daily to have successfully run a website for some time, first in the form of http://www.zoram.com/ and then had its own webpage (I forget the exact link). Another English paper, “Aizol Times” had one http://www.aizoltimes.com/ but the link now shows “this account has been suspended”.

All these news dailies must be facing financial problems to even retain their domain and update them which needs manpower. So, the state government of Mizoram must come forward to help the dailies run their websites successfully and provide sufficient funds for that purpose.

The Young Mizo Association (YMA), the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) and the Mizoram Journalists’ Association (MJA) must extend a demand to the government of Mizoram in this regard.

If Mizoram, which is the second most literate state in India, cannot afford to have a news website, it reflects negatively on the state. Also, it is in the interest of all the people of Mizoram, in particular the intellectuals and students who need to be updated on daily basis about the latest happenings in the state.

Victims of Barbed wire: Chakmas of Mizoram being denied compensation and justice

By- Paritosh Chakma
reporting from Indo-Bangladesh border areas, Mizoram

The ongoing India-Bangladesh Border Fencing Project will displace a total of 5,790 Chakma families consisting of 35,438 persons from 49 villages in Mizoram– representing 49.7% of the state’s Chakma population (71,283 as per Census 2001).

When 49.7% of a community’s people are being affected it can be rightly considered a grave situation and needed urgent attention.

But nothing such thing called “attention” has been given to the affected Chakmas anywhere along the fencing line by the administration.

The fencing of the 318 km Mizoram-Bangladesh international border is being carried out by four public sector construction companies - National Building Construction Corporation Ltd. (NBCC), Border Roads Organization (BRO), Engineering Projects India Limited (EPIL) and National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd (NPCC). In the very beginning, the Chakmas had complained of non-compliance of the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs by these four construction companies while carrying out the fencing alignment and works.

Despite of the alarming situation, no Central team surveyed the area to take stock of the problems of the victims. The state officials did not visit most of the affected villages.

Instead, the state officials and the engineers of the four construction companies have been busy exploiting the situation, to gain the most out of the chaotic situation prevailing in many villages as the villagers (who have never faced such a situation) do not know what to do in order to get proper compensation on time.

They have been helpless and desperate.

In March 2008, a tribal rights NGO based in Delhi filed a complaint with the NHRC against the non-delivery of compensation to the victims and sought an investigation into it.

After the NHRC issued a notice, the District Commissioner of Lunglei has coerced the Village Council members of the Chakma affected villages within the district to provide in writing a letter withdrawing the complaint.

On the other hand, the situation of the victims did not improve, as in many villages they did not get any compensation as yet.When the victims are facing insurmountable problems while getting the basic compensation, what will happen to them with regard to rehabilitation?

What the local authorities of the state government and the constructing companies are interested is how best to get fatter through corruption and mismanagement of the funds awarded by the Central government as compensation to the victims.
(The writer can be contacted at pchakma@gmail.com)

For further information, read http://paritosh-chakma.blogspot.com/2008/02/india-bangladesh-border-fencing-in.html

Praise the verdict!!!!

In July 2008, Lunglei Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) K L Liana convicted Mr Thanthuama, President of Young Mizo Association, Phairuangkai branch (Lunglei district, Mizoram), of raping a Chakma woman at his residence in 2005. (Rapist convict, Newslink, Aizawl, 22 July 2008)

On the night of 15 May 2005, Mr Thanthuama raped a 26-year-old Chakma woman after YMA members found 32 cakes of yeast used for making country liquor during a raid at her jhum hut. Instead of handing over the victim to the police, the accused took her to his home in the pretext of investigation. He forced her to cook food in the evening and raped her at night. Later, after his arrest, the accused confessed to raping the victim before the Lunglei police. (Branch YMA leader confesses to rape, The Newslink, Aizawl, 24 May 2005)

I hail the verdict.

After I came to know of the incident through the Newslink newspaper in May 2005, I was extremely sad that such thing should happen to a poor woman. In Mizoram, selling of liquor is totally banned. But the law should take its own course and a woman should not be raped for allegedly selling or manufacturing country liquor as punishment. More, I was skeptical whether the accused would be brought to justice as he held a post with very powerful Young Mizo Association and the victim belonged to a minority community. But today, my conviction in the fairness of the Indian judiciary has been strengthened as the rapist stands convicted in the court of law.

A rapist must be punished severely and despised by the society for his inhuman act. But I could not know about the sentence.

In the Chakma hinterland in Mizoram, people just wait for Death

By: Paritosh Chakma

The death of 19 persons due to malaria in one month (June-July 2008) in the Chakma dominated village of Marpara in western Mizoram is shockingly disturbing. More shocking is the fact that 15 of them were children. This is only the official figure of the deaths; the unofficial toll is higher. I have been informed that in neighboring Silsury, also a Chakma village under Mamit district, as many as 30-40 persons, if not more, died in June and July 2008 but there has been no official documentation of the deaths. Importantly again, the majority of the deaths were children.

These deaths are only the tip of the iceberg. The larger problem is that the entire western belt of Mizoram inhabited by the minority ethnic Chakmas does not have any semblance of healthcare system.

Yet, the state government does not seem to be at all concerned.

a. Deaths in election year

It seems lives in this part of the planet are considered so less valuable that even high number of unnatural deaths are not officially recorded or reported.

This is not the first time that such a high number of deaths have taken place in a Chakma village in a given year. But this is certainly the first time in the recent memory that the figure has been officially reported and accepted. Every year dozens of Chakmas die of malaria and other “unknown” diseases but get no attention from the government, let alone medical aid.

But 19 deaths in a village within a month in an election year have knocked the sleep off the Mizo National Front government which immediately dispatched a medical team to Marpara and Silsury to take the situation under control. The team reportedly tested blood samples and distributed medicines and mosquito nets. Although I hugely appreciate the wisdom of the Zoramthanga government to send a medical team, I ask - why do politicians act only in times of elections? The mosquito nets and malaria pills were very much necessary throughout the whole year, in particular during the monsoon, but the authorities distributed them to the poor people only after some deaths have been reported. Is it merely a face saving formula and not a genuine effort to contain malaria, the most dreaded disease in the state?

b. Absence of healthcare facilities in Chakma areas

Any genuine effort to combat malaria, or for that matter any other disease, must be holistic. Ad hoc and temporary medical teams are not sufficient to meet the challenges created due to absolute vacuum of healthcare services in the entire western belt of the state. For decades, the healthcare system in the Chakma areas in the western belt has been neglected.

Although Mizoram is one of the 18 “high focus states” in the National Rural Health Mission (2005-2012), the basic healthcare facility is yet to reach the Chakma areas of Mizoram. The goal of the NRHM “to improve the availability of and access to quality healthcare by people, especially for those residing in rural areas, the poor, women and children” is still an unrealistic dream for the entire Chakma population. Forget about the “availability of and access to quality healthcare”, the Chakma villagers are not fortunate even to know the name of the disease which took away the lives of their beloved. While malaria is a household name, other deaths are often attributed to “unknown” diseases. In this age of advanced medical sciences, Chakmas of Mizoram still live in Dark Ages.

The apathy of the state government towards the welfare of the Chakmas has been the single most important factor responsible for this pathetic state of affairs.

188 km away from Aizawl, Marpara villages (I and II) have a combined population of about 2,500. Yet, there is only one Primary Health Centre – that too very ill equipped – to cater to the medical needs of the people of Marpara North and South villages and other neighboring villages like Tarabonye, Hruiduk, and Hnahva. In the PHC, there is no MBBS doctor and the wellbeing of the villagers is being looked after by a Chakma health worker who the villagers know as the “doctor”. Similarly, the Sub Centre in Silsury village (having a population of over 1,000) is being manned by a Chakma health worker. The Sub Centre is in shambles and the Mizo staffs posted in the Sub Centre have taken transfer to elsewhere.

Yet, Marpara and Silsury which are considerably large in size and populations are rated among the best of the Chakma villages in the western belt in terms of access to medical facilities and medicines. If such are the conditions of these two “best” villages, one can imagine the conditions of the other Chakma villages.

In the 21st century the lives of the Chakmas of Mizoram continue to fragilely lie at the mercy of the self trained medics and traditional herbal “doctors” (“Boddyo” in Chakma tongue) who apply their great intuition rather than medical expertise while attending a patient. Despite their lack of sufficient medical skills, these self trained medics have played critical roles in saving a number of precious lives.

In the doomed land of the Chakmas – the western belt of Mizoram – the villagers wait for Death in the absence of medical facilities and doctors. The visuals are still vivid in my mind when one day I visited a seriously sick child (aged about 4 years) in a Chakma village where there is not a single doctor. Many Boddyos (Chakma herbal doctors) were called to save the child but nothing helped. I never felt so helpless in my life as we all waited for the child to die. How we wished there were roads and cars in the village so that we immediately shifted the child to a hospital in Aizawl. In the towns and cities even a minute is crucial to save a life. But in the Chakma hinterland in Mizoram, people just wait for Death, helplessly.

It seems as if we live somewhere in the dense jungles of Africa and not in a rising nation like India. It’s an utter shame!

Yet I am surprised to see a government data of March 2007 which stated that Mizoram had 366 Sub Centres against the required 146; 57 Primary Health Centres against required 22; and 9 Community Health Centres against required 5 in the state! The same data points out that there were 39 doctors at PHCs against required 57 (that is shortfall of 18), there were 303 Heath Workers against required 366 (that is shortfall of 63); but surprisingly no shortfall of Health Assistants (both male and female).

If there is no shortfall, then why there is no medical staffs (health assistants) in Chakma villages, say in Silsury village which has only a health worker at the Sub Centre looking after for over 1,000 villagers?

If there are more than required Sub Centres, as the government has claimed, why is that there is no Sub Centre in Chakma villages including Tarabonye, Hnahva and Hruiduk under Mamit district?

c. Chakmas - victims of state apathy

That the Chakmas have been victims of state apathy is beyond doubt. But whenever the Chakmas level charges of discrimination, denial and apathy against the state government, Aizawl tends to dismiss those charges by giving the impression that they are enjoying self rule under the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) in Lawngtlai district and hence the state government is not to be blamed for their miserable socio-economic and health conditions. But Aizawl will never stress the fact that out of total of about 100,000 Chakmas, about 50% live in areas (particularly under Lunglei and Mamit districts) falling outside the jurisdiction of CADC and they are the most discriminated lot. They are the poorest and most illiterate. Majority of the Chakmas living outside the CADC live in tattered bamboo houses. Their living conditions are shabby and unhygienic which make them most vulnerable to diseases.

In absence of health centres/medical staff in the rural areas, the poor who cannot go to Aizawl for treatment are most likely to die if the self trained medics and Chakma “Boddyos” raise their hands in surrender. It is nothing sort of miracle that some still survive.

The situation is more aggravated due to lack of proper transport system connecting the villages to hospitals.

Yet still, the Chakmas continue to be at the mercy of a section of the hardliners in the society who scrupulously try to block roads to meet their political ends. In the first week of April 2008, there was a blockade against the Chakmas of Marpara, Silsury, Hnahva, Hruiduk and Tarabonye at Mizo village Pukzing by the Pukzing villagers who were protesting against some old demarcation of village boundaries. While the fight ought to have been against the government which is responsible for official demarcation of village council boundaries, the Mizos of Pukzing chose to vent their ire on the most vulnerable – the Chakmas. The blockade called “the Chakma blockade” was intended to be “indefinite” but the protestors were forced by the district officials to withdraw after the second day as it was illegal and immoral. The socalled blockade was informed only through the press but since newspapers do not reach the Chakma villages, the Chakmas were caught unawares. On the first day of the blockade, no Chakma was allowed to pass through Pukzing, the only point of transit for the Chakma villagers to the outside world. The Chakmas traveling on the Mizoram State Transport bus from Marpara to Aizawl were forced to get off and threatened with violence if they did not return home. Despite repeated pleas, even the ailing Chakmas, old men, and pregnant women were not allowed to go with the bus but had to walk on foot back to Marpara which is more than 20 kms away from Pukzing.

The Chakmas faced all the problems for no fault of theirs but authorities failed to take any action against those responsible for imposing a blockade against a minority community which is “racial, communal, illegal and unconstitutional”. The incident was unprecedented and will remain a blot in the social history of Mizoram.

d. Final words

The government of Mizoram cannot remain a blind or silent spectator to the problems facing the minority Chakmas. The Chakmas’ right to enjoy “the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health”, among others, must be ensured as best as possible.

Aizawl must not act only in times of elections but every time and all the time to ensure that not a single precious live is lost due to curable diseases or during child birth. Apart from sending regular medical teams to the rural areas, the state government must put in place permanent structures – health centres, doctors and adequate and regular supply of essential quality drugs must be ensured in every village.

As a short term and effective measure, the government of Mizoram can identify the self trained medics (who otherwise do not have academic qualification to practice medicine) and provide them necessary training and facilities at the expense of the public exchequer to enhance their medical knowledge and expertise to deal with the most common diseases in the rural areas such as malaria, typhoid, jaundice etc. This is the best immediate step the state government can take in the absence of doctors, health centres and medical staff in the rural areas.

However, the long term approaches should be to facilitate Chakma students from Mizoram who aspire to pursue medical courses by providing them financial assistance including scholarships.

Making all government doctors compulsorily serve in rural areas, including Chakma areas for at least five years each is also not a bad idea. This could help overcome the lack of doctors in remote rural areas.

Howzattt!!! A Chakma cricket match in Delhi

The other day I got a visit from two of my friends wanting to know if I was willing to play a cricket match against the Chakma team from Naraina.

I agreed to play if my neck allowed me (I was having pain in the neck due to wrong sleeping posture).

Sunday, the 29th June 2008 came. I was waiting for a phone call from my friend Tejang to know if the match would be held. Till 7-30 in the morning, he did not ring me. And I thought the match must have stood cancelled due to lack of players till I got another call from him ten minutes later.

We reached the play ground, a park in Janakpuri where the Chakma boys were already practicing. I saw three other teams playing on their own pitches. No one fought for space.

The game was about to begin. The players were counted. No team could not bring 11 each. The Naraina team was one short, and we were one more. So we generously lent Mukul, who is a good player to the opposition team. We made 8 in each team.

Each inning was decided at 15 overs.

The coin was tossed and our team was asked to bat first. To my surprise, I was asked to open. I murmured a few words saying to myself I had no experience to bat first.

I have not played cricket for the last five years which stole the practice out of me. In school, I had played the game. Occasionally, we also used to take the field in the village (when I went during long holidays after end of examinations).

Yet, I think I did fairly well hitting the ball off the fence at least two times. I also picked up some singles. But mostly my bat was missing the ball due to lack of practice.

Many players of my team did wonderfully with the bat. Tejang scored most individual runs with several master strokes.

We set a target of 121 before the opposition at the end of 15 overs.

The opposition made a bad start but they managed to recover in the end when they made most of the runs. At a point of time, we thought they were going to win until the last wicket fell. The wicket keeper caught my good friend Ranjoy behind the stumps and appealed for his dismissal. The bowler and other players appealed too. It seemed the ball hit the bat by a fraction. But there was no third empire or a possibility of a reply. It could have been a controversial dismissal, but Ranjay, a gentleman that he is, nodded his head in approval even before the empire pronounced his decision.

The opposition were short of 4 runs.

We celebrated our win. Took a rest. The opposition captain handed over the prize money (Match fee of Rs 50 by each player) to our captain. All of us held a discussion regarding the modalities for holding another match. Another cricket match was fixed.

We shook hands and departed.

The winning team (we also brought “our man” Mukul with us) gathered in a room. It’s time for celebration.

In the celebration room, captain Victor handed over the man of the match trophy (a bottle of beer Haywards 50000) to Tejang and everybody cheered for him. As a show of kind gesture to me, I was given the second beer bottle, my trophy as best debutant, although no such trophy might have existed in the game of cricket.

In the glee, we discussed how our bowling was awfully bad. 30% of the total runs were conceded by our bowlers through wide and no balls.

But no one criticized anyone. It was a game played simply to derive fun.

The Chakmas are a small, marginalized community in this planet. The losing side had not the slight feeling of dejection. It was partly because everybody of us was silently aware of the social importance attached to a cricket match such as this one.

Personally, I derived the greatest satisfaction although the next day my entire body was aching. Many cricket matches have been played by the Chakmas in Delhi grounds but this was the first time I participated.

In defence of the Inner Line Permit system in Mizoram

The Shillong Times, 26 June 2008 (http://www.theshillongtimes.com/editorial.html)

By: Paritosh Chakma

This article is in defence of the Inner Line Permit regulations in Mizoram in the wake of the recent Gauhati High Court judgement that Mizoram government should not arrest or deport any body for not having valid inner line permit (ILP). I was aghast to hear the judgement. What are the police expected to do if not arrest an "illegal outsider"? The Court's order has definitely provided impunity to all those staying on in the state without the valid papers. Illegal outsiders can pose serious threats to the peace and security of the state.

The government of Mizoram has announced that it would challenge the High Court order "up to the Supreme Court".

If there is a law in place, all must abide by it and defaulters must be punished. The legal formalities under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873 require any Indian Citizen who is not a resident of Mizoram to have an Inner Line Pass to enter the state. Two other North Eastern states - Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh also have the ILP system.

Foreigners touring North East India are required to obtain Restricted Area Permit from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Most mainland Indians and non-tribals of the N-E region oppose the ILP system on the ground that restrictions violate the fundamental rights of the citizens of India including the right to free movement throughout the country and to take up employment. But everyone must understand that the Inner Line Permit is a "protective discrimination" for the indigenous populations of the states of Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, introduced by the British to protect the indigenous populations from the onslaught of "the outsiders" and has been retained in Independent India.

The ILP's aim is not to harass or prevent entry of non-Mizo Indian nationals per se but to secure the future of the natives by protecting the sanctity of their socio-cultural rights, preventing demographic upheaval leading to invasion of their political bastion by the "outsiders" which has been the case with Tripura. Due to the large-scale influx from Bangladesh, the indigenous peoples of Tripura have been reduced to minority. The defeat of another North Eastern state - Assam - in identifying and deporting millions of illegal Bangladeshis is also known to all of us.

The guidelines for enforcement of the Inner Line Regulation in Mizoram notified on 8.9.2006 clearly state that the visitors must not be harassed at the check gates: "Therefore, the method of checking should be as simple as possible, yet effective so that no one who is required to possess an Inner Line Pass, enters without a pass".

Protecting the natives from influx and demographic invasion by "outsiders" was one of the top priorities in the minds of the Mizo leaders when they demanded statehood. Thus, the Mizoram Accord of 1986 between the Mizo National Front and the government of India provides that "The Inner Line Regulation, now in force in Mizoram, will not be amended or repealed without consulting the State Government." It would have been far better had MNF supremo Mr Laldenga stressed for insertion of the word "consent" in place of "consulting", for "consultation" is not always equal to obtaining "consent" of a party. "Consent" requires the approval of the concerned party who has the right to say "no".

Issuing of ILPs is "subject to availability of a sponsor who is a bonafide indigenous resident (of Mizoram)" and their renewal or extension is allowed "subject to the good conduct of the ILP holder that he/she is not involved in any criminal activity". Hence, it is clear that the system seeks to be an effective mechanism to check illegal infiltration of "outsiders" and their illegal activities in Mizoram.

The ILP's aim is not to harass or prevent entry of non-Mizo Indian nationals per se but to secure the future of the natives by protecting the sanctity of their socio-cultural rights, preventing demographic upheaval leading to invasion of their political bastion by the "outsiders" which has been the case with Tripura. Due to the large-scale influx from Bangladesh, the indigenous peoples of Tripura have been reduced to minority. The defeat of another North Eastern state - Assam - in identifying and deporting millions of illegal Bangladeshis is also known to all of us.

Land is the most important source of livelihood and critical for our survival. Yet, the tribals have been losing their lands to the non-tribals across the country despite presence of various legal safeguards. The Constitution of India under the 5th Schedule protects the land rights of the tribals in mainland India. In the North East India, the 6th Schedule of the Constitution authorizes the Autonomous District Councils to make appropriate laws against land alienation. In addition, at the state level, there are numerous laws prohibiting transfer of lands from indigenous/ tribal peoples to "non-tribals". But the non-tribals have been successful in taking control of the lands belonging to the tribals by adopting various tricks including fraudulent means, marrying tribal women, harassment through police and goons, in addition to purchasing although transfer of tribal lands to non-tribals is illegal.

According to the 2007-2008 Annual Report of the Ministry of Rural Development, a total of 506,307 cases of tribal land alienation have been registered (involving 902,417 acres of land) in India so far. The statistics provided in the report further proves that the tribals have been losing their legal battles in the Courts to recover their lands. Out of the total of 430,450 cases (involving 851,372 acres of land) disposed of by the Courts in the country, 46.1% (198,674 cases involving 410,587 acres of land) were decided against the tribals which means the tribal victims could not get back their lands. Lack of proper legal documents proving ownership of the land and inability to hire good lawyers to fight the cases in Court often acted against the tribals while seeking to restore the alienated land.

There has been no report of any alienation of tribal lands in Mizoram and the state government too has not released any such data. The Inner Line Permit regulation has been instrumental in averting such illegal activities by non-locals. On 1 April 2008, Mizoram Home Minister Mr Tawnluia informed the State Assembly that 22 Bangladeshis who entered the state illegally were arrested and deported to Bangladesh during 2007-2008.

In order to protect the interests of the indigenous peoples of Mizoram, it is extremely necessary that the Inner Line Permit system is strictly enforced. But ILP is not enforced strictly. For example, every non-Mizo resident passenger is asked to produce ILP during entry at the check gate at Vairangte, but I have not seen the law enforcement personnel checking the validity of the ILP of the persons during exit. If police do not check the ILP validity during exit, it means any ILP holder can overstay in the state without the fear of being caught and prosecuted for the crime. At the same time, it is equally important that no bonafide citizen of India, irrespective of caste, creed, sex, colour or religion, or any foreigner having entered the state for valid purposes with valid papers should be harassed in any way. In order to detect illegal outsiders, the police have been entrusted with the duty to conduct "surprise checks" in every district at least once in a month. However, due to the failure of the police to do so, there have been reports of raids conducted by non-state actors to identify the alleged illegal outsiders. Such acts, though done while keeping in mind the interests of the state, are absolutely illegal and uncalled for. This will further create a deep sense of fear among the non-locals including tourists which is not in the wholesome interest of the state.

It is everyone's duty to uphold the human rights of ALL while enforcing the laws of the land.