To redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) in Assam
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Assam government and the Bodo groups on Monday signed an agreement to redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) in Assam, currently spread over four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri.
As per the agreement, villages dominated by Bodos that were presently outside the BTAD would be included and those with non-Bodo population would be excluded, Assam Finance Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma said. Bodos living in the hills would be conferred a Scheduled Hill Tribe status, he noted.
Mr. Sarma asserted that as of now the agreement had not addressed the issue of “citizenship or work permit” for non-domiciles in the BTAD, to be renamed as the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
Several Bodo groups led by the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) have been demanding a separate land for the ethnic community since 1972, a movement that has claimed nearly 4,000 lives.
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