COMMENTARY Economic & Political Weekly EPW august 27, 2011 vol xlvi no 35 23 Jayanta Krishna Sarmah ( jayanta1947@gmail. com) is at the department of political science, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam. An Alternative Formulation for Autonomous Councils in Assam Jayanta Krishna Sarmah An alternative formulation of a “de-territorialised” autonomy in Assam staying true to the Sixth Schedule, but entailing amendments to the Constitution is proposed. This should address the concerns of minorities, the claims of other ethnicities for their own autonomous councils and indeed reconcile the presence of “differentiations” and ethnic claims in the state. This alternative formulation could help the state adhere to the idea of a truer autonomy and democracy. T he idea of autonomy is based on the principles of minority and indige- nous rights and the right to self- determination for a community or a region to bestow it substantial administrative, iscal policy and other powers. The concept of autonomy also contains aims of preser- ving and promoting traditional indigenous cultures. An examination of the exercise of autonomy in the autonomous councils of Assam is in order to ascertain the practice of the principle. Such an examination should also help evolve alternative struc- tures to that which are in place. The concept of autonomy initially re- ferred to “self-legislation”, whereby the autonomous individual carried out its will on itself by itself (Schneewind 1997). It has since then also been deined as self- established rules, self-determination, self- organisation and containing self-regulating practices particularly vis-à-vis the State and capitalist social, economic and cul- tural relations. Rawls (1971: 516) also sug- gested that “acting autonomously is acting from principles that we would consent to as free and equal human beings”. It is also wrong to suppose that demo- cracy can do without a concept of auto- nomy altogether. According to Sartori (1987: 315), democracy is the most difi- cult objective to achieve and also the most vital; an ideal that all human beings desire. Fleming (1995:1) argues that the right of autonomy must be situated within a constitutional constructivism – a guid- ing framework for constitutional theory with two fundamental themes – delibera- tive democracy and deliberative autono- my rooted in the language and design of the Constitution. Another important discourse of auto- nomy involves demands for autonomy from hegemonic relations resulting in colonial domination and developmental dependency. These are characterised, for example, by calls for “defensive localisation”, focusing on preserving locally speciic forms of knowledge, development and ways of be- ing in the face of pressures from appar- ently all-encompassing domination by colonial powers (Kevin et al 2006: 190). Defensive localisation imposes rigid bound- aries around the “spatial local” and mini- mises internal differences in the name of some local good. Such deinitions considered, autonomy in the north-east of India is perceived mainly in ethnic terms. This results in an inevitable conlict between autonomy and overdependence on the centre be- cause of the lack of an economic base in the various states. Instead of tackling the real issues of isolation and of socio- economic development, the focus of atten- tion shifts towards the accommodation of competing ethnic claims. At the same- time, demography is the key to under- stand the dynamics of these movements. Thus, the emphasis on culture and ethnic identity is a response to the demographic number games. The north-eastern tribal people had been living in isolation autonomously for centuries (Sing 2002: 39). The British inherited and continued the “inner line” policy from the Ahoms, who ruled Assam for 600 years. The Inner Line Regulation, 1873; the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874; the Government of India Act, 1919 and the Government of India Act, 1935 broadly un- fold British tribal policy and administra- tive principles in erstwhile composite Assam. Assam has been subjected to a process of political ission after Indepen- dence to meet the demand of political autonomy of different ethnic tribes and some structured geographical units. In order to bring the tribal people into the mainstream of national politics and also for their welfare, a number of provi- sions are incorporated in the Constitution. Among them, some are speciically for- mulated for the tribes of north-east India. For example, Article 244(2) of the Consti- tution provides for a Sixth Schedule for bringing development of the tribes of north-east India only because it was assumed that these tribes have some special problems of their own. The idea behind the Sixth Schedule was to provide the tribal people with a simple admini- strative system of their own, so that they could safeguard their own customs and