Headlines       Vol. 1 Issue 42-43

Mar 22- Apr 6,   1999

TNV for Article 370 for Tripura For safeguarding the ethnic identity of the Tripura tribals, the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) has demanded promulgation of Article 370 like Jammu and Kashmir or at least Article 371 like Nagaland in the State. According to the TNV president Bijay Kumar Hrangkhal the need of the hour is a constitutional amendment for Tripura tribals. However, he discarded the idea of autonomous State for tribals under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution. Mr. Hrangkhal felt that if Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) covering 66 per cent land of the State became autonomous, it would result in a partition which is neither desireable nor acceptable. Interestingly, TNV's ally Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti (TUJS) has long been demanding for turning TTAADC under sixth schedule into an autonomous State. The TNV supremo has questioned why should the tribals of Tripura be confined to a particular area while the State belongs to them. Mr. Hrangkhal further opined that the proposal of an autonomous State was not economically viable. He maintained that the only safeguard could be provided to the tribals with constitutional arrangement in the fast-changing demographic set up in Tripura.

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