NEIPF conference concluded with the Diphupar Declaration

2^nd General Conference of North East Indigenous People’s Forum (NEIPF)

Dated:  29^th & 30^th April, 2022.

Host: Nagaland Indigenous People’s Forum, Dimapur.

After the welcome address by the president Dr. Temsuwati Longkumer, the much awaited 2^nd General Conference of North East Indigenous People’s Forum begins on 29^th April, 2022, with the key-note address by the NEIPF chief convener Anup Chetia.

Anup Chetia said that ,  ‘The indigenous people of Northeast have faced great hardship in their own homeland. That was the reason of forming the Indigenous Forum, Assam, when the indigenous people’s life and their property were at stake in Silapathar, Assam. The miscreants have openly shown their strength by vandalizing All Assam Students Union’s(AASU)  office at Silapathar and than in Nagaon, by thrashing some indigenous people and made inflicting VDOs which were circulated in the social media to demote the strength of the indigenous people. Moreover, these people have assembled and took out a procession at Bijni, Assam, against the indigenous peoples of Assam.

‘That was the reason, we have decided to standby along with our own indigenous people and created the platform as Indigenous  Forum, Assam. We felt that the same scenario would occur in other parts of Northeast too. Hence, with the stake holders of organizations and members, North East Indigenous Peoples Forum (NEIPF) has been formed with the objectives to work for the greater interest of the indigenous people of the region and to promote and protect indigenous culture, language and identity of our people.’

“The north eastern region has over 200 tribes, and we all stand together to fight for the cause and to snatch our rights to establish our pride as Indigenous people of Northeast” – Anup Chetia

Anup Chetia boldly said in his key-note address that,’ There has been propaganda against our initiatives and views were aired about the intention of creation of the platform like NEIPF. I hereby reiterate that our sole concern that the interest of the indigenous people of Northeast must be protected and the efforts of diminishing the unity, integrity and pride of Indigenous Northeast people would be dealt appropriately. The north eastern region has over 200 tribes, and we all stand together to fight for the cause and to snatch our rights to establish our pride as Indigenous people   of Northeast.’

Again, Chetia said, ‘The Indigenous people of Tripura have become the minority community in their own homeland due to the unabated influx from Bangladesh.  Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya too would face such situations in the days to come. The Northeast people are attached by a common cord, culture and a living style which are different than the mainland India. Despite of this common umbilical thread, at times the border disputes are created to divide the age old relationship among the northeast people. We, at NEIPF, have vowed to address such issues by creating this common platform among our indigenous people. At any cost we must not divide ourselves on such trivial issues rather we would stand united to fight our common enemies.’

“Most of the indigenous people of the Northeast are endangered,” Temjen Imna Along

Anup Chetia narrated, ‘Historically the people of Northeast are attached with a common umbilical cord. During the ‘Ahom rule’ in Assam, people have maintained relationship with other communities by the institution of marriage and friendship. However, the vested circles intend to create turbulence among the indigenous people of northeast in the issues like border disputes etc., so that their desired objectives can be achieved.  The primary issues of northeast lies in geo-political issues of its border, protection of its identity, culture and language. The narration indicates the fault lines that has been inherited in its divided past. For the benefit of governance, the region has been divided, organised, attached with other province and again reorganized to suit their purpose.

  ‘The genesis of all issues lies in their administrative reorganisation and encouraging immigration to suit their governance. The trend transformed the place into a ‘resource wars’. Invasion, Political and cultural assault, extreme violence are becoming the order of the day. The British policy continues and does not absolve post 1947 politics. Border disputes are also the offshoot of post 1947 Politics.  The  inhabitants of the border areas are encroachers and mostly illegal immigrants. They are the trouble makers and the blames goes to the states that are in border conflicts. If these issues are fairly addressed the present day imbroglio of Northeastern part of India wouldn’t have been the same.  The people of Northeast demanding their ‘prior rights’ to live where they always have been lived and the way they choose and control all the decisions pertaining to their land and its resources. The land bears only economic potentials for some but for the indigenous northeaster people they treat their land as cultural home as primary and economic potentials as secondary. Thus the solutions on the internal issues are to be resolved amicably by having extensive discussions on people to people level and with the sole objective to maintain harmony among the indigenous people.’

“The two-day annual conference concluded on 30-04-2022 with the ‘Diphupar Declaration,’ drawing attention of the North East States to address the interstate boundaries with utmost care, and urged to “give preference to the Indigenous Peoples in the settlement.”

‘It is highly desirable to build our country as a strong federal state. But while extending the desire ruthlessly and keeping in abeyance the indigenous peoples interests are detrimental to the ethos of Northeast people.  The writing on the wall is that there is a tendency on the part of pseudo-democratic central leadership to sacrifice regional interest at the altar of larger national interest. And that is a fallacy which is bound to cause alienation in the line of language and religion in the northeast. The need of the hour is to uphold the spirit of democracy,’ Chetia said, ‘  I hope this confluence would deliberate on establishing the common pride of indigenous North east people and mend new ways towards achieving common goal in the ever competitive and ever changing global scenario.’

He concluded, ‘and here we stand, to send the message of unity of the people, not as a member of Indigenous communities but as one of Indigenous people of Northeast,  for strengthening the age old relationship among the indigenous peoples of the northeast and stay united for a common cause. The indigenous identity of the Northeastern people must be protected and activity like conducting such a confluence sends the strong message of unity to the rest of the people of the world.’ 

Temjen Imna Along, Minister of Higher Education and Tribal Affairs of Nagaland, said as a Special Guest, ‘most of the indigenous people of the Northeast are endangered with some having a population of less than one lakh; and commercialisation has made them fail to realise that their rights and heritage have been compromised many a time.’

“The people of the NE though unique, are not united and very easy-going. This is a trait that we need to do away with,” Mevar Kumar Jamatia

Temjen Imna Along said, ‘let us make it a way of life to preserve our indigenous heritage; only then we will pursuit (preservation of heritage).’  Special Guest Temjen Imna Along urged the gathering to be assimilative in their approach but not forget “who they are first” and not forget to preserve their heritage.’

Temjen Imna Along acknowledged the organisers of the event for its pragmatic and practical way that will help carry forward the interest of the indigenous people of the Northeast in the pursuit of preserving their culture, tradition, and most importantly, their heritage and identity.

Sri Radheshyam, MLA from Manipur conveyed greetings to all the delegates, participants, guests for attending in the conference at Nagaland and he urged everyone for unity and love, bonding and cooperation.  Manipur MLA Thokchom Radheshyam Singh also addressed the delegates and called for collaborations among the indigenous people, instead of competitions.’ We have to assert our good practices, our culture as indigenous people and find ways to collaborate and move ahead in the ever competitive global scenario’, he said.

Second Day

The two-day annual conference concluded on 30-04-2022 with the ‘Diphupar Declaration,’ drawing attention of the North East States to address the interstate boundaries with utmost care, and urged to “give preference to the Indigenous Peoples in the settlement.”

The historic declaration was adopted following the deliberation with delegates, resource persons, scholars, intellectuals and representatives of various organisations over the two-day conference at the North East Zone Cultural Centre, Diphupar, hosted by the Nagaland Indigenous People’s Forum. The Diphupar Declaration referred to the Forum’s resolve to continuously strive for the creation of a cordial atmosphere for the Indigenous Peoples of the North East States to share common interests and issues.

“The states of North-East to set up agendas which would be beneficial Indigenous People, especially for the youth”, Apok Jamir

The NEIPF will make an endeavor in the pursuit of preserving indigenous traditional values and cultural practices, the document stated. It also demanded assurances that the Indigenous People would be made stakeholders in every decision concerning the people and the land.

One important points highlighted during the second day of the conference was the ‘shared history’ between the Indigenous Peoples of the region.  Several speakers underscored that most of the issues that exist between the indigenous communities are rooted in their shared colonial history.

Prof Kaustubh Deka of Dibrugarh University, Assam said that while most of the North Eastern states were bifurcated out of colonial Assam, the people have a history of interconnectedness that goes beyond the colonial era. Prof Deka said that it is important for Indigenous Peoples to reflect on the shared history in order to get to the root of the conflict and perhaps find a way to resolve them.

“It is important for Indigenous Peoples to reflect on the shared history in order to get to the root of the conflict and perhaps find a way to resolve them”, Prof Kaustubh Deka.

Prof Deka said again that while there are several mechanisms to resolve these border disputes such as the Court of law, introduction of neutral force or paramilitary in disputed areas, etc., the most effective would be people to people consultations. Deka said again, ‘our folk culture speaks of friendships,’ while emphasising that people at the grassroots has found a way to coexist, despite all the problems or disputes.’ 

Monikangkan Barooah, an advocate & a delegate from Assam highlighted few key issues in the concluding discussion. He said,’ the issues of indigenous people of Northeast are many , however a few are worth mentioning like protection of land and their identity, border disputes within the NE states, awareness of their indigenous rights post colonisation , protection of Indigenous technologies or traditional knowledge system under the Copyright Act, Patent Act etc. aligning with international treaties like WCT (WIPO copyright treaty) and WPPT ( WIPO performers and Phonograms Teary) and CBD (Convention of Biodiversity) Treaty. While protecting their rights the indigenous people of Northeast must change the ‘form of protest’ like blockade, bandh etc and resort to new tech tick to maneuver the desired results. As the new development of roads are taking place like Asian Highway 1, Asian Highway 2, the proposed ring road within the Northeast connecting all the state head quarters, the bottleneck of chicken neck corridor would evaporate with few years to come. The ongoing Kaladan Multi-Modal transit transport Project ( Combination of sea road route) would reduce the distance between Kolkata to NE states of Mizoram, Nagaland to just 1000 km. In that scenario, new challenges would pop up and the indigenous people should perform callisthenics in unison to deal that.’ 

Monikangkan Barooah said again, ‘use of indigenous mascot and logos by the MNCs are also cause of concern as the people are not aware of their rights and such use of indigenous mascot should be stopped. The indigenous people needs to be aware that their traditional knowledge are not patented by the MNCs. As the Northeast has international borders, state borders aw well as tribal belts within the states, the geo-fencing technologies may be used to demarcate the tribal belts, state borders and also international borders to stop infiltration.’

Bhaskar Jyoti Baruah, MLA from Titabar, Assam, noted that border disputes are at the core of most differences among the communities in the region. Noting that his constituency shares most of its boundaries with Wokha district in Nagaland, he maintained that the people from both sides of the border engage in cultural exchange programmes, sporting events, etc and maintain a strong bond.

Government of India’s Act East Policy would bring an ‘onslaught of development’ and change the concept of boundaries in the region, former MP C Apok Jamir called on the states of North-East to set up agendas which would be beneficial Indigenous People, especially for the youth. Referring to the theme of the conference—‘Together in Unity,’ he said that a single state cannot face the onslaught alone. Apok Jamir also said that among all the remedies for resolving differences, human bonding vis-a-vis people to people dialogue is most effective. “When we take everything from the political perspective, the human aspect is lost and the people on the ground suffer,” he said, adding that leaders and decision makers should keep this in mind and accordingly, have the political will to resolve matters.

Special guest for the conference, Mevar Kumar Jamatia, Minister for Tribal Welfare, Tripura, said that the people of the NE though unique, are not united and very easy-going. This is a trait that we need to do away with, he said.

Mevar Kumar Jamatia also said that there are three main requirements for people to survive anywhere—peace of mind, security, and balanced development. “Do we have this in the North East? Can we provide these for our people?” Mevar Kumar Jamatia questioned before the political and civil society leaders. He again said, “We cannot be blaming others for the lack of these in our region,” he requested the leaders to use the NEIPF as a platform to have meaningful and actionable dialogues. 

The two-day conference was very vibrant and colourful with the presence and presentation of Nagaland Chambers of Choirs, unique Naga dances, Bihu dance, Karbi dance, Kachari dance, etc.

“The magnificent performance of Ao indigenous singers enthralls all the crowd with their natural flawless voices by the songLove & Peace[ the song calls upon the seven sisters of North East to come together as one and make our land a land of miracles].”

It must be mentioned that the magnificent performance of Ao indigenous singers ( by Temsumongba Ozukum, singer & song writer and winner of the Nagaland Music Award 2021 in the category of folk fusion; Chubatsur Jamir, popular Ao folk fusion singer and song writer; Opanglangba Kichu, Music promoter East Dimapur Ao Baptist Church). Their song ‘Love & Peace’[ The song calls upon the seven sisters of North East to come together as one and make our land a land of miracles, music & lyrics by Chubatsur Jamir] enthralls all the crowd with their natural flawless voices.

In the two-day conference, a new Executive Body of the NEIPF was also constituted on 29-04-2022 with Anup Chetia as Chairperson, Dr Lima Jamir and Tage Lapung as Vice-Chairpersons, and N Ibungochoubi as General Secretary.

The untiring coordination and works of Sri Khehoto Swu, Adviser NIPF; Dr Lima Jamir, Adviser,NIPF; Sri Ibungochoubi, Convenor, NEIPF; Hukuto Khulu, and sincere volunteers of the event made it most successful.

01-05-2022

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