No real autonomy for the Darjeling hills post agreement

Anirban Roy  | Kolkata, July 19, 2011: Darjeeling hills in West Bengal was in a festive mood on Monday over the tripartite Gorkha agreement , without realising that they did not get a lot of powers, which the other autonomous councils in the north-eastern states enjoy.

With the signing of the agreement, the new Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has been vested with powers to regulate 54 subjects, including land, forest, education and tea plantation. It would also levy local taxes.

The power to control tea plantation is definitely a shot in the arm for the Gorkhas. A major portion of the state's revenue in the Darjeeling hills flows in from the tea sector.

The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) had control over only 19 subjects.

The DGHC did not have powers to regulate tea plantation and higher education.

But, it is clearly evident that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders were in hurry to sign the tripartite agreement and failed to realise that in their bargain over more subjects and territory, they missed out on negotiating for legislative and judicial powers for the new GTA. Drawing a comparison with the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), it is clearly evident that the new GTA has missed out on its legislative powers. Constituted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, BTC covers five districts in Assam, and is believed to be the strongest autonomous council in India. It enjoys legislative powers as well.

All the three autonomous councils in Meghalaya - Khasi, Jaintia and Garo - also enjoy judicial powers, in addition to its executive and legislature authorities.

All the judgments awarded by the courts of the autonomous councils in Meghalaya are respected by even the high courts and the Supreme Court of India.

The GJM leaders are apparently euphoric with the nomenclature of the new power arrangement for Darjeeling . With the prefix "Gorkhaland ", the Gorkha leaders are buoyant that its demand for a separate state is "half- achieved". Even the Gorkha leaders are yet to realise that their dependence on the state overnment is still not over. Though the GTA would draft its own budget, a large portion of the money will be allocated by the state government.

In case of GTA, New Delhi has promised a development grant of 200 crore per year. But, for other expenses, the Gorkhaland administration will have to look at Mamata Banerjee's government.

The GJM leadership should have tried to understand that autonomy can only be achieved with financial independence. As long as they depend on the state government for funds, the Gorkhas of Darjeeling, or the GTA can never be self-governing in the true sense.
~Courtesy:  indiatoday