State to suggest whether the inclusion of the Gorkha majority areas in the Terai-Dooars area in the GTA is feasible or not

SILIGURI, 7 SEPT: As the saying goes, when politicians see light at the end of the tunnel, they go out and, perhaps unknowingly, buy some more tunnels.
This is evident in the state government’s handling of the sensitive issues related to the GJMM clamour for land in the multi-ethnic Terai-Dooars region. As is well-known, the state government has appointed a committee to suggest whether the inclusion of the Gorkha majority areas in the Terai-Dooars area in the GTA is feasible or not. The committee has already had its first meeting last week. The GJMM keeps stressing on identifying such areas on the basis of Census report.
But is the matter so simple? Apart from the possible inter-ethnic ferment, there is a far more serious ramification over the matter. It is related to the question of Indian citizenship involving the settlers from Nepal. Two things would come to the fore once the subject is taken up in earnest. These are the Clauses VI and VII of the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty and the continuing migration from across Nepal taking advantage of these and, more importantly, the Extra Ordinary Gazette Notification issued by the Union home ministry in 1988 just after the DGHC agreement was inked. As per the above mentioned Clauses, the people from Nepal can stay here as treaty beneficiaries sans the political rights a genuine Indian citizen enjoys. And the gazette notification has made it unambiguously clear that those who got settled in India prior to 26 January 1950 and their descendants are Indian citizens. So the question is ~ what is the citizenship status of those who came and got settled within the Indian territory after the cut-off date?
 The GJMM wants the 2011 Census report to be the basis for identifying the Gorkha majority "mouzas" in the Terai-Dooars area. The party might also claim that the Gorkha people settled there are Indian citizens as their names figure in the electoral roll.
But can mere inclusion of names in the electoral rolls make them Indian citizens? Mr Subash Ghisingh raised the issue with the former chief election commissioner, Mr TN Seshan, in July 1991. Would the state government consider the treaty beneficiaries as part of the corpus Gorkha community when it comes to identifying Gorkha-majority areas for the GTA territory?
There is no problem if the 1951 Census is made the basis, for all those whose names figured there and their descendants are Indian citizens. But can the treaty beneficiaries be treated at par with the Indian citizens, particularly when ~ and it is a well-known fact ~ the Nepalese migrants from Burma and Bhutan, apart from Meghalaya in the North-east got settled in the Terai-Dooars in large numbers in the wake of ethnic ferment in these areas?
Can the non-citizen migrants decide things when such a serious issue is involved? The question is, should the matter be glossed over for the state government’s eagerness to straighten things out in the Hills?
-SNS