Understanding ethnicity and ground reality: A socio-political case study of the Rabha tribal community of Assam in their fight for sixth schedule

Abstract

The North-eastern part of India is often viewed by the mainstream to be a conflicted zone, where issues pertain between the neighbouring states and more often than not, within a single state as well. The state of Assam is dissected into diverse groups of ethnicities which have long been subdued and their rights unrecognized and overlapped by the mainstream dominance of the Assamese community. Faced with enormous socio-economic backwardness, national and domestic politics; understanding the appeal and demands of the tribal community is greatly significant in history and shaping of policies and politics of the contemporary times. One such tribe within Assam is the Rabha Schedule Tribe community has been fighting for complete autonomy within the state itself since post-independence period. Therefore, the paper tries to understand the historical politics responsible for forming the basis of the present autonomy movement of the Rabha community. Moreover, it is evident that the state has not been ignorant on this front and have continuously taken measures for the betterment and upliftment of the community, however there still remains to be a larger dissatisfaction looming around among the Rabha community and its political associations. The reasons pertaining to this dissatisfaction and the gap that needs to be filled between the state and the community will be scrutinized through this paper. The main focus of the paper remains the beneficiaries; upholding their views on the movement and ensuring their needs being met in the ground reality; abstaining from forming prejudices and biases as the tribal community continuous to live with the Assamese community at large in the Goalpara district of Assam, the district majorly inhabited by the co-existence of Rabha tribal community and Assamese community. Keeping this in focus, the question that the paper answers is how the beneficiaries will benefit from a separate state that is currently being denied or whether it is a mere political motive of the people in authority.Keywords: Ethnicity, rabha tribal community, autonomy, rabha hasong autonomous council (rhac), all rabha students union (arsu), sixth schedule 1 According to Oxford Learners Dictionary, facts of belongingness depends on many factors such as class, gender, age and ethnicity.