An increasingly centralised state

Witoubou Newmai

 

There have been much derision, and in the same time, apprehensions in many parts of India after the scrapping of Article 370 and Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir by the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. The fear is also drawn more from the manner how the status of Jammu and Kashmir has been degraded to the Union Territory status from the State status.


Post Article 370 and Article 35A, there have been apprehensions in various parts of India that other special provisions/statuses are also no longer safe. But interestingly, certain leaders and parties are trying to allay fears by ‘assuring’ that other special provisions or special statuses are quite safe. But more interesting part is also about those people who failed to see what is all about the increasingly centralised state means.


One also needs to view things in so many different other frames when it comes to something like the prevailing situation.


Those competing ideas about India are one aspect to be taken into account while dissecting to assess the situation. In doing this, one may also note that the spirit of the Indian Constitution is federal in structure or form and “unitary in spirit”. However, it appears that the BJP led government is working to have “unitary in structure,” too. In order to get the clearer pictures of the current repression, one may also go back to the ‘One nation, one law’ and ‘Uniform Civil Code’ expressions.


These ‘One Nation, One Law’ and ‘Uniform Civil Code’ are some of the concerns which need to be elaborated to the core, and incorporate them in the discourses with regard to the current repression so as to get clearer pictures.
The proposed move of the BJP led government at the Centre to amend the Indian Forest Act, 1927 is also another sign about the increasingly centralized state.


The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Zo Indigenous Forum (ZIF), an organisation fighting for the rights of the indigenous Mizos,  have been expressing concerns on the proposed Indian Forest Bill (to be amended the Indian Forest Act or IFA, 1927).


The KHADC has maintained that the proposed move of the Centre to amend the Indian Forest Act, 1927 should not in any way conflict with the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India, while the ZIF has submitted a memorandum to the UN earlier this month, saying that the Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2019 is anti-indigenous and is against the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India.


The nub of the argument is thus: where does our story stand amid the intense restructuring of the state?