Inner Line Permit relevancy to Darjeeling District

In reference to the scribes article of 22 Jan 2010 ‘The locus standi of Darjeeling District vis a vis all aspects related to the ensuing Gorkhaland statehood demand’, it is considered at this point of time, ie. prior to the forthcoming Fifth Tripartite meeting, to delve into the aspects and perspects of the 1873 Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (Line system known as Inner Line Permit). The said regulation was also imposed on Darjeeling District, when other such defined areas with similar regional identity as Backward Tracts were redefined under the designated Govt. of India Schedule Districts Act 1874 (also called Local Laws Extent Act).

In other words the two reforms process are complimentary to each other in the sense that the Regulation which defines territorial compositions of 1874 Act is specific in purpose and complimented each other by a process of restricting inflow of population, both Indian and foreign into these areas restricted by prior obtainment of Inner Line Permit.

What requires to be explained at the present moment is the differentiation and ambit of the 1873 Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (Line system known as Inner Line Permit) in contrast to the Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order 1963. t is believed the former is specific to North East India and relevant to the Govt. of India Act 1935 and Order 1936. Whereas the latter considering the year of Order 1963 is seemingly an outcome of the indo-Chinese war of 1962 and therefore has no direct relations to the former.

The question now stands what became of the former Regulation and since when it was withdrawn is a question to be asked to the Centre as well as the State, provided it is unrelated to the latter. This is to declare why the North Eastern States, including Sikkim within the NE Council, all of whom still preserve the 1873 Regulation.

The question arises why the Regulation as withdrawn in respect of Darjeeling District is surely a million dollar question to be queried by all seekers of a state for the Darjeeling hill peoples. This matter requires clarification from all concerned. Especially now that R.K.Narayan, the eminent former head of intelligent bureau and ex-national security advisor to the PM is now the Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal, is to be petitioned to look into the details of the implications of the two systems of restrictions applied to Darjeeling District as a whole. This for the simple reason that the District now is being over populated by illegal immigrants from all across the adjoining borders and that the Darjeeling hill peoples are facing the same fate of the Chittagong Hill Tracts inhabitants who have been impacted by human rights violation in every aspect of the term.             

A message received from the Govt. of India No.15011/6/89-F.I. Dt: 25.7.90 under D.M. Darjeeling No. 548C Dt: 8.8.90 reproduce below information …. quote ‘from now all the 5 (five) Districts of West Bengal viz. Darjeeling /Cooch Bihar/Jalpaiguri/Malda and West Dinajpur have been excluded from the  purview of Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order 1963, consequent foreign nationals can visit and stay in this Districts without obtaining Restricted Area Permit (R.A.P).

It is a matter of grave concern that the present assemble of statehood seekers require to understand the implications of the said Regulation to further explain the peculiar nature of Darjeeling District (and other such declared regions of India) as distinctly partialled out areas in India. This feature is determined clearly and pointedly beginning by the Scheduled Districts Act 1874 which was forwarded practically intact in the Govt. of India Act 1919 (Backward Tracts 1929) to the Govt. of India Act 1935 specifically distinguishing the regional identity of the respective areas under the terminology and administrative provisions under Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas  Order 1936.

An excerpt maybe quoted here to describe the significance of the terminology of Excluded and Partially Excluded Area during the House of Lords sitting 25 February 1936 while discussing Govt. of India (Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas) Order 1936,…

734 > The Secretary of State for India (The Marquess of Zetland), “My Lords, I beg to move, that …

735 > ….Section 91 of Govt. of India Act …Parliament within six months of the passage of that Act and Order in Council specifying the tracts in India which are to be treated as either wholly excluded areas or as partially excluded areas.

736> …these Districts are known as the Scheduled Districts …Act of 1874 s to exclude the Districts from the direct control of the legislatures, both Central and Provincial then when the Constitution was set up under the Act of 1919 was brought into force, power was given to declare certain areas to be backward areas and power was taken to provide that in such areas the ordinary law should be operative subject to modifications …    

737> ….Governor will be acting in his discretion …in responsibility to Parliament …partially excluded area, the Governor will consult his Ministers, …but he will not be bound to act upon it. ….in the partially excluded areas he should act contrary to the advice of his ministers he will be entitled to do so. That applies in both cases – in the case of wholly excluded area and in the case of partially excluded area – to matters of legislation and to matters of administration.

738> … I need only, perhaps, say a word as to the extent and nature of the excluded and partially excluded areas …   if your Lordships give your assent to his Order, something like 50% of the total number of people in India who maybe described as aboriginal tribes or as primitive peoples will come under the operation of this Order …that the boundaries of such areas shall be defined in easily intelligible terms – that is to say, the boundaries shall be easily recognizable.

739> …The numbers of totally excluded areas is not great ….there is one considerable tract in Bengal …the Chittagong Hill Tracts …about which I might say perhaps a word …I might give your Lordship …the opinion of an Indian whose official duties necessitated that he should reside for a considerable period among these people in the Chittagong Hill Tract. He pointed out that, in their simplicity they are very liable to suffer when they come in contact with the more sophisticated peoples of the plains, and he urged very strongly that measures should be taken to protect them against exploitation by their more sophisticated neighbours. He described the effect of allowing exploitation by the people of the plains…I will read his own rather picturous language: the effect of this would almost be akin to that of putting the innocent lamb and the rapacious wolf into one cage…and he said: perhaps an example better than this would be that of a parasitic creeper which has no root in the soil   - referring here of course to the people of the plains –but which envelopes the foliage of a vigorous tree in a veritable net, flourishes by slowly but surely sapping the life streams of the tree and reducing it in time to dead wood. He went on to express his opinion that the only safeguard for the Chittagong Hill Tract would lie into turning it permanently into an Excluded Area.

Let alone protecting these people, the fate of Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) peoples were sealed to their doomsday when it was transferred to Pakistan by Cyril Radcliffe -Boundary Commission Report 13 August 1947. This came as a shock to Patel and Nehru who had assumed the areas would be awarded to India since they were 97% non-Muslims most of them Buddhists. Since the split of Pakistan creating Bangladesh, the CHT has been the site of some of systematic human rights violation and genocide. The policy of the Bangladesh Govt. had been to destroy the local inhabitants in order to settles its Muslim co-religionists on their place.

A similar turnoff history is taking place in Darjeeling District where the territory has been over populated by foreign immigrants, mostly illegal, marginalizing the Darjeeling hill peoples population substantially to adversely impact them socially, economically, politically and culturally wherewithal to the point of even truncating the recognized historical boundary of the District by the State endeavoring to divide Siliguri subdivision for eventual merger with the State. A word of caution is conveyed here for non implementation of this division program as it will be seen as a contravention of the legal aspect of Darjeeling District, amalgamation of two areas belonging to foreign countries. As a scheme for this picture the territory was administered and governed by the aforesaid Govt. of India Acts responsible to the British Parliament and therefore the Crown.                       

The Govt. of India Act 1935 (an Act to make further provisions for the Govt. of India, 2 August 1935), Part III The Governor’s Provinces, Section 91. Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas and Section 92. Administration of Excluded areas and Partially Excluded Areas –

(1). The executive authority of a Province extends to exclude and partially excluded areas therein, but notwithstanding anything in this Act, no Act of the Federal Legislature or of the Provincial Legislature, shall apply to an excluded area or a partially excluded area, unless the governor by public notification so directs; and the Governor in giving such a direction with respect to any Act may direct that the Act shall in its application to the areas, or to any special part thereof, have effect subject to such exceptions or modifications as he thinks fit.

(2). The Governor may make regulations for the peace and good government of any area in a Province which is for the time being an excluded area, or partially excluded area, and any regulations so made may repeal or amend any Act of the Federal Legislature or of the Provincial Legislature, or any existing Indian law, which is for the time being applicable to the area in question.

Regulations made under this…….in relation to Acts of a Provincial Legislature assented to by him

(3). The Governor shall, as respects any area in a Province which is for the time being an excluded area, exercise his function in his discretion.

The above Order indicates the administrative setup of the excluded and Partially Excluded Areas was outside the purview of general administration of the Centre as well as the Province. The administration of the Excluded Areas was totally under the Governor’s discretion and that of the Partially Excluded Area slightly modified by implication requiring the Governor issuing public notification. This idiosyncrasy describes the governance of Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas was outside the fold of British India but indirectly under the British Parliament ensuing the paramouncy of   the Crown. This paradox is usually difficult to understand for even the intelligentsia not familiar with the arrangement, let alone the politicians at large who are directed more by political ideology than by substance and fact. If the upper strata of the society are unaware of interpretation it is impossible the lower strata, the masses, will understand at all. This is now a dilemma for all concerned in order to implement the historical and chronological background of the Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas.

It is therefore of critical importance that the present seekers of state are familiarized with the substance detailed above than the chanting of mantras and other elusive programs as a part of the agitation. To stress implementation of the above Constitutional format is now the most important platform which requires to be raised at all levels and fronts including the forthcoming Fifth Tripartite meeting. This is, if at all a State is to be created.    

Hillman –the Analyst