Minutes of the Governing Body Meeting, ICITP-NEZ

The first Governing Body Meeting of the 6 th Indian Confederation of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples North East Zone was held in its office from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm on 11 th of May 2008. Jebra Ram Muchahary, the President of the ICITP-NEZ chaired the meeting. Altogether 22 GB members attended the meeting The following matters were discussed during the meeting: The GB members attended the meeting

1. Follow up of the 6th General Assembly ICITP-NEZ;
2. Website of ICITP-NEZ;
3. Taking and handing of charges of the office bearers;
4. Promulgation of Yearly Calendar/Programmes/Projects;
5. State Level Committee data’s (Office address, office bearers contact addresses, State/district wise tribal populations in each zone);
6. Budegt for 2008-2009
7. Financial Matters;
8. Miscellaneous.

Mr. Tago Duchok, one of the Joint Secretaries of ICITP-NEZ initiated the meetings with his official opening remarks and proposed Mr. Jebra Ram Muchahary to preside over the meeting who was seconded by Mr. Umesh Brahma.

Mr. P. Borthakur, the official representative of rediff.com, BSA, Guwahati Office, was asked to brief on the web site construction of the ICITP-NEZ by the president who elaborated on the matter. The web site was inaugurated by the invited guest Mr. D. Nunisa.

Mr. Kolhi Wetsah asked about the follow up action on the contribution towards finding peaceful resolution of Naga on going peace initiative, Mr. Jebra Ram Muchahary clarified that ICITP can try to work out a strategy to help their re-conciliation process provided the Nagaland State Committee takes the initiative. He further said that the Dhudnoi resolution on the Naga issue should not be misinterpreted and the message should be clear and the resolution copy should be sent to the concerned parties for their information and cooperation. To make things clear he also read out the whole resolutions adopted in the last 6 th General Assembly held at Dhudnoi.

While discussing on the matter of translating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in to local languages, the house agreed to form a group of state level committees to under take the task and to release the translated versions of the UNDRIP on 9 th of August 2008 during the International Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

While discussing on agenda of the state level committee, the house elaborately shared views on necessity of having their own offices in their respective states and to carry out their day to day activities smoothly. The house after thorough discussion approved the effort of each state committee to have their own offices by raising fund of their own to establish their respective state offices. In this connection, the Nagaland State Committee Members expressed that they would consult with Naga Council and Naga Hoho for setting up Nagaland State Committee office in Dimapur. Referring the resolution adopted during the Mumbai Assembly, Mr. Jebra Ram Muchahary encouraged the State Committees to take their own autonomous initiatives to form the district level committees in each state under the Zone and carry out registration of their own committees with the concerned authorities and to run their affairs independently as autonomous body.

While discussing on the calendar of ICITP-NEZ, the house resolved to organize the following programmes during the current tenure (2008-2011):

FOOD FESTIVAL: Resolved to organize a one week ALL INDIA TRIBAL FOOD FESTIVAL at Dimapur, Nagaland in October 2009. The date and venue would be decided by the Nagaland State Committee in collaboration with various Naga organizations in the state..

NORTH EAST IPs’ CULTURAL EXCHANGE PRAOGRAMME: The house resolved to organize a three day North East Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Exchange Program in Mizoram in the 2 nd week of April 2009. The dates and the venue will be decided by the Mizoram State Committee.

AFFILIATION OF MORE MOs: The house resolved to encourage more MOs to be affiliated under ICITP-NEZ raising at least 10 more MOs in each state in the region to strengthen its activities.

Demands of Schedule Tribes Status of six tribes in Assam: ICITP-NEZ resolved to reaffirm its official stands & commitment guided by its resolution in its 6 th General Assembly held at Dudhnoi to organize inter tribes’ dialogue to facilitate to find amicable solution to meet their demands.

Demand of Dimaraji: The house resolved to reaffirm to support the demand of Dimaraji by Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) as already adopted in the Dudhnoi General Assembly.

Demand of 6 th Schedule by Rabha People: The house resolved to reaffirm to fully support the demand of 6 th Schedule status by Rabha Indigenous People in Rabha Hasong spearheaded by All Rabha Students’ Union.

Democracy in Bhutan: The house resolved to reaffirm to extend moral support to the ongoing peaceful Pro Democracy Movement in Bhutan spear headed by the Druk National Congress headed by Mr. Thinley Penjore.

Nomination of Dr. Munda to EMRIP: The house resolved to nominate Dr. Ram Dayal Munda to the Human Right Council Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The house has authorized Mr. Jebra Ram Muchahary to complete the process of nominating Dr. Munda in active collaboration with the national office.

Yearly calendar of ICITP-NEZ: The house discussed on the proposal of preparing a Annual Calendar of ICITP-NEZ for streamlining its planned activities smoothly and authorized the coordinators to complete the calendar and to post in its website for open reference to all. The house approved the following proposed programmes to be post in its website:

COP 9 participation: Participation of ICITP-NEZ in the forth coming 9 th Session of the Conference on Parties to be held from May 15-30, 2008 in Bonn, Germany.

UNEP-EPLC 2 nd Asia Pacific Leadership Programme: A Joint ICITP-NEZ-UNEP-Eco-Peace Learning Centre, College of Forest and Environmental Science, 1 st Building, 111, Kangwon National University, HyojadongChuncheon, Kangwondo, South Korea 200-701 to carry out a special studies on “New Forest Law of India and its conceptual clarity leading to conflicts and the current threat to the forest of Bodoland Territorial Council (June-December, 2008).

Protest movement against Debang Valley Dam Project in July 2008: ICITP Arunachal Pradesh State Committee will organize a protest rally against the proposed Debang Valley Dam project in Itanagar in July 2008.

9 th August 2008: “Regional Seminar on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Indigenous Peoples of North East India” to be organized by ICITP-NEZ at Guwahati, Assam.

Training on Pure Drinking Water in September 2008 in Bodoland: A two day training programme to be organized on Pure Drinking Water for 25 Indigenous Peoples in collaboration with EDGE Outreach, Louisville, Kentucky, USA at Barlawgaon, Bijni, BTC, Assam in September 2008.

Public Meeting on the issue of protection of the Forest in BTC : ICITP-NEZ in collaboration with Panbari Manas National Park Protection and Ecotourism Society will organize a massive public meeting of about 10,000 local peoples at Panbari, Bijni on the 21 st of September 2008 in BTC, Assam on the issue of protection of the Forest of BTC. This will be addressed by many local leaders and activists including Dr. Seo, Yeong Wan, Secretary General of EPLC, South Korea.

EMRIP session in Geneva: ICITP-NEZ will depute five IPs representatives from North East India to participate in the 1 st Session of EMRIP, HRC to be held in Geneva in October 2008.

Nagaland Hornbill Festival: ICITP-NEZ will participate actively in the Nagaland Hornbill Festival from December 1-7, 2008 in Nagaland.

27 th January 2009 Dima- Bushu Celebration: ICITP-NEZ will participate in the National Festival Celebration “Dima –Bushu” of the Dimasa Indigenous Peoples.

February 2009 Capacity Building Training for ARSU: ICITP-NEZ will organize three- day “Capacity Building/Leadership Training Prgogramme” in Dhudhnoi in February 2009.

Seminar on Bamboo Flowering in Mizoram: ICITP-NEZ will organize one day Seminar on “Bamboo Flowering in Mizoram” to focus on Bamboo flowering issue in Mizoram in April 2009 during the North East IPs cultural exchange programme in the 2 nd week of April 2009.

Discussing over possible projects that could be taken up by the IPs for the welfare of their socio-ecomic development activities, the house resolved to inspire to every state committee to facilitate the common people to prepare and submit to concern funding agencies.

While discussing over the submission of Charter of Demands by the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) to the Government of India, the house resolved to extend congratulation and wish for the successful negotiation to find an amicable solution to the prolonged demand issue of Boroland.

While discussing on the appointment of new coordinators for the zonal office of the ICITP-NEZ, the house resolved to appoint two office coordinators with immediate effect with a fixed remuneration of Rs, 7000.00 (Rupees Seven thousand) per month.

While discussing on the matters of TA & DA of the Governing Body members of the ICITP-NEZ, the house resolved to reimburse the travel expenses to the Zonal and State leaders for attending the Zonal /State level meetings by most direct route and cheapest means of transportation from their native place to the meeting venue. The house unanimously approved the following fixation of TA & DA structure to reimburse

Mizoram = Rs.1800.00
Manipur = Rs.1800.00
Arunachal Pradesh = Rs. 800.00
Nagaland = Rs. 800.00
Assam = Rs. 700.00
Tripura = Rs.2000.00
Meghalaya = Rs. 700.00
Sikkim = Rs.2000.00

Handing and Taking over of charges:Finally a simple celebration of Handing and Taking over of charges to the new GB members was observed by officially handing over of the following documents to the new committee members:

List of items handed over to the new GB members:

While discussing on Annual Budget of ICITP-NEZ for the year 2008-2009, the house entrusted the Executive Committee to prepare a budget for the session 2008-2009 and to put forward to the GB body for approval in the next GB meeting to be held in September 2008.

The meeting was closed in a traditional closing ceremony followed by vote of thanks rendered by Mr. Tago Duchock, one of the Joint Secretaries of ICITP-NEZ.