Unravelling the Plight of Migration and Tribal Land Alienation in the BTC

In recent years, migration emerges as a relevant issue of debate in academic and policy circle at global level. This is apparent in contemporary policy debate on immigration issue that is dominating the current political affairs of the U.S.A., European and other developing nations. It is also no less significant in India’s north-eastern region as the region being an easy destination of migration has been witnessing a prolonged public debate on the issue since the eve of Indian independence. Henceforth, our experience of political mobilizations on the said issue has been more deepening in north-eastern state of Assam. Such political development of the state is direct result of serious setback that the large scale of migration has posed to the existence of indigenous populace of the state. Now, the land rights of largely tribal of the state seem to be under threat since the migrants are encroaching upon the lands of tribal at alarming rate. Regardless of their repeated raising this issue with the Governments of Assam and India, it has remained merely a political rhetoric and unaddressed until now. Therefore, this paper seeks to unravel the problems of migration and tribal land alienation in the BTC region of Assam with reference to the issue of tribal land alienation in Tamulpur Tribal Belt of Baksa district. Moreover, this paper also seeks to understand some sorts of inefficacies of land laws and ironical efforts of the Assamese ruling elite in regard to the protection of tribal lands in Assam.