Grant 'Indigenous Community' Status To Gorkhas; Address Long-Standing Demands Of GAC : GACDC To Assam Government

Grant ‘Indigenous Community’ Status To Gorkhas; Address Long-Standing Demands Of GAC : GACDC To Assam Government

14th July 2022

NET Web Desk

Aboriginal populations residing along the Himalayan mountain ranges must be treated like any other indigenous community; and therefore, the Assam Government should promptly identify ‘Gorkhas’ as a native group.

Addressing the ‘208th Bhanu Jayanti and Bishesh Abhinandan Samaroh’, the Chairman of the Gorkha Autonomous Council Demand Committee (GACDC) – Harka Bahadur Chettri noted that “Himalayan communities are an evolution of Sivapithecus or Ramapithecus, one of the Homo Erectus phases of modification that later resulted into the emergence of Homo Sapiens – the modern humans.”

“Himalayan communities like Mompas, Apatani, Gorkhas (a composite of Khas and Kirats), all the Naga tribes, Mizos (Lushai), Lalungs (Tiwa), Miri (Mishings) are descendants of Homo Erectus.

The indigenous Khas Kirat people of the Himalayan mountain ranges are referred as the direct ancestors of Ramapithecus or Sivapithecus, who have been identified through anthropological studies.

A gold medallist in anthropology from Dibrugarh University – Chettri earlier undertook a 650-kms foot march from Murkungselek Jonai in the Dhemaji district to Dispur in Guwahati, seeking Assamese identity and native status for the Gorkha community.

The GACDC member, however, lauded the state administration’s recent decision to recognize five Assamese Muslim communities as ‘indigenous’; and urged the government to address the long -standing demand of the Gorkha Autonomous Council (GAC).

Its worthy to note that the nation on Wednesday celebrated the ‘208th birth anniversary’ of Adi Kavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya – a culturally revered-poet of the Gorkha diasporas.