1.

BRU Settlement Deal 2020

&
2. Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)

By :- Sachin Patil
 1. BRU Settlement Deal 2020
• Shri Amit Shah presides over signing of Historic Agreement to end the Bru-Reang
Refugee Crisis; Around 34,000 Internally Displaced People to be settled in Tripura.
• Union Government to give package of around Rs. 600 crore to Tripura for the
rehabilitation and all round development of Bru-Reang Refugees.
• Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah presided over the signing of an agreement between
Government of India, Governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives in New Delhi, to
end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis. Present on the occasion were Chief Minister of Mizoram, Shri
Zoramthanga, CM of Tripura, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Chairman, NEDA, Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chairman,
TIPRA, Shri Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, representatives of Bru tribes, along with senior officers.
The Home Minister informed that under the new arrangement :-
• Each of the displaced families would be given 40x30 sq.ft. residential plots.
• A fixed deposit of Rs. 4 lakh will be given to each family as an amount of government aid. They will be able to
withdraw this amount after 2 years.
• Each Family will be given Rs. 5,000 cash aid per month for 2 years.
• Each of the displaced families will given free ration for 2 years.
• Each of the displaced families will given Rs. 1.5 lakh aid to build their houses.
• The government of Tripura would provide the land under this agreement.

Background :-
• Reang in Tripura
• Bru in Mizoram
• They are largest tribes of the 21 Scheduled Tribes of the Tripura.
• The Bru people are settled in Assam and Mizoram too.
• In Mizoram Bru were largly restricted to Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei Districts.
• In 1995 following a clash between Mizos and Brus,the Young Mizo Association &
Mizo Students Association demanded that Brus be removed from the state's
electoral rolls.
• They believed that the Bru tribe was not indigenous to Mizoram.
• This led to an armed movement led by the militant outfit Bru National Liberation
front(BNLF), and a political one by the Bru National Union(BNU).
• On 21 October 1997 bru National Liberation front militants killed a forest official
in Mizoram leading to retaliatory ethnic violence.

Mizoram :-
• Capital – Aizwal
• Governor – P. S. Sreedharan Pillai  
• Chief Minister – Zoramthanga
• Around 37,000 people of the Bru community fled mamit, kolasib and lunglei
districts of Mizoram during the ethnic strife in 1997.
• These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
• Around 5,000 displace members of the community have returned to Mizoram
in 8 phases of repatriation held from 2009 till today.
• But many among them return back to Tripura complaining of poor living
standards and insecurity.
• 9th phase of repatriation 2019. (210 Persons).

Tripura :-
• Capital – Agartala
• Governor – Ramesh Bais 
• Chief Minister –  Biplab Kumar Deb
 Tripura Merger Agreement
• The State of Tripura was one of the ancient princely states of India. According to the Rajmala (the Chronicles of
Kings), Tripura was ruled continuously by as many as 184 Tripuri Kings with sovereign and independent status
prior to its merger with the Indian Union in 1949, after the death of the last ruling King, Bir Bikram Kishore
Debbarman. His successor, Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman, was thirteen years old at the time of the merger.
King Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman had died in 1947, after which a Council of Regency was formed to run the
administration under the presidency of Queen Kanchan Prava Devi, mother of Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb
Barman.
• Within a few months after the unnatural demise of King Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman, Tripura faced a great
crisis, with threats from internal as well as external forces. Queen Kanchan Prava Devi, as president of the
Council of Regency, came under severe pressure to opt to join the Indian Union. On the advice of the
Government of India, she dissolved the Council of Regency and became the sole Regent on 12 January 1948.
More than a year later, on 9 September 1949, she signed the 'Tripura Merger Agreement', and with effect from
15 October 1949 Tripura became part of Indian Union. It was thereafter administered by the Chief
Commissioner as a 'C' Category State.
 2. Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)

Historical Background :-
• The AFSPA was First enacted as an ordinance in the backdrop of Quit India Movement launched by Mahatma
Gandhi In 1942.
• A day after its launch on 8 August 1942, the movement became leaderless and turned violent at many places
across the country. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and host of other had
been put behind the bars.
• Shaken by the massive scale of violence across the country, then the Viceroy Linlithgow promulgated Armed
Forces (special powers) Ordinance, 1942.
What is AFSPA ?
• AFSPA was enacted on 11 September 1958 to bring under control what the government considered ‘disturbed
areas’, essentially conflict-hit areas. It was first implemented in the Northeast, and then in Punjab. In September
1990, Parliament passed the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, which came into force
retrospectively from 5 July 1990.

What is a disturbed area?

• Areas are considered disturbed “by reason of differences or disputes between members of different religious,
racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities". Section (3) of AFSPA empowers the governor of
the state/Union territory to issue an official notification declaring the state or a region within as a “disturbed
area", after which the centre can decide whether to send in armed forces.
When is it applicable?
• It can be applied only after an area has been declared “disturbed". Earlier, states had the power to declare a
territory thus, but in 1972, it passed to the centre.

What are the provisions of AFSPA?

• Parts of it are controversial. Under section 4 (a), mere suspicion gives a non-commissioned officer (or an
equivalent rank in the armed forces) the power to shoot to kill. He can destroy any property, under section 4(b),
if it is suspected of being used as a fortified position. Under section 4(c), anyone can be arrested without a
warrant if it is suspected that he/she has committed a cognizable offence. Under section 4(d), force can be used
to enter and search any house on suspicion of it being used as a hideout.

Which states are currently under AFSPA?

• Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
Where has AFSPA been revoked?
• The home ministry has removed AFSPA from Meghalaya 1 April 2018. It has also been removed from eight of
16 police station jurisdictions in Arunachal Pradesh. In 2015, AFSPA was lifted in Tripura.

Irom Chanu Sharmila

• Irom Chanu Sharmila also known as the "Iron Lady" or "Mengoubi" ("the fair one")is a civil rights activist,
political activist, and poet from the Indian state of Manipur. On 5 November 2000, she began a hunger
strike for the abolition of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 that applies to the seven states and grants
security forces the power to search properties without a warrant, and to arrest people, and to use deadly force
if there is "reasonable suspicion" that a person is acting against the state. She ended the fast on 9 August 2016,
after 16 years of fasting.  "the world's longest hunger striker"
 CLAT Sample Paper – II

• On 16 January 2020, displaced [1] tribals from Mizoram, living as refugees in [2] since 1997, were allowed
to permanently settle in [2]. The agreement, allowing 30,000 [1] tribals to permanently settle in [2], took
20 years and nine attempts in the making, and was signed between the Centre, the state governments of
[2] and Mizoram, and [1]-Reang representatives in the national capital in the presence of union home
minister Amit Shah.
The [1]-spread across [2], Mizoram and parts of southern Assam-are the most populous tribe in [2]. Also
known as Reangs in the state, they are ethnically different from the Mizos, with their own distinct language
and dialect and form one of the 21 scheduled tribes of [2]. In 1997, roughly half the [1] population fled to
[2], following violent clashes with the Mizo population, which led to the [1]s’ demand for an Autonomous
District Council (ADC), under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, in western Mizoram, where they were
the more dominant lot, outnumbering the ethnic Mizo population.
On 1 October, as the Centre’s ninth repatriation attempt began, the tribe’s food and cash supply was
stopped – prompting the tribe to take to the streets. On 3 October, the union home ministry started a
round of talks with the state governments of Mizoram and [2] to legitimize the 30,000-odd refugees.
1.1 The name of the tribe that is discussed in the passage above, and who are also known as the ‘Reang’, has been
replaced with ‘[1]’ in the passage above. What is ‘[1]’?
(a) Lepcha
(b) Jamatia
(c) Bru
(d) Halam

1.2 The name of the state where the displaced [1] refugees have now been allowed to settle permanently according
to the pact signed on 16 January 2020 has been replaced with ‘[2]’ in the passage above. What is ‘[2]’?
(a) Tripura
(b) Manipur
(c) Meghalaya
(d) Assam
1.3 What is the name of the Act, passed in 1958 and applied to several states in northeast India, which allows
special powers to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”, and which was recently
partially withdrawn from some areas?
(a) Prevention of Terrorism Act
(b) Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
(c) National Security Act
(d) Army Act

1.4 This person went on a 16-year-long hunger strike to demand the abolition of the Act mentioned in the previous
question. What is this person’s name?
(a) Khaidem Mani
(b) Babloo Loitongbam
(c) Sanjoy Hazarika
(d) Irom Sharmila
1.5 This person signed the ‘[1] Merger Agreement’ on September 9, 1949, as a result of which ‘[1]’ became a part of
India on October 15, 1949. Who is this person?
(a) Maharani Kanchan Prava Devi
(b) Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman Manikya Bahadur
(c) Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman
(d) Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya
Answers :-
1.1 Ans. c
1.2 Ans. a
1.3 Ans. b
1.4 Ans. d
1.5 Ans. a