TN assembly unanimously demands Cauvery Management Board be set up
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday unanimously demanded setting up of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) as ordered by the Supreme Court.
A resolution to this effect was passed unanimously in a special sitting of the assembly, hours after Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented the state budget for 2018-19.
In its February 16 verdict, the Supreme Court, reducing Tamil Nadu's share in the Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) against 192 TMC allocated by a tribunal in 2007, ordered the central government to set up the CMB and CWRC within six weeks.
Moving the resolution, Chief Minister K.Palaniswami said the Central government has to set up the CMB and CWRC, and his government has been urging it be done soon.
DMK leader M.K.Stalin said if the Central government does not set up CMB and CWRC then all the Tamil Nadu legislators should resign.
He said his party is ready to ask its legislators to resign from the house but hoped that the Central government would not give space for such an action.
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Assam to lift all cases against Koch Rajbongshis in Foreigners' Tribunals: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati, Apr 4 (PTI): The Assam cabinet has decided to lift all cases pending against people from the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners' Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
They will also no longer carry the tag of 'D' or doubtful voters, he said.
''There are 28,000 cases pending in different Foreigners' Tribunals in the state against people of the community. The cabinet has taken a historic decision of lifting the cases with immediate effect,'' Sarma said at a press conference here after the cabinet meeting.
The government believes that the Koch Rajbongshis are an indigenous community of the state and they are an inextricable part of ''our social and cultural fabric'', he asserted.
The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years, he said.
''They will no longer carry the tag of foreigners or ‘D’ voters,'' the CM said.
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964.
These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of “foreigners” in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across Assam.
The Koch Rajbongshis have a sizeable presence in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and they demand Scheduled Tribe status.
