There is now peace in Bodoland Territorial Region: BTC chief Pramod Boro

He criticised the government officials for not listening to the public representatives

Pramod Boro, the Chief Executive Member of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), on Tuesday said that there is peace in the Bodoland area and shops and markets are being kept open till 11 p.m. “Peace is the first requirement for development,” he said.  

Speaking during the release of Tribal Development Report, 2022, of the Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation, which is an independent society set up under the Ministry of Rural Development, Mr. Boro said, “The mention of the Bodoland area near Assam would once make people afraid of coming to visit because of the violence, but now, there is peace in the area.”

Mr. Boro added that while the work to “rescue” people of their own community to maintain peace keeps going on, there is much that the Union government needs to do to understand tribal people, its livelihoods and cultures. 

In a short address at the event held in India International Centre in New Delhi, Mr. Boro insisted that the characteristics such as isolation, shyness of contact, still remain in tribal people and communities even as they try to assimilate themselves with the mainstream. “Policymakers, and government need to understand this,” he said.

Mr. Boro, who is also the President of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), added that even after being a part of the administration for two years now, there is some kind of friction with government officials and bureaucrats. “Sometimes, officers have to be told to do something 10-15 times,” he remarked.

The BTC chief also announced that his administration intends to hold an International Knowledge Fest across 500 of its colleges next year along with the BRLF, an independent society under the Ministry of Rural Development, which has recently released a two-volume Tribal Development Report on livelihoods, governance and human development in tribal communities of Central India.