Itanagar: The All Arunachal Pradesh Student’s Union (AAPSU) on Thursday announced that they will organize a protest rally at Itanagar and stage dharnas outside the offices of deputy commissioners across the state on October 5 over “the state government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the ‘offspring’ issue”.
The decision was taken in an emergency meeting of the AAPSU held under the chairmanship of union president Hawa Bagang.
Later, a statement from the union read: “The house unanimously condemned the cancellation of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting which was supposed to be held on September 29. The members took serious exception to the lackadaisical attitude, inordinate delay and dilly dallying tactics adopted by the department of SJETA in coming out with a draft of the proposed legislation on the offspring issue as demanded by the AAPSU since 2018.”
The AAPSU has been demanding a permanent solution to the matter of an offspring born to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) woman from Arunachal and a non-tribal man enjoying ST benefits in the state.
The union had earlier rejected the draft provided by the Secretary of Social Justice Empowerment & Tribal Affairs (SJETA) in the matter, while reasoning that “it had nothing for the protection of the indigenous people”.
The AAPSU had also served a two-week ultimatum for correction after which a meeting was scheduled to be held on September 29. The meeting has now been postponed for October 8.
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