Committee formed by govt. to look into concerns of northeast people

Members of a committee formed by the central government held a meeting in New Delhi last week to look into the concerns of people from the northeast residing across India.

A committee, led by former bureaucrat M. P. Bezbaruah, has been formed to examine the cause for violence and discrimination against people from the northeast and suggest measures to be taken by the government to address these concerns.

Bezbaruah said that the media could play a significant role to bridge the gap between the people from northeast and other states.

"We would think that media would have to play a very important role in bridging the gap between whatever unfortunately is happening between northeast people and in Delhi. We have been given two months. We are going full steam on consultations and we hope and not only hope, we are definite that we will definitely give something or a full report within two months so that the short term actions can start," he said in New Delhi.

The committee was formed after a 19-year-old student from northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Taniam, was allegedly beaten to death at a busy market in Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi on January 29 as he got into a brawl with local shopkeepers while reacting to a verbal racial slur and taunts on his hair colour.

The post-mortem report of the victim was released on February 10, which stated that Taniam died of injuries inflicted upon the head and face by a blunt object.

This incident led to an outrage among the northeast community against the regular racial discrimination they suffer at the hands of the local people.