Ex-Rajya Sabha MP Mrinal Miri nominated to Assam Accord panel

Former Rajya Sabha member Mrinal Miri has been nominated as a member of the recently constituted high-level committee, set up to assess the quantum of seats to be reserved in the Assam Assembly and local bodies for Assamese people, officials said on Thursday.

Miri, ex-director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and former vice-chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, will be part of the panel which will examine the effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

The former RS member's name has been included in the committee through a gazette notification, a Home Ministry official said.

The committee, headed by former Gauhati High Court judge Biplab Kumar Sarma, was set up under Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord.

The panel, constituted on July 15, will hold discussions with various stakeholders, including social organisations, legal and constitutional experts, eminent persons from the fields of art, culture and literature, conservationists, economists, linguists and sociologists, the official said.

The committee will also recommend the appropriate level of reservations in employment under the state government for the Assamese people, and suggest any other measures as may be necessary to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and the heritage of the people.

A meeting of the committee is expected to be held in Guwahati on Friday, another official said.