ABSTRACT
The case of the Sonowal Kachari, another plains tribe of Assam, far more numerous than the Deuri, presents a classic instance of a people who retain their tribal identity but have more or less completely lost their language. Guwahati, the largest city in the region, is home not merely to every other hill tribal people enumerated in the table but also to tribal people from other states of the region; it is also home for a substantial number of non-tribal people from other parts of the country. The districts, which were not so long ago one administrative unit, continue to share many commonalities, the most significant of which is that they are inhabited by tribal people who are officially designated as hills tribes. The figures of the tribal population in the 2001 Census breakdown are not yet released; but the trend, including the errors and fictions, are unlikely to be different.
