ABSTRACT
The signing of the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) in New Delhi on 10 February on the creation of a Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) is likely to mitigate at least for a while, if not bring to an end, the violence associated with the prolonged agitation for the creation of a ‘Bodo homeland’. The impending problems and obstacles are still to be resolved, though a settlement has been reached. While the ‘political aspirations’ of the leadership of the Bodoland agitation may be met by the BTC and the powers bestowed upon it, other obstacles arising out of the ‘constitutional arrangements’ provided in the MoS deserve to be noted. Reservations and anxieties about the BTC have also been expressed by organizations representing other non-Bodo populations living in the area — the Adivasis, the Nepalis and the tea garden labour communities.
