New Delhi, March 29: For the first time since 1998, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has increased the monthly stipend of surrendered militants in North East India.
The stipend for the former militants has been increased from Rs 3,500 to Rs 6,000 per month and the one-time grant has been enhanced from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh in a move that will come into effect on April 1.
According to MHA officials, the pressure to increase the stipend came after several requests from the Government of Assam, which has seen the most number of surrenders and outlay for the scheme in the region.
The demands were made by both the former Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, as well as his successor Sarbananda Sonowal. There are over 3,000 militants from various insurgent groups in the region who have surrendered since 2012.
According to the policy, the MHA reimburses the amount paid to the surrendered militants by the State Governments under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.
The MHA also reimburses the expenditure incurred on the maintenance of designated camps set up for insurgent groups. The policy was revised in 2005, but this is the first time a significant enhancement in stipend has been done.
Recently, MoS Home Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that the “surrender-cum-rehabilitation” scheme for North East States was meant to “wean away the misguided youth and hardcore militants who have strayed into the fold of militancy and find themselves trapped in that net.”
“The scheme also seeks to ensure that the militants who have surrendered do not find it attractive to join militancy again…There is also revised incentives for the weapons surrendered by the insurgents,” Rijiju said in Parliament.
A Home Ministry official said that since 2014, over Rs 10 crore had been released as stipend for surrendered militants. Sonowal had demanded that the stipend be increased to Rs 10,000. Assam has entered into a “suspension of operations” agreement with 13 insurgent groups, which include ULFA (Pro-Talk), NDFB (Progressive), NDFB (RD) among others.
The number of cadres living in the camps run by the various insurgent groups is around 12,000. The Government has been in talks with some of these insurgent groups for more than 14 years. Other States such as Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura also have similar agreements with 10 other insurgent groups.
