'Ethnic tribe' tag likely for local Assam Muslims

Assam's 40 lakh-strong population of Assamese-speaking Muslims could be officially classified as an "ethnic tribe" instead of the loosely used nomenclature "indigenous Muslims" to distinguish them from "immigrant" Muslims. The proposal follows the minorities welfare department's green signal to a census of ethnic Muslims, comprising the Goria, Moria, Desi and tea-tribe Jolha communities of the Brahmaputra Valley.