By Subir Bhaumik BBC correspondent in Calcutta

One of the most powerful militant groups in India's north-eastern Assam state says it is ready to sign a peace agreement with Delhi.

"We have agreed to give up the demand for a separate homeland in favour of a more realistic settlement," a spokesman for the Bodoland Liberation Tigers Force (BLTF), Maino Daimary, told the BBC.

We have agreed to give up the demand for a separate homeland in favour of a more realistic settlement.

Maino Daimary, Bodo Tigers spokesman

Senior Home Ministry officials in Delhi confirmed they are closer to a deal, although the response of the Assam state government on some issues is still awaited.

The Bodo Tigers say Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is likely to announce the details of the proposed agreement in his speech on India's Independence day on 15 August.

Thousands have died during the Tigers' violent 15-year campaign for a separate homeland for the Bodo people.

'Protection for non-Bodos'

Mr Daimary said they had agreed to accept Delhi's offer of total autonomy for the Bodo-inhabited areas of Assam state.

"The Bodo language will be given the status of an official language under the Indian constitution, he added.

Mr Daimary claimed that all Bodo organisations other than another separatist group, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, had accepted the Devnagri, or Hindi, script for the Bodo language.

When asked about fears expressed by non-Bodos about possible displacement from the proposed Bodo autonomous region, Mr Daimary said his group was committed to protect the non-Bodos.

One of the most contentious issues has been the agreement on the allocation of the area for the new territorial council for the Bodos.

The Bodos stake a claim to a larger area comprising a further 250 villages in western Assam, which the state government is unwilling to concede.