Discrimination cry over Modi's ST list

Basant Kumar Mohanty, TT, New Delhi, May 26: The NDA government's decision to include 12 communities from five states in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) today received strong protest from Odisha government and activists who have questioned the selection criteria.

The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, yesterday gave its approval to a proposal to introduce bills in Parliament to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, to include 12 communities from Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura.

The decision, however, ignored the recommendation of a task force on Scheduling of Tribes headed by former tribal affairs secretary Hrusikesh Panda. In its report submitted in May 2014, the task force suggested new criteria for identification of tribes for inclusion. It also submitted a list of about 20 communities from different states, which deserved immediate inclusion.

A press statement issued by the Press Information Bureau did not mention any of the communities suggested by the task force. Odisha tribal development minister Lal Bihari Himirika told The Telegraph that the Centre's decision amounts to discrimination against tribals of Odisha. The state government had sent a proposal for inclusion of 147 tribal communities at a different point of time, he said.

"All of them are hill tribes and have been historically neglected. But not a single community has been included. This is discrimination by the NDA government against the tribals of Odisha," Himirika said, adding that the state government would lodge strong protest against the Centre's decision.

According to sources in the ministry of tribal affairs, proposals for inclusion of nearly 1,000 communities are pending with the ministry. During the previous NDA period, over 100 communities were included in the list.

Former tribal affairs minister K.C. Deo said the Panda panel had examined all aspects and suggested new criteria. The government seems to have ignored those criteria as well.

"This decision is arbitrary, whimsical and politically opportunistic. There is no ground for ignoring several deserving communities," Deo said.

Prafulla Samantaray, president of Lok Shakti Abhiyan, a civil society organisation in Odisha, said tribal people of the state had great expectations from tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, the only cabinet minister in the Modi government from Odisha.

"Let alone doing anything more, the minister has failed to protect the interest of Odisha's tribals. This is unfortunate," Samantray said.

He cited the example of the Jhodia community in Koraput district. People from other districts have occupied their land as they "starve". If they are included in the ST list, the outsiders have to give up their land, he said.

Last month, the tribal affairs ministry set up a committee to examine inclusion of 11 Gorkha communities from Sikkim and Bengal in the ST list. The cabinet's decision is unlikely to go down well with the states whose proposals have been ignored. Though no immediate comment could be obtained from other state governments, minister for tribal development of Maharashtra Savara Vishnu had said that the Union government should set up a committee to examine the demand of all states.

Bodos living in plains and Karbis living in hills in Assam have already been already included in the ST list. The cabinet's decision on inclusion of these two communities would benefit the Bodos living in hills and Karbis in plains.

Nearly 700 communities have been included in the schedule. They are entitled to reservation in government jobs and admission in academic institutions. The government also runs affirmative schemes such as residential schools and scholarships for tribal children.

The Telegraph sent a detailed e-mail to the tribal affairs ministry seeking comments on non-inclusion of deserving communities. Sameer Sinha, information officer on behalf of the ministry, wrote back saying the queries had been sent to secretary Shyam Aggarwal. But no response could be obtained till the report was filed.