PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Dec 22: Union Tribal Affairs minister Arjun Munda on Wednesday said tribals should not be identified on the basis of caste but by character.
Replying on the discussion on The Scheduled Tribes Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022 in Lok Sabha yesterday, Munda said the ministry of tribal affairs which was formed in 1999 during Atal Bihari Bajpayee as Prime Minister was aimed at holistic development of tribals.
He said the ministry was set up with the objective of providing a more focussed, co-ordinated and planned approach towards the integrated socio-economic development of the underprivileged Scheduled Tribes.
In his reply Munda said that the government has identified 75 particularly vulnerable tribal groups, PVTGs, across the country.
Of these only nine were listed. Munda informed that the government is serious and was working on the remaining communities.
He went in to say that the Bill is confined to Chhattisgarh. According to him, in the past several issues related to Scheduled Tribes from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were discussed and were still pending.
Notably, Lok Sabha had passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022.
The Bill will amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, for the inclusion of the thirteen communities, in the list of Scheduled Tribes in relation to the state of Chhattisgarh.
Munda’s reply was welcomed in Twitter and other social platform.
The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022, was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 9 this year.
The Bill amends the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, with respect to its application to Chhattisgarh. The Order lists the tribal communities deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in states and union territories.
The Bill includes the Dhanuhar, Dhanuwar, Kisan, Saunra, Saonra, and Binjhia communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh.
The Bill also includes Bhuinya, Bhuiyan, and Bhuyan communities as synonyms of the Bharia Bhumia community. It also includes three Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando community.
