Central Govt. Works For Scheduled Tribes, Meeting With 5 States Ministers

PM meets cabinets ministers of the 5 states

The Central Govt. approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.

The decision, taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was welcomed warmly by the states concerned.

While briefing the media, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said 12 communities from Chhattisgarh will be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes for the state. He said the demand was pending for 15 years.

Ahead of the polls in Himachal Pradesh, the Hattee community of the Trans-Giri area in the Sirmour district will be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes for the state, Munda said, adding that the decision would benefit 1.6 lakh people.

Moreover, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur thanked Modi and Munda for accepting the long-pending demand of the people of the hill state and pointed out that the Hattee community straddles Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The Hattees of Uttarakhand in the Jaunsar region have similar traditions and lifestyles and already enjoy the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

In Tamil Nadu, the Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities have been included in the list of STs for the state. The demand of the two communities for inclusion in the list dates back to 1965, which was followed up by successive chief ministers of the southern state, including M G Ramachandran.

Working for Karnataka, the cabinet approved a proposal for the inclusion of the Betta-Kuruba community as a synonym of the Kadu Kuruba in the list of STs for the state.

The government will now introduce separate bills for revising the lists of STs of the five states.

After the Bills become Acts, the newly-included communities will be able to derive benefits under the existing government schemes for the STs.

Schemes for the STs include post-matric scholarships, national overseas scholarships, national fellowships, top-class education, concessional loans from the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation and hostels for the boys and girls of these communities.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Gond tribe, along with its five sub-castes, was already approved for inclusion in the ST list for the state.

The changes were approved for four districts in Uttar Pradesh -- Kushinagar, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Chandauli and Sant Kabir Nagar.

Despite that UP Govt. changed the name of Sant Ravidas Nagar district to Bhadohi in 2015. The name of the district will be changed to Bhadohi in the Bill pending in Parliament.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also thanked the prime minister for the inclusion of 12 communities in the list of STs and recalled that he had written to Modi in this regard last year.