ST STATUS - POLITY

News: Tribal Affairs Ministry evades question on pending ST status requests

 

What's in the news?

       The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) evaded a direct question from Odisha’s Congress MP, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, on the number of requests for Scheduled Tribe status pending with the Union Government and appropriate authorities.

 

Key takeaways:

       The task force, headed by then Tribal Affairs Secretary Hrusikesh Panda, had concluded that the existing procedure for scheduling was too “cumbersome” and “defeats the Constitutional agenda of affirmative action and inclusion”.

       It had also called the criteria “obsolete” and thus recommended the priority inclusion of over 40 communities whose requests were pending.

 

How are tribes added into the ST list?

       Scheduled Castes are specified under the provisions of Article 341 of the Constitution of India. Government has laid down Modalities for deciding claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications in the list of Scheduled Castes.

       Article 342 specifies tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities that are deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or UT.

       In accordance with these provisions, the list of Scheduled Tribes is notified for each State or Union Territory.

       These lists are only valid within the jurisdiction of that State or UT.

       A community designated as a Scheduled Tribe in one state does not have to be so in another.

 

Article 342:

       The President may, with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a state, after consultation with the Governor thereof by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall, for the purposes of this constitution, is deemed to be scheduled tribes in relation to that state or Union Territory, as the case may be.

       Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled tribes specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid, a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.

       Thus, the first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned. These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.

 

Inclusion procedure:

       Adding tribes to the ST list begins with a recommendation from the respective state governments.

       These recommendations are then forwarded to the Tribal Affairs Ministry, who reviews them and forwards them to the Registrar General of India for approval.

       The list is then approved by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes before being sent to the Cabinet for a final decision.