ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS IN CONSTITUTION (SCHEDULED TRIBES) ORDER
The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Jual
Oram has said that the Government has decided to include 140 castes
as Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order,
1950, out of which 43 additions are fresh, 66 synonymous, one
each on account of bifurcation of entries and clubbing of entries,
two as a result of change of nomenclature, two on account of verbal
correction, one on account of local language and 16 exclusion.
Addressing a Press Conference, here today, Shri Oram said that
the fresh list to be notified, was worked out and approved by
the Union Cabinet recently, out of a total proposals of 971 for
inclusion received from the States and Union Territories. The
Minister said the Government relied on the criteria based on indications
of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation,
shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness.
Explaining the fresh inclusion of tribes, the
Minister said that two were in Assam followed by four in Arunachal
Pradesh, one in Andhra Pradesh, three in Bihar, one in Goa, two
in Himachal Pradesh, two in Jharkhand, one in Karnataka, eight
in Kerala, one in Mizoram, four in Manipur, two in Sikkim, ten
in Uttar Pradesh and two in West Bengal.
The Minister clarified that States of Punjab
and Haryana and Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi and Pondicherry
did not have any community specified as Scheduled Tribe.
The Minister said further that the communities
proposed to be listed as Scheduled Tribes would desire benefits
admissible to Scheduled Tribes under Article 342 of the Constitution
of India and the Order issued thereunder.
Shri Oram was happy to announce that the Government
was contemplating to bifurcate the National Commission for Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two Commissions in order to provide
focussed attention to the all round development of Scheduled Tribes.
He also announced that the Government was also considering to
set up a National Institute for Tribal Development to provide
dedicated logistic support to the tribal development in the country.
