Indian Tribal News Service
New Delhi
The Union Home Ministry is currently working on implementing Tribes Advisory Councils (TAC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said on Monday replying to questions in the Lok Sabha.
Answering a question on the status of TAC in J&K, Munda said the process is on and with the removal of Article 370 all provisions applicable in the rest of India will also be brought into effect in the Union Territory.
As per norms, the Tribes Advisory Councils shall consist of 20 members of whom, as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be representatives of Scheduled Tribes in State Legislative Assembly provided that if number of representatives of STs in State Assembly is less than number of seats in TAC to be filled by such representatives, remaining seats shall be filled by other members of those tribes.
Munda said the TACs have been constituted in 10 states having scheduled areas namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.
The Minister said West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand despite not having any notified scheduled area, also have the TACs constituted therein. He said there is no State (mandated to establish TAC), which have not constituted it.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey drew Munda notice towards the removal of the Governor from the TAC by the government of Jharkhand and sought to know what is being done on the issue.
Munda said the State government should ensure that the constitutional norms are followed. The State government has sent information to the Home Ministry in this regard. He said the MHA has also said “let it be sent back to the state government and corrected”.
