New Delhi
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022 by voice vote to include Dhanuhar, Dhanuwar, Kisan, Saunra, Saonra and Binjhia communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh.
The legislation also seeks to formalise Bhuinya, Bhuiyan and Bhuyan as synonyms of the Bharia Bhumia community. It further includes three Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando community.
The Bill further substitutes names of certain tribal communities in the Constitution Order, with corresponding names in the Hindi version of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. For instance, the names of Oraon, Dhanka, and Dhangad communities will be substituted.
Replying to the debate on the Bill in the House, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said it has been brought based on the modalities fixed by the Union government to resolve the issues related to tribal communities. He said bills have been brought in earlier to resolve issues pertaining to tribal communities in states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Munda accused the opposition Congress “This is why you and your party did not get the post of leader of Opposition, you have become limited in your imagination, you are only raising the issues of one state. Who formed the Lokur Committee? You did not follow its recommendations. Adivasis of the country want to know why you did not implement it. Only the BJP government will give justice to tribal communities. We are working on it continuously,” he said.
Earlier, speaking on the Bill that was introduced in the lower house on December 9, opposition members cutting across party lines called for the Government to bring in a comprehensive legislation to cover all communities that needed to be included in the Scheduled Tribes lists of States.
They also raised issues affecting the tribals in their regions including basic amenities, giving them representation according to their population and protecting them from fake caste certification for reservation.
Some opposition members questioned if the government was bringing State-wise bills for political considerations.
Maintaining that the government should bring in a “comprehensive legislation” on tribals, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “We have always said a comprehensive Bill should be brought, not in piecemeal manner. You became MLA due to reservation, became CM, you became MP due to reservation, and because of that you became a minister. Did the BJP do it or Congress? You think Congress did not do anything,” Chowdhury countered.
“The Modi government’s push for privatisation is jeopardizing reservation. PSUs are a prominent source of employment and are mandated to follow reservation rules. Rapid and ill-thought-out privatisation of these units will also lead to scuttling of reservation,” he said.
Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule said while she welcomes the government’s move to include names of communities left out from the ST list, why had the government not brought a “comprehensive bill” that covers all such communities.
National Conference’s Hasnain Masoodi also asked why the government is not bringing one bill to include names of communities in the ST list that have been left out if there is no procedural issue. DMK’s DNV Senthilkumar echoed similar views even as YSRCP’s Sanjeev Kumar Singari called for increasing the number of Scheduled Tribe communities on the basis of their population in districts.
Shiv Sena’s Rajendra Gavit raised concerns over the use of fake caste certificates in Maharashtra to con members of the tribal communities and urged the government to take strict action against such culprits.
