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Title: Consideration and passing of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2002 (Bill amended and passed)
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Now, the House will take up item No. 16.
THE MINISTER OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS (SHRI JUAL ORAM): Sir, I beg to move*:
“That the Bill to provide for the inclusion in the lists of Scheduled Tribes, of certain tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities, equivalent names or synonyms of such tribes or communities, removal of area restrictions and bifurcation and clubbing of entries; imposition of area restriction in respect of certain castes in the lists of Scheduled Castes, and the exclusion of certain castes and tribes from the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, in relation to the States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, be taken into consideration.”
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Motion moved:
“That the Bill to provide for the inclusion in the lists of Scheduled Tribes, of certain tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities, equivalent names or synonyms of such tribes or communities, removal of area restrictions and bifurcation and clubbing of entries; imposition of area restriction in respect of certain castes in the lists of Scheduled Castes, and the exclusion of certain castes and tribes from the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, in relation to the States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, be taken into consideration.”
We have allotted half-an-hour for this. So, please be brief.
* Moved with the recommendation of the President
SHRI BIKRAM KESHARI DEO (KALAHANDI): Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, I first congratulate the hon. Minister for having got a Bill to include further tribal communities who had been left out from the constitutional provision and the constitutional list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which was notified during the year 1950-51 in respect of various States.
Sir, the term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ first appeared in the Constitution of India under Article 342. It is mentioned as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes”.
Sir, for the first time the Central Government has created a new Ministry to take care of the tribal people. This subject was segregated from the other subjects in 1999 and a new Ministry was created to look after the welfare of the tribals. This Government has tried to solve the problems which the tribals have been facing for a long time. The problems have been identified and special programmes have been initiated.
The problem of low literacy rate among tribal women has been targeted by this Government to improve the quality of life of the tribals. It is seen that only about eighteen per cent of tribal women are educated. To bring them on par with the other communities, the Government has taken a lot of initiatives through this Ministry.
Many of the castes that have been left out earlier, how have been included now in this Bill which the hon. Minister has piloted. Corrections have been made where synonyms were missing. In respect of Orissa, I would like to thank the Government for agreeing to include Bhatara community. The Government is going to move an amendment to this effect. This Bhatara caste was a highly neglected caste. Though they were tribals, for marriage relationship they have affinity with the same Bhatara communities of the adjoining Districts. By moving this amendment, Government would be helping more than one lakh fifty thousand tribal people.
I clearly submit that I support this Bill. This Government has tried to get the tribals into the mainstream of our civilisation. This has not been done previously. A major part of tribal population has diminished in the last fifty years in the North-East, Orissa and Bihar. The population of primitive tribes in the Andamans has diminished. The population of Ongi tribe has not increased because of lack of medical facilities and health care. This Government has tried to initiate and make this programme for the tribals proactive. It is only the proactive effort that can improve the economic and social status of the tribals.
The Minister is a tribal himself. He knows the problems of tribals better than anybody else. He grew in a tribal village. The problems faced by tribal youths can be best explained by him. I congratulate the hon. Minister for coming forward with this Bill. I support the Bill wholeheartedly.
SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI (RAIGANJ): Sir, this Bill has evoked a lot of response from the Members, especially from the tribal Members. They want to take part in the debate cutting across party lines. I made a request to the hon. Speaker this morning that instead of confining this debate to half-an-hour or one hour, it should be conducted till four o’clock when Discussion under Rule 193 will be taken, and continued later on. The hon. Speaker conveyed to me that it will be taken care of in that manner. Accordingly, we request that Members should be given more time to speak.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Did the hon. Speaker agree to take it up under Rule 193?
SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI : The discussion could be continued till four o’clock, and can be concluded later.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: We will stick to the time scheduled as decided by the BAC.
SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI : No, Sir. BAC allotted only half-an-hour for this, which is not sufficient.… (Interruptions)
SHRI BIKRAM KESHARI DEO : Sir, may I continue further? Since you told me that this discussion is only for half-an-hour, I accordingly curtailed my speech. There is so much to speak on tribals.… (Interruptions)
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: You have already had your say. The BAC in its wisdom decided only half-an-hour for this Bill. Members know the limited purpose for which this Bill has been brought before the House. Every one of us is concerned about the tribal welfare. We can have elaborate discussion on this under any other form. This amendment Bill has been brought with the limited purpose. I would appeal to all of you to stick to the time fixed by the BAC.
SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI : I would like to make an appeal. Seeing the number of amendments that have been tabled, we could judge the concern of the House. Keeping that in view, I made a presentation before the hon. Speaker to continue with this item up to 4 o’clock, before discussion under Rule 193 is taken up. The Minister could finish reply by 4 o’clock. Those Members who want to speak can give their names and they can confine themselves to five to six minutes. A series of amendments have come and if each one sticks to speak on the amendment, the discussion will not conclude today. Therefore, the hon. Speaker was kind enough to say that this item may go up to 4 o’clock.
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: We will try to finish it as quickly as possible.
(DIBRUGARH): First of all, I would like to congratulate the hon. Minister for bringing this Bill to include some of the deprived communities in the Scheduled Tribes List.
We have raised this issue a number of times earlier also in this House. The Government has promised us to bring a comprehensive Bill in this regard. A lot of requests have come from different States. I will not go into them. I would confine myself to the problems faced by my State, Assam. As you know, a number of communities in Assam are agitating to be included in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes List. We had a number of unfortunate bandhs also to protest this. Many people had lost their lives in various agitations held to demand their Constitutional right of including them in the Scheduled Tribes List.
Considering this problem, the then Lok Sabha constituted a Select Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Amar Roy Pradhan. That Committee had gone into the details of the demand of the people of Assam. The Select Committee was exclusively constituted by this august House to go into the demands of the people of Assam. The then Government of India promulgated an Ordinance to include one of the major communities of Assam, Koch Rajbangshi as the Scheduled Tribes. That Ordinance had to be promulgated several times because of frequent dissolution of the august House before completing its full term. I think three to four times Ordinances were issued.
In this background, this Bill has come up for discussion in the House. The hon. Speaker had kindly constituted a Committee comprising of 15 Members drawn from all sections of the House under the Chairmanship of Shri Amar Roy Pradhan to go into the details of the demands of the people of Assam. In this Bill, the hon. Minister has very kindly included only a few communities from Assam.
Dimasa, Hajong, Singhpho, Khampti and Garo are the communities that they have included in the list. He has excluded other communities. The Select Committee had twelve to thirteen sittings in which they considered memorandums received from 281 associations, organisations and individuals who had put forth their demands. The Committee had called the Registrar General of India, the then Secretary of the Tribal Department also to come and give evidence. They have recommended inclusion of a few more communities in the list. Some of the communities that they suggested are Koch Rajbangshi, Tai Ahom, Tea Tribes, Chutiya, Moran, Matak, etc.
Then there is the Tea Garden community. Though this is not the name of a community as such, tribal people like Orang, Munda, Santhals and other tribes – whom the hon. Minister knows personally – who are working in tea gardens are recognised as Scheduled Tribes all over the country. Even the Kandha in Orissa who are a primitive tribe has not been recognised as a Scheduled Tribe.
The State Government of Assam has recommended certain communities to be included in the list. Our hon. Chief Minister has written two letters to the hon. Prime Minister personally to expedite the matter because that is creating a lot of social tension in Assam. It is also creating other problems. He has requested that an appropriate legislation may be brought so that these tribes could be included in the list of the Scheduled Tribes.
I do not want to go into details of each and every community because the list is very long. For that reason, we have brought the amendment to enlist 38 tribes and I request the hon. Minister to consider the amendment given by us. Otherwise, you will be depriving the people like Koch Rajbangshis who are the aboriginal people of Assam. Then there are Chutiyas who are also aboriginals. The Tai Ahom community is in the other part of the northeastern region. The Tai speaking people are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe community. Likewise, Moran and Matak are also aboriginal people. They are most backward people, socially and economically. Now a days, I am pained to say this, many young boys from this community have taken to the arms. But the constitutional right given by this Act will give a good message to the young people who have taken to the arms in frustration.
In the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the hon. Minister has stated that he is removing the area restrictions in respect of certain specific tribes in the existing list and imposing area restrictions in respect of certain other castes. In Assam Orang, Munda, Santhal, Bhil, Kheria, Kandha etc. are recognised as Scheduled Tribes in the border areas of West Bengal. But just half a kilometre away those people are not recognised as Scheduled Tribes. There is marriage among the families of these communities. In one part they are recognised as ST whereas in another part they are not recognised as ST. This is creating a lot of problems.