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Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Adivasi party extends support to June 4 J'khand bandh
Jamshedpur: The Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) has extended support to the June 4 Jharkhand bandh called by different tribal outfits to press for immediate dismantling of the newly constructed ramp at Kendriya Sarna Sthal in Siromtoli. The ramp is part of the Siromtoli flyover which is being constructed in the state capital Ranchi. BAP state president Prem Shahi Munda said that the ramp construction at the Sarna Sthal, which is the religious place of the tribals, has triggered the bandh call. However, other issues of the community namely protection of religious sites of the STs in the state, implementation of the PESA Act rules and encroachment of the tribal land on large scale are the concerns and demands of the outfits which have called for the bandh, Munda said here on Sunday. The bonafide rights of the tribal community is being violated by the state govt and the authoritarian attitude of the govt has hurt the sentiments of the community, he said.
The Hindu
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Tribal Affairs Minister highlights achievements in 11 years of NDA government
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Monday (May 26, 2025) launched a booklet on the 'major achievements' of the initiatives of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the past 11 years of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre (2014-2025), leading with the government's declaration of the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda as the 'Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh', and recently launched programmes for the saturation of basic schemes in villages inhabited by Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). At the event to launch the booklet, Mr. Oram responded to questions on the ₹72,000 crore Great Nicobar Island infrastructure project, saying that complaints about the alleged violation of forest rights, and the controversy over the process of procuring the gram sabha's consent for forest diversion was 'under examination'. 'Whatever documents have been submitted are under examination. It cannot be said what stage it is at right now,' Mr. Oram said, responding to questions. It was not immediately clear which aspects were under examination. 'There are multiple aspects on these issues — one is whether gram sabha was held, whether their recommendation was received, and whether process was followed. Another aspect is the Environmental Impact Assessment. Our Ministry's purview deals with just the process of gram sabha, and other aspects are dealt with by other Ministries,' Mr. Oram said. The infrastructure project on the Great Nicobar island has been mired in controversy since it received preliminary clearances in 2022. Soon after the project was said to have secured the consent of local tribespeople, the Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar withdrew the consent it was said to have granted. The National Green Tribunal, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes had subsequently also raised concerns over due process for the consent procedure and the environmental impact of the project. Speaking on the achievements of the Tribal Affairs Ministry in the past 11 years, Mr. Oram said that the booklet was 'thorough' but 'it is important for me to mention this progress'. He added that a lot of the Ministry's initiatives, especially in planning health interventions, were initiated when he became the first Union Tribal Affairs Minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and later when he took the position again in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term. 'This work has been continued through the years by my fellow colleagues as well,' Mr. Oram said. In the booklet on the achievements, the government begins with the declaration of Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh from November 15, 2024 to November 15, 2025, which is being marked with national and State-level events. This was a top promise in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto for marginalised sections ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Going through the booklet, the Minister then proceeded to speak on the PM JANMAN programme, which is a basic scheme saturation package that brings housing, healthcare, nutrition, road connectivity, power, and drinking water interventions to 75 PVTG communities across 19 States and Union Territories across the country. The Ministry added that, under the package, 4.35 lakh houses had been sanctioned, of which 1.04 lakh houses had been completed. Electrification of over 1.4 lakh households had been sanctioned, of which electrification of 1.05 lakh had been completed. The Ministry said that other interventions, including setting up the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras, business training sessions, mobile medical units, and multipurpose centres, had also been initiated. Further, '596 villages saturated with interventions', the Ministry said. The Minister also spoke about the Dharti Aba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, a scheme saturation package designed on the lines of the PM JANMAN package to saturate ST villages with 25 interventions by involving 17 line Ministries. The Ministry also went on to highlight the Eklavya Model Residential School scheme, which has been revamped and centralised in the past half-a-dozen years. The Ministry's booklet also spoke of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act or FRA. It spoke of having 'achieved a remarkable 412.71% increase in the distribution of Community Forest Rights titles, thereby strengthening tribal self-governance'. According to the text of the Act, the burden of implementing the legislation falls on the respective State and Union Territory governments. Apart from this, the booklet outlines other schemes of the Ministry, including scholarships it administers for ST students, the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana, promotion of tribal-made products through the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, a mission for 'Tribal Health Enhancement', support to Tribal Research Institutes, and special attention given to tribal freedom fighter museums.
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Business Standard
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Odisha Govt. plans to purchase land from needy tribals and dalits
To prevent non-tribals and non-dalits from grabbing land of STs and SCs, the Odisha government is planning to directly purchase land from needy people for which a corpus fund will be created, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said. Though there has been no such policy so far, Pujari on Thursday said. He that it is in the planning stage and to be implemented only after proper consultations with all the stakeholders including the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). The minister said that though there is a ban on non-tribals or non-dalits purchasing land from adivasis and SCs, it is noticed that they acquire land by different means. According to the provisions of the Odisha Land Reforms (OLR) Act, 1960, land belonging to STs and SCs cannot be purchased by non-tribals and non-SCs without the approval of the sub-collector. The minister said that it is found that the needy tribals and dalits sell their lands to non-tribals for emergencies like health treatment, daughter's marriage or studies of children. However, efforts are being made to provide alternative means to the needy people and not to go for selling their land. Now that all poor people are getting free of cost health services, this requirement is no more valid. The children or STs and SCs also get financial assistance from the government and the state government will soon launch 'Mukshya Mantri Kanya Vivah Yojana' for the marriage of poor family daughters, the minister said. The minister said Revenue department officials are asked to examine whether applications for selling land are genuine. "As per our information, only 10-15 per cent are genuine applications while in remaining cases, the applications are filed after being influenced or lured by others. This should be stopped," Pujari said. "There is an effort to ensure that tribals and dalits retain their land. However, if they still want money for any reason, the government plans to buy and keep the land protected for two-three years. If during that time, they want to buy back the land, they can do so at the same price," Pujari said. In case the seller is not in a position to take back the land they sold to the government within the grace period, the same will be auctioned among the people in their communities, the minister said. Earlier in 2023, the then BJD government had approved a plan to amend the law allowing tribals to sell their lands to non-tribals under certain circumstances. However, it could not be acted upon because of the strong protest across the state.
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Business Standard
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Over 650K calls received on SC, ST atrocities helpline since 2021; UP leads
Over 6.5 lakh calls have been received by the National Helpline Against Atrocities (NHAA) regarding the atrocities against SCs and STs since the launch of the helpline in December 2021, with nearly half of the total calls originating from Uttar Pradesh, official data showed. Of the calls, 7,135 grievances have been officially registered, and 4,314 have been resolved. The helpline, aimed at empowering members of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), is operational round the clock in Hindi, English and regional languages to ensure proper implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. These complaints range from incidents of assault, social boycotts, caste-based abuse, land grabbing and denial of access to public spaces to allegations of police inaction in atrocity cases. "Many of the calls received on the helpline are related to inquiries, requests for legal guidance or reports lacking sufficient details to be registered formally as grievances. Only those calls that pertain to specific incidents of atrocities under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and meet the criteria for legal action are converted into official grievances," a senior official said. Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 3,33,516 calls, of which 1,825 were formally registered as grievances and 1,515 have been resolved, according to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Bihar followed with 58,112 calls, with 718 grievances registered and 707 resolved. Rajasthan reported 38,570 calls and 750 complaints, with 506 redressed. In Maharashtra, 268 complaints were registered but with zero resolution, while Goa saw only one grievance and no resolution. Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana and Karnataka also saw significant call volumes with varying levels of grievance registration and redress. Madhya Pradesh, for instance, had 1,630 registered grievances, but only 282 were resolved. In contrast, Haryana showed a high resolution rate, resolving 379 of the 392 complaints it received. Launched by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar in 2021, the helpline is part of the government's effort to curb caste-based atrocities and ensure timely justice. The NHAA also operates as a web-based portal and mobile app. It provides features like grievance tracking, feedback, and a dashboard for state-level performance. Every complaint is assigned a docket number, and officials are mandated to follow up for FIR registration, relief provision and timely prosecution as per legal timelines. The system is also designed to send automated reminders and compliance alerts to authorities to ensure accountability, and it aims to generate awareness about legal rights under both the SC/ST Act and the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955.
New Indian Express
03-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Government will decide on 50% quota cap, says minister
NEW DELHI: As the Congress upped ante over its demand for removing the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, Union Minister of state for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Friday said that the decision lies with the Central government and it will take a call on the issue. Speaking to this newspaper, Athawale said that the Supreme Court has set a 50 per cent limit on reservations in jobs and education through various rulings. 'There is a guideline of the Supreme Court not to exceed 50 percent reservation .Currently Tamil Nadu has a reservation policy of 69 percent reservation placed under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution in 1994. The government will take a call on removing the 50 percent cap,' he said. Hailing the Centre's decision to include caste enumeration in the national Census, the minister said that the caste census was a long standing demand of the Republican Party of India (RPI), an ally of the NDA government. ' I have raised the demand for caste census several occasions in Parliament. This will provide clear data of the caste –based marginalization and deprivation. ,' he said adding that caste count is the need of the hour because government policies could truly reflect the lived realities of the marginalized communities. While the Congress asked the government to fix a time frame for the caste enumeration, Athawale said that the past Congress governments failed to take initiative on conducting nationwide caste census.
