LS passes bill that seeks to include Gonds and other tribes in ST category in certain UP districts

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“So many tribals have fought the British rule and sacrificed their life for the country. That is why PM Narendra Modi announced the celebration of Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s birthday as Janjaati Gaurav Diwas. This shows that no attempt was made to wake the pride of this nation in the past,” Munda said.

According to Munda, the Bill was actually passed in 2002, but the concerned UP districts had got divided by then and so while Gonds were notified as tribes but that status was not available in the new districts.

The Bill seeks to include Gond, Dhuriya, Nayak, Ojha, Pathari and Rajgond communities in the ST list in four districts of UP — Chandauli, Kushinagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, and Sant Ravidas Nagar.

“Some members said this Bill was brought because of elections. Elections happen in this country all year round. That is why the PM has suggested one nation one election,” Munda said.

On criticism from Congress leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury that the government was actually doing little for the tribals, Munda said, “In 2013-14, the sanctioned Eklavya Residential schools were 167. But today there are 669 sanctioned schools. In your time, there were 119 functional schools, today there are 367 such schools. In your time, the per student cost was Rs 42,000, today it is Rs 1.9 lakh. In your time, the budget allocation was Rs 976 crore, today it is Rs 2,546 crore. In the next five years we are allocating Rs 28,000 crore.”

Participating in the debate, Chowdhury said he was supporting the Bill but the government had failed tribals.

“We have the largest population of tribals in the world, but when you say tribal belt the image that is created is of starvation, poverty, lack of education and poor healthcare. It shows that though we talk about them, the facilities that we need to provide them are not there on the ground,” Chaudhary said.

“It is said that allocation for tribals should be according to their proportion in the population. But it does not happen in the budget. The government announced it will set up 750 Eklavya Residential Schools. Please tell me how many schools you have actually set up. The standing committee (of Parliament) pointed out that there are no functional Eklavya schools in Bihar, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir as on March 31, 2021. Under the Forest Rights Act, only over 36,000 land titles were distributed between 2019 and now. BJP-ruled states like Bihar, Uttarakhand and Goa were worst performers,” he added.

Congress MP from Koraput, Saptgiri Ulaka attacked the government over giving tribal land to industrialists and five lakh tribal families being displaced. He also criticised some BJP MPs raising the issue of denial of reservation to such tribals who convert to other religions.

“And they keep talking about conversion. I say that the Hindu Marriage Act is not applicable on the tribals. But if a tribal converts to Christianity, he is attacked. Rajendra Gavit said that such tribals should be excluded from reservation. No need to make such suggestions as this government is going to end reservations anyway. You are privatising everything, how will the reservation survive?”

The debate was initiated by Congress MP Deepak Baij who requested the government to approve the pending proposals of granting reservation to several other castes sent by States to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Saugata Roy of TMC said, “The entire Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh is actually a battle waged by the Gonds. Some people from Andhra and Telangana have infiltrated it. We tamed Maoism in West Bengal by taking development to tribal areas. Why are you not able to control it? Why is this happening? It is because big corporates want the land of tribals and the community is revolting. The government must announce that we will not let any multi-national company come to any place falling under Schedule V of the Constitution.”

Sarmishtha Sethi of the BJD said the government spending on Dalit and tribals was less than satisfactory.

“According to Niti Aayog, the allocation for the welfare of SCs and STs should be proportionate to their population. But year after year we see decrease in budgetary allocation. There is a gap of over Rs 40,000 crore and over 9,000 crore for SCs and STs respectively as per the formula of Niti Aayog. The number of unfilled vacancies in central services has increased over the years. According to government data, the backlog in SC and ST appointments was 8,223 and 6,951 respectively in 2016 and it increased to 14,366 and 12,612 respectively in 2019. These vacancies should be filled up immediately,” she said.

Sangeeta Azad of the BSP said that Gonds should be identified as STs across UP and not just a few districts.

“Mayawati as CM sent multiple proposals to the Centre to include 17 OBC castes of UP such as Kahaanr, Kashyap, Kewat, Mallah, Nishad etc under SCs, but the Centre did not accept them because of political reasons,” she said.

Supporting the Bill, Kerala Congress (M) member Thomas Chazhikadan said, “The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that converted to Christianity cannot avail any benefits of reservation now, while those SCs and STs who converted to Sikhism and Buddhism continue to enjoy the benefits of reservation even after their conversion to the new religion.”

“This policy is discriminatory in nature as it treats converts of different religions differently. reservation even after their conversion to the new religion. This policy is discriminatory in nature as it treats converts of different religions differently,” he said.