Demand for a new tribal state on border

NASHIK, Jan 1: Social workers and elected representatives will soon meet to discuss a demand to create a tribal state from areas carved o...

NASHIK, Jan 1: Social workers and elected representatives will soon meet to discuss a demand to create a tribal state from areas carved out of four districts in Maharashtra and one in Gujarat with a view to boosting development in these regions.

Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Malegaon, Kachrubhau Raut, who has mooted the idea, told The Indian Express that the condition of the tribals has not changed since the last five decades. He said 45 of the 87 drought-prone talukas in Maharashtra are tribal talukas, which indicates the neglect in these regions.

A new state for tribals could be created from some of the hilly regions in Thane, Nashik, Dhule and Nandurbar in Maharashtra and the Dangs region in Gujarat, Raut said. The tribal population in these regions is substantial enough to justify a new state, he said, pointing out that Nagaland, with three districts and Meghalaya with 10 districts are separate states.

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A meeting of elected representatives and social workers from the tribal belt on theMaharashtra-Gujarat border will soon be convened to discuss the demand.

Despite a population of 10-12 crore country-wide, tribals have no able leadership to advocate their demands, Raut rued, hailing the Centre’s decision on Vananchal. Demands for tribal districts had been made during the formation of Maharashtra state in 1960. In recent times, an all-party meeting of tribal leaders attended by MLAs Arjun Pawar (BJP), Shivram Zole (Congress), K C Padvi and Harishchandra Chavan (Independent), was held in Nashik on January 21, 1996, to demand autonomous tribal councils.

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