NTO leader flays Renake commission

Leader of Nomadic Tribes Organisation NTO Laxman Mane on Wednesday lashed out at Balkrishna Renake National Commission on Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes set up by the Union Government saying that the recommendations of the commission were not practical. Mane also claimed that the government had discarded the report.

The Union Government had constituted Renake Commission on February 6, 2006 to study the condition of denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in the country and recommend steps to improve the quality of their life. The commission had submitted its report on July 2, 2008. Although the chairman of the commission Balkrishna Renake is saying that the report is yet to be discussed in the cabinet, Mane claimed that the government had discarded the report. 8220;The government had referred the report to me to take a review. I had conveyed the government that most of the recommendations of the report were impractical. On the basis of my suggestions, the government discarded the report and the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar announced it officially in a press conference last month,8221; said Mane. Mane said he had doubts whether Renake had written the report. 8220;I have serious doubts over the language of the report. I suspect some NGO has written the report,8221; he said. 8220;The report says that 80 per cent of bar girls are from Nomadic Tribes. An NGO can write like that to extract money on these grounds. But I feel it is a humiliation for the tribe as this is not the fact,8221; he added.

Renake, who recently talked to the media in the city, had said that he had called Mane for suggestions to be included in the report but Mane failed to respond. When asked, Mane admitted that he had received four letters from Renake. 8220;Renake wanted me to come but as an individual and not as a leader of organisation of nomadic tribes. So I refused the invitation,8221; he said. Mane said he would demand the government to include people in denotified and nomadic tribes in scheduled castes and scheduled tribes category. 8220;We will be running a signature campaign and on January 26, stage dharna in front of Rashtrapati Bhavan,8221; he said.