In the backdrop of increasing backwardness and vulnerability as well as declining numbers of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups,the National Advisory Council has recommended conducting special census for these groups,giving all of them Scheduled Tribe status as well as developing sustainable livelihood strategies for them. The NAC is an advisory body,led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi,which provides inputs to the government on policy issues. PVTGs are broadly characterised by a pre-agriculture level of technology,stagnant or declining population,low literacy levels and a subsistence level of economy. There are currently 75 such groups in the country. An NAC working group on PVTG has said these groups are becoming increasingly vulnerable to shrinking habitats,hunger/ starvation,malnutrition and ill-health,and erosion of traditional occupations,and some are even on the verge of extinction. It says the vulnerabilities are further perpetuated because of lack of access to and poor functioning of government food transfer programmes,such as public distribution system and Integrated Child Development Services. The working group has,hence,recommended a right-based approach in policy and practice that includes making these groups aware of their rights and entitlements,developing methodologies to help officials integrate rights-based approach into sector programming as well as specifically addressing issues that lead to their exclusion from development programmes. In its draft recommendations released on Wednesday,the NAC working group has recommended conducting a separate census for PVTGs since the census does not seem to be capturing comprehensively the data on them. It says all PVTGs should be given ST status. The NAC has said sustainable livelihood strategies for PVTGs need to be developed,that would facilitate enhancement of capabilities. This should include developing schemes to provide sustainable employment opportunities to the PVTGs in tune with their non-sedentary lifestyle and involvement in vocations requiring hard manual labour. It recommends providing food security for at least two food crops during the transition phase from pre-agricultural level of technology to settled agriculture level of technology. It has also suggested providing insurance to them against all natural calamities.
