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Assam tribal bodies reject proposal to grant ST status to six communities
As recommended by the Consultative Group chaired by Suhas Chakma, the Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations of Assam (CCTOA) will reject the recommendations of the Group of Ministers to grant Scheduled Tribes reservation
Guwahati: Acting on the recommendation of a consultative group chaired by activist Suhas Chakma, the Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations of Assam (CCTOA) has decided to reject the Group of Ministers' proposal to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six communities — Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea Tribes.
The group stated that under the Constitution of India, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are two different, distinct and separate groups. While the Scheduled Castes are identified based on their status in the Hindu caste system, the Scheduled Tribes are identified based on tribal characteristics i.e. (a) indications of primitive traits, (b) distinctive culture, (c) geographical isolation, (d) shyness of contact with the community at large and (e) backwardness for the community as laid down in the “Report of the Advisory Committee on the Revision of the Lists of Scheduled Castes And Scheduled Tribes” of 1965”, known as the Lokur Committee.
The group said that in 1993, the Assam government — based on research conducted by the Assam Institute of Research for the Tribals and Scheduled Castes — recommended these six communities for inclusion as Other Backward Classes. The National Commission for Backward Classes subsequently notified them as OBCs. Having once been identified as Scheduled Castes, the communities, the group argued, cannot now be reclassified as Scheduled Tribes by the same government for reasons of political expediency.
The group stated on Tea and Ex Tea Garden Tribes, each and every committee since India's independence opposed the grant of the Scheduled Tribes status. The “Joint Report of the Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other Than Assam) and the North-East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Sub-Committee” chaired by Gopinath Bordoloi and A.V. Thakkar submitted to the Constituent Assembly on 25 August 1947 had categorically stated that “about seven lakhs are tea-garden labour from various parts of the country [not included in the Schedule B to the Government of India (Legislative Assemblies Order) 1936] are not to be taken into account as tribes of Assam”. The Lokur Committee report of 1965 also categorically stated that, it does not “recommend the tea plantation tribal labour be treated as Scheduled Tribes”.
The group observed that the Koch-Rajbongshi are two different and distinct communities. In the erstwhile Goalpara district, Koch means those ‘Khotri' Hindu Bengali migrated to Goalpara district from Rongpur district of East Pakistan while Rajbongshi means indigenous peoples of Assam who were subsumed into wider Koch identity. This distinction between the two communities was not noted by the Group of Ministers. As per the 1950 Constitution Scheduled Caste order, the Koch were identified as a “Scheduled Caste” in West Bengal. Once the Koch had been identified as Scheduled Castes in West Bengal, they couldnot be classified as the Scheduled Tribes in Assam.
The group further said that the Tai Ahoms, Chutiyas, Morans and Mataks are part of the mainstream Assamese. The list of the Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order of 1950 prepared based on the “Joint Report of the Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other Than Assam) and the North-East Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Sub-Committee” to the Constituent Assembly did not include them as Scheduled Tribes.
The group argued that the recommendations of the experts committees on the six communities cannot be the basis to grant ST status because as per the notices of the Government of Assam, the members of these committees were recommended by various organisations of each community and therefore, they are not independent. In fact, the Ethnographic Expert Committee on Tea and Ex Tea Garden Tribes recommended that 38 out of 74 Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Communities be granted Scheduled Caste status but all the 74 communities have been recommended for ST status by the Assam Government. The Assam Government, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Registrar General of India or the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes have no jurisdiction to recommend contrary to the findings of the experts' committees.
The group explained that the demand of these six communities viz Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok, Koch-Ranbongshi and Tea Tribes to be considered as Scheduled Tribes is only to ensure their political reservation especially at the level of the Panchayats, Autonomous Councils, Autonomous District Council and State Legislative Assembly as there are no seats reserved for the OBCs in the State Assembly. Otherwise, the rights and benefits of these six communities in terms of access to education and employment are already secured through 27% reservation as the OBCs at the State level and establishment of several autonomous and development councils for each of these communities.
Granting ST status to the six communities, the group warned, would erode the political reservation of existing Scheduled Tribes across panchayats, autonomous councils, district councils, the state Assembly and Parliament, besides affecting their share in Central government reservations.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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