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In a major breakthrough, the Union Cabinet of India, which is the effective policy-making body within the council made approval on the inclusion of tribes of five different states of India into the category of Schedule Tribes of India. The five states include Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh.
This decision breathes new air into the democracy of India and gives hope of recognition to the backward and neglected tribes. Some of the communities and their leaders have expressed their gratitude for this important decision that the Union Cabinet took.
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Key takeaways
- The Union Cabinet has included twelve different communities in the Schedule Tribes. The tribes are from five states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
- Almost thirteen different communities have made it to the Scheduled tribe list. This will give them recognition in both educational and occupational fields.
- The Hatti tribal community, living in the Trans-Giri region of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh was included in the list. This unrecognised community was named for its ancestral occupation of selling home-grown vegetables, crops, meat, and wool in the small-town markets that were earlier referred to as “haats.”
- The list includes the Gond community which is enlisted along with its five sub-castes. The sub-castes include communities from the Bhadohi District of Uttar Pradesh.
- The Binjhia community of Chhattisgarh, Betta-Kuruba community of Karnataka, and Kuruvikaran community of Tamil Nadu were also recognized by the cabinet.
- The Kuruvikarans and Narikuravans communities in the tribal areas of Tamil Nadu have been appealing the ST recognition since 1965. The community was known for being involved in conventional occupations of selling beaded necklaces and hunter-gathering.
- Some of the benefits that will be offered to these communities include national fellowship, hostel facilities for college-going students, concessional loans from the NSTFDC (National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation), and overseas scholarships to aspiring students.
- The union cabinet has also enlisted the Betta-Kuruba tribal community from Mysore, Chamrajnagar, and Kodagu districts in Karnataka.
Inclusion of Tribes From Five States In the ST Category
In an elaborate press event, the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi made the approval of adding the tribal communities from five states of India public. The unrecognised communities had been appealing the recognition for the last few decades, so it is a ground-breaking decision that was made to begin their welfare.
The tribes enlisted now have been chosen from five states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu. This important decision was briefed in the press conference by Arjun Munda, Minister of Tribal Affairs on September 14, 2022. He also mentioned that this crucial decision was pending for the last many decades.
To name a few the Hatti tribe of Himachal Pradesh, the Kurivikkaran and Narikoravar mountain tribes of Tamil Nadu, and the Binjhia tribe of Chhattisgarh made it to the list of Schedule Tribes. The list however did not include the Bhinjia tribes of Odisha and Jharkhand. Moving forward, the Union cabinet also agreed to the proposal of including the Gond community, which is currently living in thirteen different districts of Uttar Pradesh. The five major subcategories from the Gond tribal community include the Ojha, Pathari, Nayak, Rajgond, and Dhupia.
Rising demand
In the media session, the Tribal Affairs Minister, who is also a member of the Union Cabinet, Mr. Arjun Munda mentioned that this important decision is one of the most crucial moves in agreeing with the long pending demands of the tribal castes. He also quoted that this inclusion and recognition will also help the tribal communities in their welfare and will facilitate easy availing of the benefits.
He added that the delay was recurring for several years because of the spelling mistakes and community names that sounded similar. The press event was also attended by the I&B minister of India, Mr. Anurag Thakur. Mr. Thakur mentioned that the Hatti tribe from Himachal Pradesh has been seeking recognition for the past fifty years with no luck. He also went on and thanked the Prime Minister for making such a historic decision.
