The Lok Sabha has passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
The bill seeks to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 for the inclusion of a certain community in the list of Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Tripura. The Bill proposes to “Darlong” community as a sub-tribe of “Kuki” in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Moving the bill in the House, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said that the Narendra Modi government is committed to the development of tribal areas and the welfare of the tribal community.
He said the bill has been brought with an intention to include Darlong community as a sub-tribe of Kuki community in Tripura. He said, the amendment is proposed because in the hilly area the people of the same community are residing as different sub-tribes and are excluded from the list for long time.
Later replying to a debate on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said that the government is committed to the all-round development of tribal areas, He said, the Prime Minister has stressed that without ensuring the welfare and development of Tribal population and tribal areas, the development of the nation can not be realized. He said, under Scheduled Tribe Component-STC, there has been a gradual increase in the allocation of funds. He informed the House that during 2014-15 where the allocation was only to the tune of 16 thousand 111 crore rupees, it was increased to 87 thousand 585 crore rupees in 2021-22 under STC.
Responding to members concerning poor network connectivity in villages, Mr Munda said, IT Ministry has recently initiated a scheme with an outlay of around 7 thousand crore rupees to enable broadband and 4G connectivity to all villages under the ST component. He said, the government is implementing Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana with the objective of integrated development of tribal areas in which schemes like health, education and tap water are provided to the people. Talking about educational facilities in tribal areas, the Tribal Affairs Minister said that earlier in 2014 only 278 crore rupees were earmarked for the operation of Eklavya Model Residential Schools and now the budget has been enhanced to one thousand 418 crore rupees.
He added that only 160 such schools are operational in 2014, and now the number has gone up to 365. He also informed the House that the Finance Minister has provided an allocation of around 28 thousand crore rupees for setting up 700 more such schools in the next five years.
Earlier initiating the discussion, Pradyut Bordoloi of Congress said that mere recognition of tribal status is not sufficient but needs fund and concrete policy. He alleged that the budget for schemes aimed at creating jobs for Scheduled tribes in the Union Budget 2022-23 has been substantially decreased from 89.5 crore last year to 11.3 crore rupees.
Tapir Gao of BJP while responding to the allegations of Congress members said that what Congress has not done for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes, the Narendra Modi government will fulfill it. He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Minister of Tribal Affairs for giving recognition of Tribal Status to Darlong community which comprises only 2.15 per cent of total population in Tripura.
Members from other parties including A Raja of DMK, Goddeti Madhavi of YSRCP, Pratima Mondal of TMC and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of Congress participated in the discussion.
