Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter to Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda on Friday reiterated the demand for the inclusion of more than 160 Communities of Odisha in the ST (Schedule Tribe) list of the State.
From 1978 onwards, Government of Odisha has recommended more than 160 Communities of the State to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India for their inclusion in the ST list of the State with approval of Tribes Advisory Council. Among these, some are new entries. Some others are sub tribes/subsets, synonyms and phonetic variations of the existing ST communities residing in different parts of the State who are being deprived of the benefits availed by STs though they have the same tribal characteristics as their respective notified STs, stated Patnaik.
“I am given to understand that a Task Force under Ministry of Tribal Affairs had recommended 9 proposals from Odisha as priority cases for inclusion in the ST list of the State in the year 2014, but the same is yet to be notified in the Presidential Order. Because of the delay in their inclusion in the ST list, all these 160 plus communities of the State are becoming victims of historical injustice,” he added.
He requested the Union Minister to look into this long pending matter and expedite the scheduling of the left out communities to deliver social justice to them in accordance with the provisions of the Constitutions of India. This shall go a long way in helping these deprived communities by giving them their much needed recognition as ST and ensure social justice.
The Chief Minister also informed that since the year 2011 and onwards, he has made a number of communications with the Government of India on this sensitive matter. He urged the Minister to take urgent action addressing the long-standing pending matter and do justice to the communities who are waiting for decades to get their due grievances redressed.
