Odisha CM Patnaik writes to Centre on pending proposals for inclusion in ST list

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to Union Minister Arjun Munda to consider over 160 state government proposals pending with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for inclusion of communities in the ST list.

From 1978 onwards, the Government of Odisha has recommended more than 160 communities of the state to the Centre's ministry of tribal affairs for their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list of the state with the approval of the Tribes Advisory Council.

Among these, some are new entries. Some others are sub-tribes and 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.

Patnaik in his letter to Munda wrote, "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".

"I would therefore request you to kindly look into this long pending matter and expedite the scheduling of these 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 STs and ensuring social justice", said the CM in his letter.

As per Patnaik he has been communicating since the year 2011 and onwards with the Government of India on the sensitive matter.

He further urged the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs to take urgent action to address the long-standing pending matter and do justice to the communities who are waiting for decades to get their due grievances redressed.

( With inputs from ANI )