GUWAHATI, Jan 8 - The All Assam Tribal Sangha will challenge the move being taken by the Union Government to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the six ethnic groups of the State. This was the statement made by secretary general of the All Assam Tribal Sangha Aditya Khakhlari making public the Sangha�s reaction on the Union Cabinet�s nod to the draft bill for according Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six ethnic groups of the State. He was talking to this newspaper.
It seems that the Union Government is going to place the bill before the Parliament. But whatever it does, the Tribal Sangha will continue with its opposition to the move to grant ST status to the Morans, Mottucks, Ahoms, Chutiyas, Koch-Rajbongshis and the Tea Garden communities, Khakhlari said.
Reasoning, he said granting ST status to the advanced and numerically superior communities will pose serious threats to some economically weak and numerically inferior ST communities like the Singphos, the Khamtis, the Barmans, the Hojais, the Tiwas etc. Most of the six ethnic groups, like the Ahoms, Koches of Upper Assam, Chutiyas and some tea garden communities do not fulfill the criteria required for according the ST status.
Moreover, granting ST status to advanced communities will affect the tribal people of the entire country. As an example, the case of the Meenas of Rajasthan may be cited here, he said. The Meenas were included in the ST list in 2010. And since then, the Meenas are enjoying 36 per cent of the reserved quota meant for the STs, despite their being only 1.6 per cent of the total ST population of the country.
In 1996, Koch-Rajbongshis were accorded ST (Plains) status through an ordinance and after it, for a period of six months, almost all the seats and posts reserved for the STs (P) in Assam were grabbed by the Koch-Rajbongshi candidates in Government academic institutions and offices. And Late Karuna Dutta of Majuli got himself elected to the State Assembly from a constituency reserved for the ST (P), said the Tribal Sangha secretary general.
