NCST Recommends Separate Scheduled Tribes Commission for Karnataka: Antar Singh Arya
Bengaluru: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has recommended that Karnataka establish a separate commission for Scheduled Tribes on the lines of the arrangement at the Centre, its chairperson Antar Singh Arya said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference after a review meeting at a private hotel in Bengaluru, Arya said the need for urgent action had been brought to the chief secretary’s attention. Separate commissions were necessary to oversee welfare programmes and address the concerns of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, he said.
The meeting reviewed the implementation of programmes for tribal communities and measures to protect them. Arya said the commission had held discussions with Karnataka’s chief secretary and other senior officials during the day.
District complaints and reservation raised
Arya said the state had been asked to take complaints concerning Scheduled Tribes registered at the district level seriously. He put the community’s share of the state’s population at about 7% and called for ST reservation to be raised from 3% to 7%.
He said tribal communities often faced displacement in the name of development and that the commission was aware of these concerns. He also described the absence of panchayat elections as a major issue.
On the Kasturirangan report, Arya said a visit would be undertaken within a month to hear the concerns of tribal communities in the affected areas.
Review of safeguards and welfare programmes
Arya said the commission’s South India tour had begun three days earlier, with review meetings in Tamil Nadu on the preceding two days. The exercise, undertaken as part of a special campaign of the Prime Minister, would feed into a report to the Union government on the ground situation, he said.
The tour includes interactions with tribal youth, senior government and police officials, and members of the public on local problems and the implementation of government schemes.
Explaining the commission’s mandate under Article 338A of the Constitution, Arya said it monitors constitutional and legal safeguards, reviews development programmes and recommends measures for the protection, welfare and socio-economic development of Scheduled Tribes. Its reports on the working of these safeguards are submitted to the President.
He said people could lodge grievances through the NCSTGRAMS complaint portal.
Commission member Jatothu Hussain, Joint Secretary Amit Nirmal, directors Purnendu Kant and Dr P Kalyan Reddy, and Karnataka public relations officer Jagadevi Hiremath were present.
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