GUWAHATI: The Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations of Assam (CCTOA) has rejected the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to grant Scheduled Tribes (ST) status to six communities -- Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Matak, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea Tribes.
The CCTOA, a conglomerate of 14 tribal organisations, argued that under the Constitution of India, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the STs are two different, distinct and separate groups.
While the SCs are identified based on their status in the Hindu caste system, the STs are identified based on tribal characteristics – indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness for the community as laid down in the “Report of the Advisory Committee on the Revision of the Lists of Scheduled Castes And Scheduled Tribes” of 1965, known as the Lokur Committee, the CCTOA said.
“In 1993, the state government, after research by the Institute of Research for the Tribals and Scheduled Castes, recommended these six communities as ‘Other Backward Classes,’ and the National Commission for Backward Classes had notified them as ‘Other Backward Castes.’ Once they were identified as Scheduled Castes, they cannot be reclassified as Scheduled Tribes by the same government for political expediency,” the CCTOA argued.
It further stated that the recommendations of the expert committees on the six communities cannot be the basis to grant ST status because as per the notices of the Assam government, the members of these committees, recommended by various organisations of each community, are not independent.
"In fact, the Ethnographic Expert Committee on Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes recommended that 38 out of 74 Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Communities be granted Scheduled Caste status but all the 74 communities have been recommended for Scheduled Tribes status by the Assam government," the CCTOA said.
It further argued that the Assam government, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Registrar General of India or the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes have no jurisdiction to recommend contrary to the findings of the expert committees.
In November last year, an interim report of the GoM recommended a three-tier classification of STs – ST (Plains), ST (Hills) and ST (Valley). While the ST (Plains) and the ST (Hills) continue to cover the existing tribal communities residing in the plains and hills, the ST (Valley) will cover the Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Matak, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea Tribes communities.
The GoM’s recommendations had triggered protests. Protestors in Kokrajhar vandalised the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council secretariat, opposing the government move.