BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha today informed the members in the House that the State Government has moved the Centre for inclusion of `Saara’ title in the list of Scheduled Tribe (ST).
Making a statement in response to a calling attention motion, the Minister said that the Centre was moved after the Tribes Advisory Council (TAC) recommended inclusion of `Saara’ caste people in ST list. He said that the Chief Secretary has also written a letter in this connection to the Union Tribal Welfare Ministry.
The matter is under active consideration of the Centre, Bariha said, adding that `Saara’ title will be included in the ST list after getting the necessary clearances.
The Minister said that in serial number 59 of the presidential order on the ST list, 37 synonymous titles including `Saara’ and `Saura’ have been mentioned which are not in the list.
In response to demands from the members, the Minister assured that the TAC will be reconstituted and a meeting will be convened soon. He observed that if the Speaker wanted he does not have any problem in agreeing for formation of a House committee on the matter.
Demanding that the State Government should take a decision on the matter soon, Amar Prasad Satpathy (NCP) said that students having `Saara’ title are facing a lot of difficulties as they are not getting caste certificate due to the confusion. His party colleague Prashant Nanda said that as `Saara’ is the corrupt form of `Sabara’ it should be included in the ST list.
Surendra Singh Bhoi (Cong) wanted the State Government to initiate steps to clear the confusion over not only `Saara’ title but also other tribes not included in the list. He warned that tribals slowly becoming agitated over the issue in many districts.
Deputy leader of the Congress Chakradhar Paik said that the TAC should be reconstituted at the earliest. He observed that there are many anomalies including spelling mistakes of different tribes in the list. These should be corrected, he added.