BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development Lalbihari Himirika on Saturday said the State Government has initiated several steps to bring Scheduled Tribes to the mainstream even as participants at a seminar observed that tribal language was not used in competitive examinations and technical studies.
Addressing a convention here on the occasion of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, the Minister said language is an important part of one’s identity and culture and mother tongue is the foundation of all languages. Organised by the Odisha Adivasi Manch (OAM) and the Campaign on Mother Tongue based Early Childhood Education, people’s representatives and tribal leaders exchanged views on tribal culture, tradition, issues and the need for proper implementation of different schemes.
Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sudam Marandi and Transport Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi maintained that while some schemes meant for tribals have been successful, several others have failed. Both the Ministers called for concerted efforts by OAM, NGOs and other voluntary organisations for effective implementation of the schemes.
The participants alleged that tribal youths suffer while competing with others for jobs and underlined the need for inclusion of indigenous languages in competitive examinations. Several other issues including the poor infrastructure and amenities in the tribal-dominated districts in important areas such as water and irrigation, education, transport and communication were raised.
The event was attended by around 200 tribal leaders from 15 districts of Odisha.