PUDUCHERRY: Dr Rameshwar Oraon, chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, along with other officials undertook a field study to identify the tribal inhabitants and inquire into their living conditions, on Monday. The visit followed the Puducherry administration’s proposal to the Centre to include five backward tribe communities in the central list of Scheduled Tribes.
The commission’s chief along with the secretary of NCST, R Vijayakumar visited T N Palayam and Vathanur to undertake an on-the-spot assessment. Dr Oaran went into a hut of an Irular family at TN Palayam and enquired whether the free rice and other schemes of the administration were reaching them. The commission officials also interacted with the tribal community members. T N Palayam has 41 huts and 300 tribal inhabitants. The NCST panel then visited another hamlet in Vathanur and made inquiries with them too.
Speaking to the media, Dr Rameshwar Oraon said the Union government was in favour of recommending the inclusion of Irula community (including Villi and Vettaikaran) on the list of Scheduled Tribes and had sent the proposal in this regard to the commission. The Puducherry government has submitted a proposal to the Centre to include five communities — Irular (including Vettaikkaran and Valli), Kattu Nayakar, Malakuravar, Yerukkula and Kuruman — on the Scheduled Tribes list, he added.
The Centre has sent the list to the Registrar General of India (RGI), who in turn recommended it to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to identify and undertake a study on the living conditions and submit a report at the earliest. Dr Oaran said the NCST would submit its report at the earliest and if its recommendations are accepted, then the President of India would issue a notification to include the five communities on the Scheduled Tribes’ list. He added that normally the commission’s recommendations are accepted by the Centre.
Later in the day, they held discussions with representatives of the Scheduled Tribe communities, the anthropologists, sociologists, and officials of the administration in the presence of welfare minister P Rajavelu.