2005 - Indian Social Institute

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they require rehabilitation. The internationally famous Jarawas, numbering 240 (125 men and 115 women) have settlements in six villages of An damans district. They live in the jungles and on highlands and are also reported safe. (Times of India 7.1.05) Tribal dev plan revamp soon (6) New Delhi: ADMITTING THAT the three-decade-old Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) strategy has failed thor oughly, pushing these communities in the arms of the Naxalites, the Centre is con templating a major overhaul of the existing developmental schemes in tribal areas. A high-level standing committee set up recently by the PMO is likely to come out shortly with "viable and effective alterna tives" with the objective of assuaging the feeling of neglect and alienation among the tribals and checking the growing Naxal in fluence among them. According to official sources, the PMO's tribal panel will hold its second meeting this month to discuss, among other things, the Naxalite challenge in tribal areas and the corrective measures. Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh, a member of the com mittee, is likely to brief the panel on the is sue, sources confirmed. In its first meeting last month, the pan el had set the nation's top mandarins in self-introspection mode on how the Governmental failures had resulted in a deep sense of exclusion among tribals who had, therefore, increasingly opted for Naxalism and oth3r forms of insurgency. While its Chairman, Dr Bhalachandra Mungekar, told those attending the first meeting of the PMO's panel that "the Prime Minister is not quite convinced with the ef ficacy of the ongoing development schemesunder the TSP", PM's Special Advisor MK Narayanan — another member of the com mittee — felt that there had always been a direct link between under-development of tribal areas and their propensity to being attracted to join Naxalite groups. (Pioneer 8.1.05) Tribal students want grant restoration for school (6) VIKAS NAGAR (DEHRA DUN) JAN. 9. The 300-odd tribal girl students of Ashok Ashram, the oldest central Himalayan Gandhian institution, here have urged the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to intervene and restore the annual grant from the cen tral Tribal Welfare Department which was stopped abruptly at the behest of the Uttaranchal Social Welfare Department. "If the grant is not restored this school which topped in the Uttaranchal High School Board examination by securing cent percent results last year may have to fold up for want of funds", the students said. This institution established in 1942 by Mahatma Gandhi boasts of being the cradle for education among the extreme ly poor Jaunsari, Bhoxa, Tharu and Bhotia tribals of the region. It has played a vital role in curbing trafficking of women and rescuing girls from red light areas in the major cities of the country. Today, it provides education with an ashram type atmosphere where the students and teachers are provided food, clothes and other necessities. (The Hindu 10.1.05) Andaman tribals reject govt rehab plan (6) New Delhi, January 14: DESPITE THE havoc caused by the killer tsunami, the aboriginals of Andaman and Nicobar have refused government help in reconstruction. The Andaman and Nicobar ad ministration has informed the Union Home Ministry that the abo riginals were willing to accept only "construction material" but insisted on reconstructing everything themselves. This issue was discussed at length on Friday during a review meeting on relief and rehabilitation chaired by home minister Shivraj Patil. Both Patil and home secretary Dhirendra Singh felt the "privacy and reluctance of the tribes to mix with the outside world must be re spected". These tribes include the Onges, Jarawas, Sentinelese, Shompen and Andamanese. "The aboriginals have been extremely reluctant to take any help. Even food had to be sent to them on floats from a safe distance," a senior ministry official said. However, the ministry feels that since Andaman and Nicobar islands fall in seismic zone V and is ex tremely prone to earthquakes, the administration must ensure that the endangered tribes get good quality houses. The Home Ministry has asked the local administration to try and es tablish contact with the aboriginals through intermediaries who can in volve the tribes in re-construction. If the tribes are still opposed to any interference, the ministry will pro vide them just the construction material. "Everything — right from the de sign of houses to construction — will be done according to their requirement and specification. The idea is to make sure that these tribes don't suffer in case of another calamity," the official said. (Hindustan Times 15.1.05)
Tsunamis: 1,400 island tribals died (6) New Delhi, Jan. 14: The government on Friday said that the total of 1,400 tribals have lost their lives in the tsunami devastation which struck the Indian coastal towns and Andaman and Nicobar Islands on December 26 last year. "The aborigines of A&N Islands are however, safe. Though some tribes, including the Nicobaris, Sentinelese and Shompen, had been hit by the deadly tsunami waves, all primi tive tribes, including Ongei, Sentinel and Jarwa in the Andaman and Nico bar Islands, are safe. There is no question of extinction of any tribe," the Union tribal affairs minister P.R. Kyndiah said. Addressing a press con ference here after coming back from A&N Islands, Mr Kyndiah said, "The natural instinct of the local tribes also helped them find safe shelter just before the tsunami waves struck." The Nicobaris tribe were the worst hit with 26,156 of the total population of 42,068 taking shelter in camps, the minister said, adding in Andaman, out of a total of three lakh, 37,264 were now living in camps. "We have now fine-tuned and streamlined the entire relief operations in the Islands," he said adding the main concern of the central government and local administration was to rehabilitate the affected people before the onset of monsoon which usually starts at the end of April. Mr Kyndiah said a total of 1,400 tribals had lost their lives while about 5,000 were still missing, of whom 4,354 were from Katchal Island alone. (Asian Age 15.1.05) Tribal teachers face humiliation (6) Bhubaneswar, January 25: THOUGH A number of teaching posts reserved for the ST community lie vacant in Orissa due to lack of suitable candidates, the few who are selected by the gov ernment face hostile recep tions in schools, especially in the coastal districts. The culprit: caste discrimina tion. When two tribal teachers joined a school in Jagatsinghpur district recently, they were asked by locals to write their names correctly on the blackboard as proof of their professional competence. The teachers — Kalandi Padhan and Purna Chandra Padhan — refused to do so after which they were warned not to set foot on the Odisho Balipatna Primary School again. Orissa's school and mass education minister Nagen-dra Pradhan told HT: "The government has taken a se rious view of the incident. I have ordered the district in spector of schools to direct the headmistress of the con cerned school to accept the joining reports of the two teachers". The teachers have told the district inspector of schools that they were as saulted, harassed and were forced to sit on the floor af ter running into trouble with one Mrutyunjay Das, who claims to be the presi dent of a local parent-teacher association. (Hindustan Times 26.1.05) Wedlock does not change caste: Court (6) New Delhi, Jan. 30: Recognition of a forward caste woman to be one among the Scheduled Caste or Sched uled Tribe community on the basis of her marriage cannot entitle her to contest an electipn from a con stituency reserved for SC or ST, the Supreme Court has ruled. A bench of Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G.P. Mathur and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan said "to permit a non-tribal under the cover of a marriage to contest such a seat would tend to defeat the very object of such a reservation." This ruling was given by the bench while upholding an Andhra Pradesh high court order setting aside the election of Sobha Hymavathi Devi to the Assembly from a reserved constituency in the state. (Asian Age 31.1.05) PM’s securitymen frisk tribal woman (6) New Delhi: A controversy is brew ing over male security personnel al legedly frisking a tribal woman who had gone to meet PM Manmohan Singh at his residence, 7 Race Course Road, as part of a delegation. Though the Special Protection Group (SPG) has denied the incident, the tribal welfare director at the Centre said he has got a complaint and was looking into the matter. Karikka, 34, a member of the primitive Chola Naikan tribal com munity which numbers about 280 and lives in caves in Kerala’s rain forests, went to the Prime Minister’s house on January 27, with her hus band Mathan, to meet Singh. They were taken by the tribal wel fare ministry with other tribals from all over the country to meet the PM on the occasion of the Republic Day celebrations. Mathan was cleared by the securi ty persons. But when Karikka’s turn came, she was checked by the male security persons, said a tribal wel fare officer of the Integrated Tribal Welfare Project who accompanied the tribals. The securitymen found a piece of arecanut and tobacco, which the trib als chew, from Karikka. The securitymen then sent mes sages around and Karikka was not given permission to go with her hus band to meet the PM. (Times of India 31.1.05) FEBRUARY 2005
Page 1 and 2: TRIBALS - 2005 Compiled by K. Samu,
Page 3: Return our land, demand tribals (6)
Page 7 and 8: Forbidden by church, priest looks f
Page 9 and 10: NEW DELHI, APRIL 10. Carrying forwa
Page 11 and 12: encroachments on forest land in the
Page 13 and 14: Tribal MPs claim Sonia to protect F
Page 15 and 16: attention. Now the SP says: "Police
Page 17 and 18: "The evolution of the tribes may be
Page 19 and 20: ATTAPPADY (PALAKKAD): Protest is mo
Page 21 and 22: sleeping in my small thatched house
Page 23 and 24: akha samitis had accordingly been f
Page 25 and 26: National Human Rights Commission, a
Page 27 and 28: of a few," he added. Blaming the Mi
Page 29 and 30: ``The reason is simple. The Maoists
Page 31 and 32: Nagaland and the adjoining state of
Page 33 and 34: (UPA) was committed to grant rights
Page 35 and 36: An angry en vironment ministry then
Page 37 and 38: the region. "The fight between the
Page 39 and 40: 45,000 homeless, Gogoi under fire (
Page 41 and 42: Sheela who ekes out a living as a h
Page 43 and 44: Prof Joshi, the dis trict administr
Page 45: government has not formulated any p

2005 - Indian Social Institute

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