TRIBALS – 2007 - Indian Social Institute

employment and educational institutions. Mr. Rangasamy said that in response to therepresentations made in the past, the Centre had written a letter to the administration, asking it toprovide a quota of one per cent of the employment or admission in the institutions for some time.He hoped that a full-fledged approval would be given soon. Mr. Anandaraman (PMK) and S. P.Sivakumar (DMK) placed two resolutions separately seeking the Government's firm steps toensure that private medical colleges and also those `deemed to be universities' functioning inUnion Territory earmarked 50 per cent of the total seats in the MBBS course for studentssponsored by the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC). Similar quota should be createdin private engineering colleges also. Replying to members' views, the Chief Minister said thatsteps were already taken to ensure that equal sharing of seats was available in the privateprofessional colleges. (The Hindu 7/5/07)Kalinga Nagar firing inquiry is suspended (6)Bhubaneswar, May 6: The judicial probe into Kalinga Nagar police firing incident has been woundup half way. Justice A.S. Naidu Commission of Inquiry, which was probing the case, has declaredthat the probe has "ceased to exist" in view of the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Orissagovernment’s appeal to continue with the probe. "The commission has ceased to exist withoutcompleting the inquiry process in view of the Supreme Court’s rejection of the state government’sappeal," Justice Naidu said in a statement on Saturday. At least 13 tribal people were killed onJanuary 2, 2006 when the police opened fire on them while they were protesting againstconstruction of the boundary walls by a private steel firm. In November 2006, the Supreme Courthad ruled that no sitting judge of high court can head an inquiry commission. However, the topcourt allowed continuance of some commissions which were in the final stages of completion ofprobes. Soon after the top court’s order, Justice Naidu suspended the proceedings of thecommission on December 9, 2006, and sought direction from the state government if it shouldcontinue. After a month, the state government replied that the commission could continue with itsproceedings since it was in final stage of completion. Justice Naidu, however, insisted that thestate government should obtain clearance from the court. The government had moved the topcourt to allow the commission to complete the probe. But the court on April 9 rejected the appeal.(Asian Age 7/5/07)Tribals preserve forests (6)New Delhi, May 6: It is an initiative, which can become a role-model for conserving the fragileeco-system of the country. Tribals in one of Meghalaya’s little-known villages have gone a stepforward and declared some of their lands as a wildlife reserve. The villagers of Selbalgre haveofficially identified around five km square area as a village-wildlife reserve. The village, locatedabout 20 km from the Tura district headquarters, is also home to endangered species of HollockGibbon (Bunopithecus hoolock). This initiative was the result of a project initiated by Wildlife Trustof India (WTI) and the British high commission to study the role of district councils in protectingforest and wildlife. Welcoming the move, conservationists have termed it unique as it is thevillagers who themselves decided to keep aside some of their land for wildlife conservation. Thearea can be further expanded in future, as villagers have shown willingness to give more land.Tribals in the area practice jhum (rotational) cultivation which has disturbed the sensitive ecosystemcausing lack of rainfall and less forest cover. The villagers also face water scarcity insome areas. This led the tribals to conserve the forests and the eco-system. As part of theproject, WTI has been collecting information on forest resource extraction by villagers andproducing forest cover maps to help in the study. For this, council members, nokmas (villagehead) and other villagers are being contacted. The objective of the project is to come out with apolicy document which will help village councils to tackle contemporary issues on wildlifeconservation. In December 2006, the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) hadconstituted a Wildlife Monitoring Committee to suggest measures for wildlife conservation inareas which are under their jurisdiction. The main task of this committee is to identify areas whereconservation actions can be initiated. (Asian Age 7/5/07)Karnataka CM, deputy to stay with tribals (6)