Who constitute Schedule Tribes?
Article 366 (25) defined scheduled tribes as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this constitution”. The President may, with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a state, after consultation with the Governor there of by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall, for the purposes of this constitution, is deemed to be scheduled tribes in relation to that state or Union Territory, as the case may be.
Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled tribes specified in a notification issued under clause(1) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid, a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.
Thus, the first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned. These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament. The above Article also provides for listing of scheduled tribes State/Union Territory wise and not on an all India basis.
The criterion followed for specification of a community, as scheduled tribes are indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large, and backwardness. This criterion is not spelt out in the Constitution but has become well established.
The schemes of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs
The schemes of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs are demand driven and funding are made in various sectors including for employment-cum-income generation and covers activities such as establishment of Agro/Forest/Natural Resource based micro / village industries through training of tribal cooperatives, SHGs and individual entrepreneurs, promotion and skill development in traditional tribal culture areas like tribal jewellery, painting, dance forms, music and culinary art, Village tourism, Eco-tourism, etc.
The existing schemes include Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP as “Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram”. Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram is a training and development of value chain components of the scheme of Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP.
The scheme of Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP covers various activities including procurement of MFPs when their market price falls below their notified MSP, setting up/expansion of storage facilities, expanding the knowledge base on MFP, training for sustainable collection, value addition, etc. The activities involving expanding knowledge base, training for sustainable collection, value addition, etc. are done through by the Ministry and the Central Government bears 100% of the expenditure incurred for these activities.
Government endeavoured to formulate a five Year Vision plan in 2019 for overall development of the tribals for the next five years. Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing many schemes for education including pre and post Matric Scholarship Scheme for ST students, National Overseas Scholarship for ST students for studying abroad, Grants-in-aid to Voluntary Organisations Working for welfare of STs and Strengthening Education among ST Girls in Low Literacy Districts.
Institutional Support for Development and Marketing of Tribal Products
Under the scheme, Grants-in-aid are released to State Tribal Development Cooperative Corporations (STDCCs) and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) which is a multi-State Cooperative under MoTA. It provides comprehensive support for people belonging to various tribes in the entire range of production, product development, preservation of traditional heritage, support to both forest and agricultural produce of tribal people, support to Institutions to carry the above activities, provisions of better infrastructure, development of designs, dissemination of information about price and the agencies which are buying the products, support to Government agencies for sustainable marketing and thereby ensure a reasonable price regime.
Marketing Of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) Through Minimum Support Price (MSP) And Development Of Value Chain For MFP”, introduced by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the year 2013-14, to provide much needed safety net and support to people belonging to Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers whose very livelihood depends on collection and selling of MFP. The scheme seeks to establish a system to ensure fair monetary returns for their efforts in collection, primary processing, storage, packaging, transportation etc. It also seeks to get them a share of revenue from the sales proceeds with cost deducted. It also aims to address other issues for sustainability of process. The scheme envisages fixation and declaration of Minimum Support Price for the selected MFP. Procurement & Marketing operation at prefixed MSP will be undertaken by the designated State Agencies.
Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram (VDVK)
VDVK is an initiative under the Scheme ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Development of Value Chain for MFP’targeting livelihood generation for tribals by harnessing the wealth of forest i.e. Van Dhan. The programme aims to tap into traditional knowledge and skill sets of tribals by adding technology & IT to upgrade it at each stage and to convert the tribal wisdom into a viable economic activity. Under this Karyakram, it is proposed to set-up tribal community owned Minor Forest Produce centric multi-purpose Kendras in predominantly tribal districts. The Kendras would act as common facility centres for procurement cum value addition to locally available Minor Forest Produce. Value addition of raw produce is expected to increase the value of the MFP considerably and consequently the income of the gatherers.
Silent features of VDVK:
- Initiative targeting livelihood generation for tribal gatherers and transforming them into entrepreneurs.
- Idea is to set-up tribal community owned Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) in predominantly forested tribal districts.
- A Kendra shall constitute of 15 tribal SHGs, each comprising of up to 20 tribal NTFP gatherers or artisans i.e. about 300 beneficiaries per Van Dhan Kendra.
- The cost of setting up of Kendras VDVK are to be borne 100% by MoTA for which funds will be made available through TRIFED.
National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC)
National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC), a fully owned Public Sector Enterprise of Government of India, is provided with 100% equity share capital contribution by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The authorized share capital of the Corporation is Rs 750.00 crore. The main objectives of NSTFDC are:-
- To identify economic activities of importance to the Scheduled Tribes so as to generate self-employment and raise their income level.
- To upgrade their skills and processes through both institutional and on the job training.
- To make existing State/ UT Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporations (SCAs) and other developmental agencies engaged in economic development of the Scheduled Tribes more effective.
- To assist SCAs in project formulation, implementation of NSTFDC assisted schemes and in imparting training to their personnel.
- To monitor implementation of NSFDC assisted schemes in order to assess their impact.
NSTFDC implements following schemes for self-employment of Scheduled Tribes:
- Term Loan scheme: NSTFDC provides Term Loan for any viable income generation scheme costing upto ₹25.00 lakhs per unit.
- Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana (AMSY): Under the scheme, Scheduled Tribes women can undertake any viable income generation activity costing upto ₹ 1 lakh per unit.
- Micro Credit Scheme for Self Help Groups: The Corporation provides loan ₹5 Lakhs per Self Help Group (SHG) and upto ₹50,000/- per member.
- Adivasi Shiksha Rrinn Yojana (Education Loan): Under this scheme, financial assistance upto ₹10.00 lakh at concessional rate of interest of 6% per annum is provided to ST students for pursuing professional/ technical education including Ph.D. in India
State Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (SSTFDC)
The STFDCs are catering to STs in various States and are provided assistance in the form of contribution towards share capital by this Ministry. The ratio of its contribution is in the share of 51:49 between State and Government and Central Government. The main objectives of the scheme are :-
- Identification of eligible ST families and motivating them to undertake economic development schemes.
- Sponsoring those schemes to financial institutions for credit support.
- Providing financial assistance in form of margin money on low rate of interest
- Providing necessary linkage/ tie-up with other poverty alleviation programmes.
Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 recognizes the rights of the forest dwelling tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers to forest resources, on which these communities were dependent for a variety of needs, including livelihood, habitation and other socio-cultural needs. The forest management policies, including the Acts, Rules and Forest Policies of Participatory Forest Management policies in both colonial and post-colonial India, did not, till the enactment of this Act, recognize the symbiotic relationship of the STs with the forests, reflected in their dependence on the forest as well as in their traditional wisdom regarding conservation of the forests.
The Act encompasses Rights of Self-cultivation and Habitation which are usually regarded as Individual rights; and Community Rights as Grazing, Fishing and access to Water bodies in forests, Habitat Rights for PVTGs, Traditional Seasonal Resource access of Nomadic and Pastoral community, access to biodiversity, community right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge, recognition of traditional customary rights and right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource for sustainable use. It also provides rights to allocation of forest land for developmental purposes to fulfil basic infrastructural needs of the community. In conjunction with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Settlement Act, 2013 FRA protects the tribal population from eviction without rehabilitation and settlement.
The Act further enjoins upon the Gram Sabha and rights holders the responsibility of conservation and protection of bio-diversity, wildlife, forests, adjoining catchment areas, water sources and other ecologically sensitive areas as well as to stop any destructive practices affecting these resources or cultural and natural heritage of the tribals. The Gram Sabha is also a highly empowered body under the Act, enabling the tribal population to have a decisive say in the determination of local policies and schemes impacting them.
Thus, the Act empowers the forest dwellers to access and use the forest resources in the manner that they were traditionally accustomed, to protect, conserve and manage forests, protect forest dwellers from unlawful evictions and also provides for basic development facilities for the community of forest dwellers to access facilities of education, health, nutrition, infrastructure etc.
Objective:
- To undo the historical injustice occurred to the forest dwelling communities
- To ensure land tenure, livelihood and food security of the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers
- To strengthen the conservation regime of the forests by including the responsibilities and authority on Forest Rights holders for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance.
A bill had been mooted for amendment in the the Indian Forests Act 1927. The Union government withdrew in 2019 certain controversial amendments to the act. The minister for environment, forests and climate change, Prakash Javadekar, said that the ‘zero draft’ – as the proposed bill was called – had created the ‘wrong impression’ that the government intended to do away with certain provisions of the Act which protect the rights of forest dwellers and tribal communities. The proposed amendments in the bill were criticized for giving excessive and significant discretionary powers to forest officials to raid, arrest, search and seize of the tribal people. It also gave too much immunity to forest officials from being arrested for any offence alleged to have been committed by or purported to have been committed in discharge of his official duties, without causing out an inquiry by an authority to be notified by the State Government for the purpose. It also sought to ‘dissuade’ political mobilisation.
Bill for Amendments in Forest Conservation Act 1980
The Forest Conservation Act was initially an Ordinance (through the 42nd amendment of the Constitution), later enacted into a law by Parliament. It has just six sections. It addresses concerns regarding increasing deforestation and makes provisions for strict guidelines to prevent any harm to the forest cover due to human activity.
The Ordinance also made the prior approval of the Government of India necessary for de-reservation of reserved forests and for the use of forest land for non-forest purposes. The Ordinance also provided for the constitution of an advisory committee to advise the Centre about the grant of such approval.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) released a consultation paper October 2, 2021 on the proposed amendments in Forest Conservation Act, 1980 with reference to the amendments made in 1988 in this Act. The paper proposes 14 amendments. On the one hand, the document suggests shrinking the scope of the Act in the context of business and development. Simultaneously, it talks of expanding the scope of the Act when it comes to community ownership over forest resources. It offers full relaxation to businesses like safaris, zoos, linear projects, mining and other non-forest use on forest land. At the same time, it restricts and tightens the scope for community access and centuries-old traditional ownership by local communities.
In practice, the amendments would mean that anyone can take forest land for non-forest use with due approval from the Centre and due payment of compensatory levy. This is true even for reserve forests notified under the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The new document also discourages local communities to take care of their forests as part of their traditional practice and makes them offenders if they carry out any activity in the forest.