Members of the Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) did not seem to be united on the issue of amendments being brought in the CNT and SPT Acts. They even alleged the State Government was using TAC for the purpose of fulfilling its own interest under political agenda. The left parties on the occasion did not miss a chance to burn effigy of Chief Minister Raghubar Government against the decision of the State Government to bring a bill in the coming winter session of the Assembly to make changes in CNT and SPT Acts.
“The Government wants to bring anti-tribal and anti-moolwasi laws in the state. It is just like killing the tribal and the moolwasi in this state,” said JMM MlA Deepak Birua who walked out of the TAC meeting along with MlA Joba Manjhi as soon it started.
Birua questioned the authenticity of the meeting called by CM saying that no changes could be brought in the provisions of 9th schedule, which is clearly mentioned in Section 31 (B) of the Indian Constitution. He also alleged that the amendment was being brought under the political agenda of the State Government.
Meanwhile the left parties said that this government was trying to bring changes in the age old CNT and SPT Acts only to provide land to the corporate houses. “With the changes made in the two Acts, the relevance of the two acts will become endangered and invalid as well,” said Birua.
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda, on the other hand, said that changes in the CNT and SPT Acts should be brought only after taking earlier experiences into consideration as only talks could never deliver anything positive. “The state government must also tell people whether the tribals of this State are in profit or in loss,” said Munda.
later, counting on the benefits of amendments being proposed by the State Government, BJP leaders said that in this era of development it becomes essential to make changes in the age old CNT and SPT Acts to bring improvements in the life styles of the poor ‘rayyats’ of this state. Talking to media persons at BJP headquarters in Ranchi, party’s Chief Whip Radha Krishna Kishore said that changes in the Act will ultimately save the interest of the Schedule Tribe, Schedule Caste and Other Backward Castes.
“It is also surprising that JVM is also against the changes in the CNT and SPT Acts whereas in a Seminar organized in Godda in the year 2003, JVM Chief Babulal Marandi himself had said that utility of this act has ended which needs to be changed,” said Kishore.
Congress has also registered its protest against any changes being made in the CNT and SPT Acts.