For the first time, tribal people of the State celebrated the Indigenous Peoples’ Day here on Friday. The programme was jointly organised by the State SC & ST Development Department and the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, Odisha.
Attending the programme, tribal leaders — including Nicholas Barla and Theophil Gamango — thanked Parliament for having enacted two historic legislations such as the Provisions for Panchayts (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996, popularly called PESA, and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, popularly called FRA, which provide inter alia for self-governance and ownership and management by the indigenous communities of natural resources along with control over dispute resolution processes and schemes. They also thanked the Union Government for its wise and salutary act of having signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples 2007.
However, the indigenous peoples lamented that they are still deprived of their rights guaranteed by the Constitution. They are yet to get basic amenities to live, said the tribals. Around 150 tribals belonging to the 62 scheduled tribes (STs) of the State fighting for their land rights, forest rights, culture and dignity participated in the programme. After the discussions at the meeting, they decided to submit a memorandum having a 18-point charter of demands to the State Government for betterment of the tribals. The tribals demanded setting up of a special cell to deal with the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in the office of the Governor as a single-window mechanism for addressing the concerned issues. They also demanded that the State Tribes Advisory Council and the Governor recommend to the President of India to cover Jhodias and Kanda Doras in the lists of the STs. The other demands related to proper implementation of the FRA, the PESA and the RTE Act in letter and spirit in the tribal areas.