Contentious domicile policy issue figured in the new look Tribal Advisory Council’s (TAC) inaugural meeting on Wednesday prominently with some new dimensions. It is learnt that the apex panel for making recommendations for tribals living in the Schedule-V areas has suggested to reserve substantial number of vacancies for ST applicants.
Informed sources present in the meeting confided to The Pioneer that most of the members of the TAC were agreed to this and a unanimous proposal in this regard has been presented before the Government.
“In TAC we could have discussed only the matters belonging to Schedule-V of the Article 309 of the Constitution. Thus it was decided not to discuss the proposed domicile policy in toto but only for the scheduled areas. It has been proposed that special arrangement for Government jobs for tribals should be made for the 14 districts and 113 blocks falling under the category,” said a TAC member.
Opinions on the contentious domicile issue have been divided in the State and most of those are about fixation of cut-off date for recognising whether a person is an original inhabitant of Jharkhand. Nevertheless, Chief Minister Raghubar Das’ resolve to deal with the issue at earliest has brought it as one of the main agendas in the meeting.
This apart, another major bone of contention related to allowing any tribal to purchase land only within the boundary of his native revenue police station came for discussion among the TAC members, headed by the Chief Minister.
“It has been proposed to waive the limitation for tribals and open it for entire State. Of course, this would also be only for Scheduled areas of Jharkhand. The recommendation would go to the Welfare Department before final decision taken by the Government,” said a former MlA who was present in the close-door consultation.
Also, lowering cut-off mark, 40, kept for tribal students as per the Medical Council of India norms for getting admission in medical colleges of the State, figured into the meeting. Chief Secretary Rajiv Gauba on this issue asked the Health Secretary whether it can be done at the State level on which the latter replied in affirmative.
“The TAC also recommended to the Government for scraping Icha-Kharkai dam considering the quantum of displacement feared to take place. The CM instructed Water Resource Secretary Sukhdev Singh to prepare a detailed presentation on the entire matter,” informed a member. Also, the TAC agreed to prevent any shoe shop to be named after Birsa Munda in the State.
Earlier, addressing the gathering the Chief Minister expressed the commitment of his Government to safeguard the legacy of Birsa Munda, Sido-Kanhu and other great martyrs. “It is our moral responsibility to honour the great martyrs of State. We have to ensure that children of tribal community advance in changing global scenario and for that an environment for quality education, health, skill development has to be built,” he said, underling the efforts being made for improving institutions, hostels etc.
The CM taking about the recommendations made by the TAC said that all the related decisions would be made within a time frame at Department levels. He, on the occasion, also called upon tribals to prepare roadmap for development of their areas. The CM also said that a new Jharkhand Development Council would give way to Jharkhand State Planning Council.
Welfare Minister louis Marandi and Rural Development Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda were present in the meeting along with secretaries of all the Departments.