The Government has prepared and circulated amended version of the CNT and SPT amendment Bills for the Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) members ahead of its August 3 meeting. The agenda placed has, as per the declaration made before, no mention of the twin contentious clauses altering with the nature of tribal land for commercial gains.
Top sources told The Pioneer that the new looking agenda has retained Sections 49 and 71(A) of the CNT Act while Section-13 of the SPT and Section-21 of the CNT have been dropped as expected.
“As described earlier by the Chief Minister himself the new draft talks only about amending a sub-section of the Section- 71 of the CNT Act which talks about compensation against tribal land. Also, Section-49 allowing tribal lands to be taken for infrastructure projects such as rail, road, transmission lines, communication lines or irrigation besides just mining and industry is being retained,” said a senior official.
The changes have been introduced after stormy protests having taken place against the Government for bringing the amendment Bills and getting those passed through the Assembly. Besides political parties in the Opposition, hosts of social organisations had also come out against any change in the age-old Acts. Finally, the Government dragged its feet when the resentment reached the ruling BJP also and its own members upped the ante in the TAC meet held early this month.
The Government had, looking into the intensity of resentments, not only agreed to drop the two clauses of the Bills sent back by the Governor to it for reconsideration but also deferred the Monsoon Session by a month to begin on August 8.
Confirming about the new draft, TAC member and BJP legislator from Gumla Shiv Shankar Oraon said that the August 3 meeting would see a vibrant and open discussion on the remaining clauses in the proposed legislation.
“We in a democracy have not only to see whether the decision is beneficial for someone or not but also whether the sentiment of the people is for or against the decision. Still, it is in the brainstorming stage and we are going to have a healthy discussion with other TAC members during the meeting. The agenda as demanded by me has been circulated well in time this time around,” he said.
However, regardless of the Government decision to drop the two contentious provisions from the Bill, the sense emanating from inside suggest that the TAC is less likely to approve even the remaining amendments being pushed through.
“Atmosphere in the State, especially in rural areas has vitiated to such an extent and mere touch to the CNT-SPT Acts is not going to be accepted. larger sentiment is against the change of any kind and we as representative of the people have to abide by the sentiment,” said a BJP MlA.
Incidentally, the Opposition parties have also outrightly rejected the idea of bringing the new draft first before the TAC and then in the Assembly.
“We are not for any change in the CNT-SPT Acts. These are the shield provided to tribals about a century back. There must be some logic behind keeping the provisions for the tribals. Clearly the Government is out to wipe the identity of the tribals. We would oppose this in the TAC and also hold massive protests inside and outside the Assembly on August 8-9,” said State Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat who also happens to be a TAC member.