‘Govt, Constitution disinherited tribals’
Dr B.D. Sharma said that tribals are a disinherited lot and held the government responsible for their plight while speaking at this year’s edition of the K.L. Bordia memorial lecture in New Delhi on Thursday.
“The tribals are not poor. They disinherited of the government run development programmes. The Constitution gives no legal space to the practice of self-governance of villages that Panchayati Raj idealises,” Dr Sharma said.
Dr Sharma is an activist and has been working for the tribals for decades. He left the civil services as he was not ready to bow down to arbitrariness.
He was made VC of the North Eastern Hill University. He then served as a commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.
He held the government guilty of not doing anything for the tribals.
“The government says that the tribals are the owners of the forest estates but nothing concrete in this direction has been done. In the past 60 years the Union government has not taken even a single step for the welfare of the tribals,” he said.
The apathy of the administration led the Naxals to build rapport with them. “The Naxalists earned their support because they were able to take them out of the clutches of the local oppressors. The Naxalists earned their language and helped them in every respect. But for the government servants, tribals areas are a punishment. They don’t even know the local language and are of little help to the tribals,” Dr Sharma said of the government’s attitude. He said that the Constitution ultimately makes them vulnerable. “As per the law, no one can carry arms in the forest but the tribals have to carry arms if not for killing animals atleast in self-defence but the law does not see the difference and they are punished if they carry arms in self-defence,” Dr Sharma said.
Post new comment