Other States - Orissa

TAC approves addition of term ‘Kandha’

Bhubaneswar: Notwithstanding the State government’s suggestion to delete ‘Kui’ from Scheduled Tribes list, the Tribes Advisory Council today approved addition of term ‘Kandha’ along with ‘Kui’, official sources here said.

A TAC meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday examined the views of other tribal members, who opposed the move on the plea that it would not be proper to approve deletion of the word ‘Kui’ from the Presidential order. “TAC unanimously accepted the proposal to add ‘Kandha’ along with ‘Kui’ in the Presidential order,” Mr. Patnaik told reporters after the meeting.

Earlier, in the face of large-scale allegation relating to circulation of fake tribal certificates in Kandhamal district, the State government had suggested TAC to delete the term ‘Kui’ from the list of tribes in Orissa. While verifying the alleged fake tribal certificates in Kandhamal, it came to light that some ‘Kui’ speaking non-tribal people had obtained ST certificates fraudulently.

“The government had suggested to delete ‘Kui’ from the list of tribes as it was a language,” a senior official said. In the meeting it was also recommended that there should be relaxation in Regulation 2 of 1956, which restricted sale of tribal land to non-tribals. TAC considered demands made by certain tribal bodies, which said they face difficulties in disposing their landed property in view of the regulation, Revenue Secretary G.W. Sarma said. Many banks refused to give loan to tribals by keeping their land mortgaged as auctioning of the land can not be done as the present law restricts non-tribals to purchase tribal land, Mr. Sharma said. – PTI

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