Upper House approves bill to include 6 communities in ST list

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment) Bill, 2022, which aims to include the Dhanuhar, Dhanuwar, Kisan, Saunra, Saonra and Binjhia communities of Chhattisgarh in the list of scheduled tribes amid a noisy introduction followed by the opposition walking out.

The legislation seeks to formalise Bhuinya, Bhuiyan and Bhuyan as synonyms of the Bharia Bhumia community and includes three Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando community. It was passed in the Lok Sabha in December through a voice note.

The bill was moved by tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda. “Tribals have been deprived of development since Independence but Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has taken many steps for their development,” Bharatiya Janata Party member Samir Oraon said, while speaking in favour of the draft law.

The opposition had never given thought for the betterment of tribal communities, said Ramdas Athawale, junior minister for social justice and empowerment.

The Congress supported the bill but leader of the opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge, voiced some concerns.

“There is no doubt that we support the scheduled tribes bill of Chhattisgarh and Himachal. All those who have been wronged in the tribal list, if they are included in this list, then what is the issue? But they (government) can’t take credit for it. We (Congress) have given the right place to the tribals while framing the Constitution,” Kharge said.

At this point Kharge’s mike was muted, leading to protests and sloganeering in the Upper House. The opposition then staged a walkout.

Calling out commerce minister Piyush goyal, leader of the House, and other BJP members for allegedly preventing Kharge from speaking, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet: “In the Rajya Sabha this afternoon, BJP MPs prevented Leader of the Opposition, @kharge-ji from speaking and raising INDIA’s demand for PM’s statement in the House on Manipur and a discussion thereafter. Repeated obstruction at the instigation of none other than the Leader of the House himself and the insistence to pass Bills in the din led to a walkout by all INDIA MPs for the rest of the day.”

Calling Parliament a “deep dark chamber”, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said in a tweet: “This happened in Rajya Sabha today. THE MICROPHONE OF THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION WAS SWITCHED OFF. Every INDIA party walked out in protest.”

While addressing a joint opposition press conference inside Parliament, Raghav Chadha of the Aam aadmi Party said the actions of the ruling party were to hide accountability over their negligence on Manipur. He condemned the action on Kharge.

“When LoP Mallikarjun Kharge was speaking on Manipur, ruling BJP MPs started shouting and made an attempt to not raise a voice on Manipur. This shows that the BJP wants to hide the atrocities in Manipur,” he said.