Parliament passes bills to amend SC, ST lists in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha

New Delhi, February 8

The Parliament gave nod to two bills that seek to modify the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, with the Lok Sabha on Thursday passing it with voice vote.

The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2024 were both passed by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Replying to the debate on the bills, Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Bharti P Pawar said the Modi government has done a lot for the upliftment of tribal people, including its effort to make aspirational district to inspirational one.

Moreover, the government has also launched schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), she said.

In Andhra Pradesh, three more ethnic groups — Bondo Porja, Khond Porja and Parangiperja — are being added to the list of STs. While in Odisha, it will add four groups in the list.

All these are PVTGs and they have been added to the scheduled list after 75 years of Independence, she added.

During the debate, the Opposition members urged the government to form a joint parliamentary committee to evaluate demands of various communities to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes, saying piecemeal measures would not help.

Initiating the debate, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka of the Congress welcomed the bill but pointed out that about 150 to 200 tribes have been added to the list of Scheduled Tribes in the past five years.

“There are around 12 crore Scheduled Tribes across the country. When we were in government, there used to be a procedure, where a JPC was constituted. MPs were part of it. They used to visit places, check the criteria and recommend who is ST and who is not,” Ulaka said.