‘Steps being taken for welfare of denotified tribes’: Delhi High Court

NEW DELHI: Disposing of a petition seeking formulation of schemes for the upliftment of denotified nomadic tribes, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday said the government has taken steps to bring denotified nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes into the mainstream of the country.

Stating that schemes for the welfare of denotified and semi-nomadic tribes are being implemented the bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that a budget of Rs 200 crore for the next five years, starting from FY 2021-22, has been approved by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.

“A perusal of the counter affidavit and the Status Report filed by the respondents (Centre) shows that the prayers of the petitioner herein in the instant writ petition have been answered inasmuch as steps have been taken by the government to bring these de-notified Tribes into the mainstream of the country… No further orders/directions are necessary in this case.

Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of,” the bench said in its judgement on the public interest litigation. The high court in February 2020 had issued notices and sought responses from the ministries of social justice and tribal affairs over the PIL in which petitioner Salek Chand Jain had contended that despite the formation of several commissions by the central government for the upliftment of tribes such as the Banjare, Gadia Luhar, Bawaria, Nat, Kalbelia, Bopa, Sikligar, Singiwal, Kuchbanda, and Kalander, nothing has been done till now.

The Centre, in its affidavit through standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, informed the court that the government is implementing various schemes for the welfare of these tribes. It added that a committee under the chairmanship of the vice-chairman of NITI Aayog has been constituted to complete the task of identifying de-notified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic communities which have not yet been classified.
It said that the Anthropological Survey of India, under the guidance of NITI Aayog, is already conducting an ethnographic study of said communities.