Betta – Kuruba community included in the list of Scheduled Tribes
- Recently a bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha to give Scheduled Tribe status to the Betta-Kuruba community.
- The Kuruba community had the status of ST since the independence of the country. But in the year 1977, the chairman of the Backward Classes Commission, Justice L.G. Havanur added the category of ‘Most Backward Classes’ to the Kuruba community from the ST list.
Betta-Kuruba
- This community resides in Chamarajanagara, Kodagu and Mysuru districts of Karnataka. The people of the community collect forest produce and bamboo etc.
- At present the population of Kuruba community is 9.3% of the total population of the state and they come under the category of backward class.
- Kuruba is the fourth largest caste in Karnataka after Lingayats, Vokkaligas and Muslims.
- Kuruba are known by different names in other states – like Dhangar in Maharashtra, Rabari or Raika in Gujarat, Devasi in Rajasthan and Haryana.
- This community has its own dialect, which has no script. These people use primitive hunting tools and follow animism.
Procedure for inclusion in ST list:
- The process of including any community in the Scheduled Tribes becomes effective only after the assent of the President to the Bill amending the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
- In the process of including tribes in the list of STs, recommendations are first made to the respective state governments, then the recommendation is sent to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which reviews and forwards it to the Registrar General of India for approval. .
- The list is then approved by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) before being sent to the cabinet for a final decision.
- The power to take the final decision is vested in the President (under Article 342).
Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution
- According to Article 342 of the Constitution, Scheduled Tribes are those communities which have been declared as Scheduled Tribes by the President through a public notification or by the Parliament through a legislative process.
- The list of Scheduled Tribes is related to the State/Union Territory, so it is not mandatory for a community declared as Scheduled Tribe in one state to get this status in another state as well.
Source – Indian Express
