TN: Tribals Flay Govt Delay in Clearing FRA Applications, Issuing ST Certificates

Hundreds of tribals, attached to the Tamil Nadu Tribals Association (TNTA), held a protest in Chennai condemning the inordinate delay in disposing the applications submitted under the Scheduled Tribes And Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, for issuance of Scheduled Tribe (ST) community certificates and inclusion of several sub-tribe castes in the ST list. 

The association has been urging the state government to expedite measures to fill up the backlog vacancies in state government departments, land titles for the needy, waiving loans availed by tribal women from microfinance companies and infrastructural facilities for schools, healthcare facilities and tribal hostels. 

Poor FRA Implementation 

Ever since the FRA was enacted 17 years ago, Tamil Nadu has fared poorly in executing the provisions, aimed at empowering tribals and traditional forest dwellers with regard to their right to land holdings. 

Addressing the protesters, state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], P Shanmugam, said, “In the past 17 years, only 15,442 titles were distributed to the tribals as per the FRA, which is not even 1,000 titles per year. This shows the lack of will from the government and the bureaucracy in implementing the Act”. 

The TNTA has accused the administration of rejecting the applications without adequate enquiry and pending of applications due to lack of survey processes. The demands of tribals residing in several tribal hamlets, including Kallakurichi Vellimalai, Tirupathur Javathimalai, Tiruvannamalai Javathumalai, Kollimalai, Salem Kalvarayan Malai, have been pending for several years. 

“The state government has constituted a committee headed by the chief secretary to implement FRA, but not even a single meeting has been held so far”, Shanmugam alleged. 

Denial of Certificates Affecting Education

Several tribal communities are facing the daunting task of getting their ST community certificates, despite a government order in place to facilitate the same. Communities including Kattunayakan, Malaivedan, Malai Kuravan, Kondareddys, Kurumans, are badly affected by the delay in issuing community certificates, especially with regard to education.

The GO 104 was issued, after the intervention of the Madras High Court to ensure the disbursal of ST community certificates to the children of those parents who are in possession of the ST certificates. The TNTA has accused the district officials of withdrawing the certificates issued to the parents. This hampers the prospects of the tribal students who are longing to pursue higher education and those who seek employment as per the existing reservation rules. 

Communities Removed From ST list

Another major demand is the inclusion of communities like Malayali, Kurumans, Pulauan, Vettaikaran and Kuravan from Erode district again in the ST list. The members of the community are left in the lurch after they were removed from the list of ST communities 10 years ago. 

During the talks held with the secretary of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare after the protest, the government informed TNTA that the recommendation to include the communities back to the ST list has been submitted to the union government. 

The government also agreed to hold surveys with the help of the tribal youth to ensure the distribution of lands to tribals in Kollimalai, Kalvarayan Malai, Kallakurichi Vellimalai.