Guwahati, Nov 30: To protect the political rights, and socio-economic and educational interests of existing ST communities, while accommodating the six other communities demanding ST status, a Group of Ministers (GoM) has recommended a three-fold classification of Scheduled Tribes in Assam.
The categories will be ST (Plains), ST (Hills) and ST (Valley). While Moran, Matak and Koch Rajbongshi community of undivided Goalpara has been recommended for the ST (Plains) category, Ahoms, Chutia, Tea Tribes & Adivashi and Koch Rajbongshi (outside undivided Goalpara district) have been recommended for the ST (Valley) category.
This structure will allow reservation in Parliament, the Legislative Assembly, and local bodies to be reorganised without reducing the current entitlements of ST (P) and ST (H), it said.
However, to achieve this, Parliament must enact special legislation to give the three-fold reservation statutory endorsement, the GoM headed by Ranoj Pegu and comprising Pijush Hazarika and Keshab Mahanta recommended in its report, which was placed before the State Assembly on the last day of the five-day winter session on Saturday.
The ST (Valley) category will have separate reservation quota with distinct rosters and vacancy registers for all the State government recruitment and educational institutions, and existing ST quotas will remain protected.
The Government of Assam will request the Central government to provide statutory recognition of the three-tier classification of the STs of Assam. This arrangement will be in tune with the resolution of the Assam Assembly that the six communities be recognised as STs without effecting the rights and privileges of the present tribal communities.
ST (Valley) will be the Scheduled Tribes for all purposes except that it will not affect the rights and privileges enjoyed by the present tribal communities.
The GoM also felt that the Assam as a whole will benefit if the six communities also compete within the common national ST pool in Central institutions.
In another recommendation, it said that Lok Sabha constituencies covering the Sixth Schedule areas should be permanently reserved for the existing STs through a Constitutional amendment.
The GoM further recommended that until the ST status is conferred on the six communities by the Government of India, the present OBC reservation should be classified into seven categories, namely - Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Matak, Koch Rajbongshi, Tea Garden & Adivasi - and for OBCs that do not belong to the above categories.
For State government jobs and reservation in State educational institutions, all the said communities will be entitled to reservation as per their population on a pro-rata basis. The GoM also recommended a comprehensive enumeration and socio-economic survey to enable subcategorization within the 27 per cent OBC quota, particularly benefitting the tea garden and Adivasi groups. This, it said, will ensure equitable distribution of reservation benefits and reduce internal disparities until a unified position emerges regarding their ST demand.
The GoM has recommended that 35 tea garden communities so far not included in the State OBC list should be immediately included in that list, enabling their cases to be examined for future ST or SC status.