Bill for ST status for Gond in four UP district got Rajya Sabha nod

Subject :Polity

Context:

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed with voice vote the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Orders (Second Amendment) Bill-2022, which seeks to give the ST status to the Gond community in four districts of Uttar Pradesh.

More about the bill:

The Bill was introduced by Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda in the Rajya Sabha.
The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in April 2022.
The Bill will ensure the inclusion of the Gond community in the Scheduled Tribes list in four districts of Uttar Pradesh i.e Sant Kabir Nagar, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Kushinagar and Chandauli.

Status of Scheduled Tribes in India:

According to the 2011 Census, the Scheduled Tribes account for 104 million representing 8.6% of the country’s population.
No community has been specified as Scheduled Tribe in the State of Haryana and Punjab and UTs of Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry.
The Government of India set up the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in 1999 after the bifurcation of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

What is the the list of Scheduled Tribes:

Article 342 provides for specification of tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which are deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or UT.
In pursuance of these provisions, the list of Scheduled Tribes is notified for each State or Union Territory and these lists are valid only within the jurisdiction of that State or UT and not outside.
A community declared as a Scheduled Tribe in a State need not be so in another State.

What is the process of inclusion in the list:

The process to include tribes in the ST list begins with the recommendation from the respective State governments.
These recommendations are then sent to the Tribal Affairs Ministry, which reviews and sends them to the Registrar General of India for approval.
This is followed by the approval of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes before the list is sent to the Cabinet for a final decision.

Who are Gonds:

Gonds are one of the largest tribal groups in the world.
They mostly live in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.
Gonds are subdivided into four tribes:
- Raj Gonds
- Madia Gonds
- Dhurve Gonds
- Khatulwar Gonds
Their staple food is two kinds of millet: kodo and kutki.
Gonds believe that earth, water and air are ruled by Gods.
They majorly speak Gondi which is an unwritten language of the Dravidian family.