{"id":241778,"date":"2023-05-10T20:17:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T14:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=241778"},"modified":"2023-05-10T20:17:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T14:47:29","slug":"a-question-from-manipur-who-is-an-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-question-from-manipur-who-is-an-st\/","title":{"rendered":"A question from Manipur: Who is an ST?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cA question from Manipur: Who is an ST?\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d <\/strong>on 10th May 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Polity<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>– Identity politics<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>–\u00a0 Rcenetly, there were voilent protest in Manipur over demand for affirmative action by the state’s Meitei community.<\/p>\n

What are issues regarding ST status in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The stakes of reservation or affirmative action<\/strong> have become higher amid economic liberalisation and neoliberal reform.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many marginalised groups not recognised as STs observe as their ST neighbours reap the advantage of affirmative action benefits<\/strong>. Such disparities can spark inter-community tensions and conflicts.<\/p>\n

ST status<\/strong> has become a contentious issue<\/strong>. There are about 720 recognised STs in the country today. At least a thousand more groups are vying for recognition as STs.<\/p>\n

These are symptoms of a crisis in India\u2019s over-burdened, out-of-date reservation system<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There have been important policy documents that have made the same point.<\/p>\n

The 2006 draft \u201cThe National Tribal Policy for the Scheduled Tribes of India\u201d<\/strong> observed that, there is an increasing clamour from many communities to get included as ST<\/strong>. Adding new communities to the list reduces the benefits to existing STs. Therefore, it should be done, only if there is no room for doubt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The draft pointed to the problematical nature of the official criteria for defining STs<\/strong> laid out by the B N Lokur Committee in 1965<\/strong>. These criteria are hardly relevant today. Other more accurate criteria need to be fixed. But, it may not be easy.<\/p>\n

Justice Jasraj Chopra committee <\/strong>was appointed in 2007 by the Rajasthan government to examine the Gujjars\u2019 demand for ST status.<\/p>\n

As per the committee, a national debate<\/strong> should be initiated on the existing norms for according ST status to any community. Certain criteria should be abrogated as they had become outdated.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are issues related to Assam\u2019s Adivasi community seeking ST status?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It raises profound questions about our system of reservation<\/strong>. In Northeast India, unlike in the rest of the country, the word Adivasi, is not used as an equivalent for ST. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The only major group of people that call themselves Adivasi are not officially recognised as ST. They are the descendants of tea workers<\/strong> brought as indentured workers to Assam.<\/p>\n

The region\u2019s established STs don\u2019t self-identify as Adivasi<\/strong> because of the \u201cbackwardness\u201d <\/strong>associated with the term. They prefer the English words tribe or tribal for self-identification.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The census of 1891 <\/strong>classified tea workers simply as labourers. But the term Adivasi has a special appeal to their descendants because its original use was by tribal leaders of Jharkhand. They regard the place as their original home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

People who have spent years in tea plantations cannot be expected to retain their primitive traits and distinctive culture<\/strong> that marked their ancestors in other states.<\/p>\n

They realy warrants some relaxation in the criteria<\/strong>. They are descendants of those having ST recognition in their places of origin.<\/p>\n

If the Adivasis are among Northeast India\u2019s most deprived people today, it is the result of the precedence accorded to indigeneity over citizenship<\/strong> and successful cultural adaptation into local societies.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cA question from Manipur: Who is an ST?\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 10th May 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Polity Relevance– Identity politics News–\u00a0 Rcenetly, there were voilent protest in Manipur over demand for affirmative action by the state’s Meitei community. What are issues regarding ST status… Continue reading A question from Manipur: Who is an ST?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-241778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700787320,"cached_date":1704881144},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}