Kendrapara: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs to submit within six weeks a report on the progress in the process to include the communities of Putiya, Putia, Dulia, Dhulia, Putiya Paik, Dulia Paik and Dhulia Paik of Koraput district and the Bhuiyar, Bhuihar, Bhuinyar and Bhuinhar communities of Sundargarh district in the Scheduled Tribes list of Odisha.
The NHRC passed the order based on a petition and submissions filed by rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
Earlier, the NHRC had asked the Registrar General of India (RGI) to speed up action on the recommendation of the Tribes Advisory Council of Odisha for including these communities in the ST list.
The NHRC also sent a copy of the report dated May 10, 2017 of the Director (SC) Welfare of the Odisha Department of ST and SC Development along with enclosures for reference.
In Odisha, people belonging to these communities are being denied basic facilities like education, food, shelter, etc as they have not been included in the list of Scheduled Tribes by the Government of Odisha.
The Putiya, Putia, Dulia, Dhulia, Putiya Paik, Dulia Paik and Dhulia Paik, a sub-group of the Kotia caste (ST), have not figured in the STs, SCs, OBCs or SEBCs list of Odisha from 2003.
As a result around 20,000 Putiyas living in the undivided Koraput district are not getting the benefits of reservation in education and employment. The state had recommended to the Centre to include the community in the ST list, Tripathy said.
He requested the NHRC to intervene and protect the human rights of the poor belonging to these communities by including them in the ST list and provide them the benefits of the Odisha Government’s social schemes.
The petitioner said Odisha officials were making the situation worse by using terms like Dulia Paika, Dhulia General, Putia Paika etc for people belonging to the same community.
The NHRC sought a report on this from the Odisha Chief Secretary.
Tripathy submitted his rejoinder giving detailed statistics about the region and the absence of basic facilities in the area.
The NHRC sent a copy of the comments received from the complainant to the Odisha Chief Secretary to look into the matter.
The Commission also asked the Chief Secretary to assist the complainant during the enquiry and to submit a detailed report.
In response, the Director (SC) Welfare, Department of ST and SC Development, stated that a meeting of the Tribes Advisory Council was held May 14, 2015 under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, and a list of communities like Putiya, Putia, Dulia, Dhulia, Putiya Paik, Dulia Paik and Dhulia Paik of Koraput District and Bhuiyar, Bhuihar, Bhuinyar and Bhuinhar of Sundargarh district were sent to the Registrar General of India for inclusion in the ST list of Odisha. But no final approval was received from the Centre, the official said.
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