ABVP submits demands of Tribal Students' Parliament to govt

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has submitted a charter of demands, formulated at its Tribal Students' Parliament, covering issues related to education, employment, culture, health and language of tribal communities to Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram.
They demanded improvement in condition of hostels meant for ST/SC students and sports, extracurricular and reading room facilities.
They also demanded that the government take steps to conserve as well as promote tribal culture, languages and traditional knowledge and that reservation for the Scheduled Tribe communities in education and government jobs be ensured. They also want student health cards for tribal students.

The demands also include starting of a new fellowship, specially meant for tribal youth pursuing research and inclusion of the tribal history, specially the works of great heroes of the tribal community, in the NCERT school curriculum.
"It is important to document and promote the tribal knowledge in the modern society so that everyone benefits from it and it is passed on to the future generation. The condition of tribal hostels in the country is miserable and the government should take immediate steps to ameliorate it," said Saket Bahuguna, Delhi state secretary, ABVP.
He further said that a special scheme should be formulated to preserve and promote rich tribal languages of the country and that people from tribal communities should be given loans at minimum interest rate to start cooperative or small scale enterprises.

"The Union minister has assured us that he will look into our demands," Bahuguna added.
The ABVP had organised the Tribal Students' Parliament in Delhi on October 1, in which 300 students from distant parts of the country participated and had formulated a draft charter of demands covering issues related to education, employment, culture, health and language of tribal community. The programme was inaugurate by Oram.