Proposal for strengthening autonomous councils in NE tribal

The government has readied a proposal to strengthen autonomous councils in tribal areas in the Northeast, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said Friday in Lok Sabha.

Responding to a private member's bill moved by Vincent Pala of Congress, the minister said: "There is a good news. We have prepared a cabinet note. Soon we will bring a bill in the House".

Rijiju, who was speaking on the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2015 introduced by Vincent, said that there was a demand to increase the number of elected members in these councils particularly in Meghalaya and Assam and the ministry has agreed to that.

He said the demand of giving mines and minerals to these councils cannot be fulfilled as it will be violative of constitutional provisions.

The minister said that the government never interferes in the way tribals live in these regions.

The main purpose of the Constitution amendment bill is also to increase representation of women, he said.

"We have made provisions for that. Women should be properly represented in these councils," the minister said.

He also said that after the passage of the bill, elections of these councils would be conducted by state election authorities and "we have also put provisions for disqualifications".

On the demand for special financial provision, Rijiju said there will be a provision of special budgetary allocations for these councils.

State finance commission would also inform about the amount to be given to these councils.

Talking about the issue of Northeastern states, the minister said security is a major challenge and the government has taken several steps to promote development of these states.

He alleged that during the Congress governments, "no one worked on the root cause of increasing militancy in these states".

"There was nobody at that time in Delhi to listen to the concerns of these people. But this government has ensured that now no one can go back without meeting government representatives here," he added.

He said that this government started dialogue with militant organisations and those "who are not listening, we are taking tough actions".

He alleged that the earlier governments committed a lot of mistakes and "we are improving those".

"The Prime Minister and ministers regularly visit these states. No development happened but now we are focusing on that. Tourism is flourishing there now," he said.

He urged Pala to withdrew the bill, which was agreed to by the Congress member.

In a lighter vein, the Minister said, "Pala ji should come to the BJP to work for the Northeast".

The minister said that it is a record of sorts that a private member's bill has been discussed for such a long time as it was introduced in 2015.