Govt Tribal Body, NSCT, Has 70 Non-Member Vacancies, Was Headless for 8 Mths: Report

New Delhi: In a country that boasts a tribal woman as its President,  the nodal body to monitor and ensure tribal welfare and rights, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribe (NCST), seems in a state of neglect, with 70 non-member posts lying vacant and the top post filled only recently after eight months of being headless.

This information has been revealed in a report in EastMojo news webiste on the basis of an RTI reply from the government.

The NSCT got a new chairperson after eight months on March 9, when Antarsingh Arya, a Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader from Madhya Pradesh, was appointed for the post.

As per the EastMojo report, the key five-member NCST posts were lying vacant in February-March, after which three members were appointed, namely, Asha Lakra, former Ranchi mayor and BJP leader, Jatothu Hussain Nayak, former Telangana state president of BJP’s  ST Morcha, and Nirupam Chakma, a former minister and National Council member of BJP Mizoram.

The report, citing Right to Information response, also points out that 70 positions of non-members in the NSCT are still lying vacant, including secretary, deputy secretary, joint secretary, under-secretary etc.

K C Deo, Former Tribal Affairs Minister in the UPA government told EastMojo that leaving so many posts vacant affects the very objective of NCST. “Members alone cannot deal with all the files and correspondence that come their way,” he told the reporter. The reporter said queries and responses sought from to the NCST chairperson and three new members went unanswered.

The NCST was constituted under Article 338A of the Constitution and mainly consists of five persons -- the chairperson, vice chairperson and three other members.

“Its main objective is to monitor and investigate safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution and other laws like the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA) and the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act,” said the report, adding that its budget is funded by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry.

The report also points out how the budget allocation for the ministry has seen a decline over the past few years, affecting fund flow to NCST, which in turn, was affecting work.

“…allocation to NCST has fallen from around Rs 20 crore five years ago to Rs 12 crore in 2022-23,” says the report, adding feedback from sources that this could be one reason for the vacancies not being filled up.

The report also points out how the lack of a top personnel earlier had affected the work done by groups set up by NCST, like preparing of reports,

“Under the previous chairman, Harsh Chouhan, NCST had constituted a working group to look into issues related to FRA. According to an order seen by this reporter, the working group was dissolved on March 11, soon after the appointment of the new chairperson”. 

The working group was assigned the task of assessing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) across six states: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Assam, which was conducted by the TEER Foundation and submitted to NCST last year, it says.

“However, NCST has not yet signed off on the report,” claims the news report.

Milind Thatte, a former member of the FRA working group, told EastMojo, “I wish NCST [under the new chairman] completes what was started earlier…” adding that at least the report should be placed in public domain. 

EastMojo said the reporter had filed an RTI seeking a copy of the report on January 27. “No response was received even after the expiry of 30 days. An appeal was filed on March 3. No response has been received so far,” it added.

Recall that the earlier chairperson, Harsh Chouhan, had resigned in January 2023, eight months before his term was to end, reportedly due to a “run-in” with the Union Environment Ministry after he had red-flagged the new Forest Conservation Rules, 2022.

“He had said that the rules violated the Forest Rights Act, 2006, by giving primacy to project clearance”, according to a report in the Economic Times.

Chouhan, who was associated with bodies linked with the Sangh Parivar, such as Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, had reportedly asked the Environment Ministry to keep the rules on hold and “strictly monitor”  the implementation of Rules 2017 to grant the FRA rights to Scheduled Tribes (STs).

“However, in January this year (2023), the environment ministry dismissed the concerns raised by Chouhan, after which he put in his papers, says a report in the  Business Standard.