Congress’ ‘Adivasi Sankalp’ will ensure rights of tribals are protected: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday asserted the party’s ‘Adivasi Sankalp’ will ensure that the rights of tribals as well as their “zameen, jungle and jal” are protected. Addressing a press conference at his residence here, Kharge said former party chief Rahul Gandhi has announced the party’s guarantee for the welfare and well-being of the tribal communities in Maharashtra’s Nandurbar. Hailing the party’s ‘Adivasi Sankalp’, Kharge said ensuring justice for tribals is the party’s primary responsibility.

“They are being harassed, their land is being taken away, they are made to work as bonded labour. We will ensure, through this guarantee, to free them from all this,” he said.

Kharge said the Congress is committed to protect the tribals, ‘jal, jungle and zameen’. In a post on X later, Kharge said a national mission will be set up for the effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) through a dedicated FRA division, separate budget, and action plans.

“We will ensure settlement of all pending FRA claims within 1 year, and establish a process for the review of all rejected claims within 6 months,” he said.

The Congress will withdraw all amendments made by the Narendra Modi government to Forest Conservation and Land Acquisition Acts that have caused such great distress to Adivasis, he said.

Kharge said the Congress is committed to notify all habitations or groups of habitations where STs are the largest social group as Scheduled Areas – in all the states and Union Territories. The Congress is committed to enact state laws in conformity with the central Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA) to establish ‘village government’ and ‘autonomous district government’ as envisaged in PESA, he said. The Congress’ Right to MSP legislation – which will give legal status to MSP – will also cover Minor Forest Produce (MFP), Kharge said. The Special Component Plan for Scheduled Castes and the Tribal Sub Plan, introduced by Indira Gandhi in the late 1970s to ensure balanced and adequate share of budgetary resources for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, was abolished in 2014 by the Modi government, he said. “The Congress guarantees to revive the Scheduled Caste Plan and the Tribal Sub-Plan, and make it enforceable by law, as done by the Congress governments in some states,” he asserted.