Question : Inclusion of Koli Community in ST List

(a) whether the Government has received any proposal from the State Government of Karnataka for inclusion of Koli communities from Karnataka into the Scheduled Tribe category;
(b) if so, the present status of the proposal;
(c) whether any complaints have been received by the Government regarding problems being faced in receiving Scheduled Tribes (STs) certificate from State Government;
(d) if so; the steps taken by the Government in this regard with respect to the State of Karnataka;
(e) whether a number of recommendations are still awaiting approval of the Government for inclusion of various tribes in the STs list; and
(f) if so, the details thereof?

(a): Yes Sir. Proposal from State Government of Karnataka has been received for inclusion of ‘Gangamatha’ and its synonyms which also includes ‘Koli’ in the list of STs of Karnataka.
(b), (e) and (f): The Government of India has laid down the modalities for determining the claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications in the Orders specifying list of Scheduled Tribes. According to these modalities, only those proposals which have been recommended and justified by the concerned State Government/ Union Territory Administration and concurred with by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes are to be considered for amendment of legislation. All actions are taken as per these modalities. Proposals for inclusion in and other amendments in the list of Scheduled Tribes of any state are dealt with according to these modalities which is an on-going process.
(c) and (d): Ministry of Tribal Affairs is nodal Ministry for Notification of a community as Scheduled Tribe under Article 342 of the Constitution. However, the responsibility of issuance and verification of Scheduled Tribe certificate / social status rests with the concerned State Government / UT Administration. The Government has issued advisories to State Governments/ UT Administrations from time to time regarding issuance of ST certificate with proper verification, ensuring that deserving ST persons are issued certificates without undue delays and difficulties. The last such advisory was issued by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs vide its letter dated 17.02.2020.


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