Patna, April 30 :The national commission for denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes will submit its report on the problems faced by them to the central government in July.
"The commission, which is carrying out a survey across India to collect information about their socio-economic condition and problems faced by them, will submit the report to the central government in July," said chairman Bal Krishna Renke.
He said the commission was carrying out a survey of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes for the last two years to ascertain their actual living conditions. "The commission's report will help the government to initiate a move to bring them into the mainstream and to empower them," he said.
The commission has, so far, visited 18 states including Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Maharashtra to survey the various tribes and identify their problems.
He said the population of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in the country is around 100 million but they have no permanent address.
"These poorest of the poor people stay in a particular place for years but they are denied even basic amenities," Renke told IANS.
He said that they were neither provided a ration card nor included in the Below Poverty Line list. "What's painful is that they have been deprived of democratic rights of vote till date," he said.
He said that the commission has sought appropriate monetary provisions in the next five year plan and granting of territorial rights to them so that they can vote.
There are nearly 500 nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in the country. "The commission has met over 260," he said.
According to the commission, the British enacted the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 that notified hundreds of nomadic tribes as criminals. After India's independence, the government had repealed the Act in 1952 but nomadic tribes continued to be treated as "criminal".
Most of the nomadic tribes are engaged in traditional works like snake charming, puppetry, singing, dancing, hunting, fortune telling and healing.
The three-member commission was set up in 2006.
(IANS)