Shimla/ Nahan Dec 10
At last, about 155 Panchayats of Giripar area of district Sirmaur in HP got their rights after seven decades of independence as the Indian Upper house of Parliament passed the bill to allow tribal status to ‘Hatti community’ with voice vote on Saturday. During the winter session of the Rajya Sabha, the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda, presented the bill, which was passed by the house through voice vote.
It should be noted that the Union Cabinet had approved it on 14 September 2022, but the bill could not be implemented until it was approved by the Parliament.
Noteworthy is, that now the politics going on for the last seven decades on the issue of trans Giri area of Paar valley of Sirmaur district, will be ended after implementation of this bill. In the year 1967, the Babar Jaunsar area of Uttaranchal bordering Himachal Pradesh was given the status of a tribe. Since then the people of Giripar area were fighting, but the Bharatiya Janata Party has given this gift to the three lakh population.
However astonishingly even though, the BJP failed to get any electoral benefit from this move. In 2022, BJP lost two assembly out of the three assemblies which would be benefited with the decision. Perhaps, the Congress election campaign succeeded to convince people of Sirmaur district that BJP is not honest on the issue. However, with the approval from Parliament, BJP’s seriousness on Hati issue can be gauged.
Noteworthy, that only 1.60 lakh population of the area will get this benefit, because the community belonging to Scheduled Caste has been kept out of ST status. There was a demand by the Scheduled Caste community that they should not be included, due to which they have been kept out of the ambit by the Central Government.
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