Events

Under the leadership of our late Prof B G Verghese, we initiated a process through workshops and seminars to focus on issues that impinge on the lives of Tribal people, especially in the Fifth Schedule Areas. The Roundtable is the second in the series. We believe that strengthening the Fifth Schedule requires a bottom-up approach as well as consistent ownership by the stakeholders. We also feel we must go beyond the generic discussion of issues and narrow our focus on a handful of areas wherein tweaking the system could yield better results. We would like the Roundtable to focus on (but not limited to):

• The need to strengthen the Fifth Schedule Areas by incorporating the spirit and principles of the Sixth Schedule;
• The ways to strengthen the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes as an umbrella mechanism to act as the guardian of tribal people.

The Hon’ble Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Jual Oram, has consented to take part in the Roundtable along with senior officials from the ministry. We have also invited a select group of experts to contribute to the deliberations.