Report on India’s tribal population kept under wraps

1. Laws and policies enacted by Parliament to be made applicable in the 5th and 6th Schedule areas only through discretion of the governor, who must be advised by the Tribes Advisory Council on applicability or non-applicability of said policy.
2. Restructure the Tribes Advisory Council (TAC). One half of the council should constitute of elected state legislature members while the other half must be chairpersons of the district panchayat bodies. The TAC must be empowered and the scope of their ambit must be widened to include constitutional provisions, laws, policies, and administrative matters pertaining to Scheduled Tribes.
3. The areas where tribes are sizeable in number in villages should be brought under scheduled areas, especially in states like West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa.
4. Autonomous Councils must be covered under State Finance Commission, and not left at the arbitrary mercy of the State government for funding.
5. Traditional political institutions must be formally recognised by the State, and tribal women should have one-third reservation in all ADCs and other political institutions.

On livelihoods and employment status

1. Establish agro-based training institutions and labour-intensive processing industries in tribal regions. Tribal farmers should be motivated to undertake organic farming and eco-forestry. Priority be given to water management and micro watershed development programmes.
2. Prevent tribal land alienation and restore alienated land to owners as per the provisions of PESA (Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act) and confirmatory Acts by various States. National and State level monitoring agencies be set up to prevent alienation of tribal land.
3. Ensure participation of tribals in protection and management of forests. The newly acquired land under FRA (Forest Rights Act, 2006) should be utilised for forestry rather than food grain cultivation.
4. Extend credit and marketing facilities to the tribals. The credit policy must be on par with other social groups.

On land alienation, displacement and enforced migration

1. State must try to minimise displacement, and follow a rights based approach to rehabilitate them. Displacement should be democratic and rights of tribal communities to refuse the acquisition of their land should be recognised.
2. Empower gram sabhas to prevent land alienation (through the Samantha judgement and PESA Act) and form Registered Scheduled Tribe Co-operative Societies to take up mining activities in Scheduled Areas.
3. Make legal provisions to return unutilised tribal land for its acquired purpose or to use it to resettle displaced tribals.
4. Rehabilitation be treated as a continuous process to be monitored until the alternative livelihood becomes economically viable. Tribals should be given a stake in assets and economic activities being created on their acquired land.
5. Rectification to include Common Property Resources such as government land and panchayat land under the Forest Rights Act. Community land should not be recorded as government land in land surveys.
6. Empower gram sabhas plenary powers to fight cases of tribal land alienation collectively. The gram sabha should also be legally empowered to restore alienated land on detection, pending legal justice.

On legal and constitutional issues

1. Implement community forest rights and recognise various community forest rights and rights of vulnerable communities such as particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) and pastoralist communities.
2. Remove contradictory processes like diversion of forest land that hampers implementation of the protective provisions under the FRA.
3. Form a Judicial Commission to investigate cases filed against tribals and their supporters to allay concerns about misuse of criminal law by the state.
4. Ensure that PESA is internalised into administrative practice. Government officials including forest departments continue to deny access to tribals to that which is their right.