The Central Government has directed the government of Arunachal Pradesh to extend benefits and include the Yobin in the state’s Scheduled Tribe (ST) list.
In a letter addressed to the state’s social justice, empowerment & tribal affairs ministry, Under-secretary to Government of India, Asghar Ali stated that the Yobin and any other tribe ‘inhabiting in Arunachal Pradesh is inclusive tribe and no separate amendments are required in terms of Article 342(2) of the Constitution of India’.
The letter further stated that ‘the words all tribes in the State including are indicative that the list of STs in Arunachal Pradesh is an open-ended list, which means all indigenous tribes in the state of Arunachal Pradesh are included, besides those listed in (16 tribes)’.
The government in 1999 (further amended in 2002) had laid down the modalities for deciding the claims for inclusion in, exclusion from, and other modifications in orders specifying Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes lists.
As per the modalities, only those proposals which have been recommended and justified by the state government/UT administration concerned, and concurred with by the registrar general of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, are to be considered and legislation amended.