Bill passed to replace name of `Dafla' tribe with `Nishi'

The Lok Sabha passed a Bill effecting a change in the name of tribe '`Dafla', belonging to Arunachal Pradesh to `Nishi' in the Scheduled Tribes list. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2008, was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha. "All these years, we had been waiting for this. We had to deal with the issue sensitively," Minister for Tribal Affairs P R Kyndiah told the House on Wednesday. "Many communities want to be in the Scheduled Tribes list. But any tribal community which is recognised in one state is not necessarily recognised in another state," he said. Earlier, participating in the debate on the Bill, Kiran Rijiju of the BJP said the term `Dafla' had been given to the `Nishi' tribe by the Britishers and noted that it was a derogatory word. "A new chapter has started for the tribe that had fought the Britishers but had not got the kind of recognition they deserved," he said. Congress MP Madhusudan Mistry said the Government should look at the situation holistically and take similar measures for other tribes. Basdev Acharia of the CPI (M) also welcomed the substitution of the name `Dafla' with `Nishi'.

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