The Hindu : Kerala News : Move to grant equal status brings cheer to islanders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Move to grant equal status brings cheer to islanders

Abdul Latheef Naha

MALAPPURAM: The decision of the Union government to grant Scheduled Tribes (ST) status to the people of Lakshadweep irrespective of their birth on the island or in the mainland has brought cheer to thousands of islanders who have, for long, been demanding an end to the social inequity on the basis of the place of birth.

The Union Cabinet, on Thursday, decided to amend the Constitution so as to enable the children, born to people living in Lakshadweep, to enjoy the benefits due to the Scheduled Tribes.

Until now, only the children born in Lakshadweep to its indigenous people were eligible for the ST status. Several hundreds of children born outside the island owing to various factors were thus denied the ST status. All of them will now be treated equally.

P. Pookunhi Koya, Lakshadweep’s sole MP, said the government move is likely to benefit more than 2,000 islanders born in the mainland. However, the Lakshadweep administration was unable to provide the exact number of beneficiaries.

As per the 2001 census, nearly 700 islanders had been without the ST status. Many women have given birth to their children in the mainland during the past six years. Most births have taken place in hospitals in Kochi, Kozhikode and neighbouring places. Many islanders continue to depend on the mainland, particularly Kochi and Kozhikode, for medical treatment. Expectant mothers in critical conditions, invariably, fly or sail to the mainland seeking better medical care. Among those denied the ST status were the children of scores of poor women airlifted to the mainland for emergency treatment. The move will benefit many children belonging to the indigent island families, said Sayed Ismail Koya, Director of Education, Lakshadweep.

Children of the islanders working in different parts of the mainland too will benefit from the move. “No Lakshadweep parents working on the mainland will go back to the island for delivery, craving an ST status for their newborns,” said a government official on conditions of anonymity.

Dr. Koya, while moving a parallel bill in Parliament last year, had said that “the classification of children of the same parents on the basis of their birth is irrational, arbitrary and unconstitutional.”

The Lakshadweep unit of the National Students Union (NSU) hailed the government move.

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