Panel for left-out tribes demanded
Tribune News Service
SHIMLA, July 14 — The All-India Tribes and Minorities Front has urged the Centre to set up a commission for the identification of the left-out tribes and tribal areas so that 130 unscheduled tribes could be properly enumerated during the 2001 census.
Welcoming the decision of the government to conduct a caste-based census, Mr M.S Negi, president of the front said a correct enumeration of caste-wise population was essential for the formulation of development schemes, fixing of job quota and reservation of electoral constituencies. He said of late there had been a tendency among certain sections to magnify their population and backward- ness so that they could get extra benefit. He cited the example of the Mandal report which identified 3427 castes as backward.
On the other hand no effort was made to have a proper enumeration of tribes many of which were grouped under various religious denominations such as Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians. Dr J.H Hutton, an eminent, anthropologist and the then Census commissioner enumerated only 160 tribes in 1931. Later 37 more tribes were added to the list in 1950. However, still 130 tribes were left out and the percentage of the scheduled tribes was reduced proportionately.
Mr Negi said only a commission comprising distinguished anthropologists and experts on tribal affairs could correctly identify the left-out tribes.
He said new tribes identified by the commission should be notified before the commencement of the census operations. Besides, the Census Department should have a column under the nomenclature of tribal religion.
He said till the commission gave its report tribes like Bangaloos of Chhota and Bara Bhangal in Kangra, Malanas in Kulu, Kwaroos in Doora Kawara, Gujars and Kumaaonis in UP, Tamangs in Sikkim and Gowaras in Maharashtra should be included in scheduled tribes category.

REC society reconstituted
Tribune News Service
SHIMLA, July 14 — The Himachal Government has reconstituted the society and the Board of Governors of the Regional Engineering College Hamirpur, for three years with immediate effect.
The Minister for Technical Education will be the chairman and Mr Vinod Thakur of Hamirpur district will be the vice-chairman of the Society.
The Secretary (Finance) and the Secretary (Technical Education) will be the members of the society as government nominees.
The Director, Technical Education, Himachal Pradesh, will be its member. The nominees of the Government of India will be the Deputy Financial Adviser and the Deputy Educational Adviser, Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Principal, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.
The other members are the Director, All-India Council for Technical Education, Delhi (representative of the AICTE), the Vice-Chancellor, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla; Mr Pawan Kumar Verma, senior vice-president, Human Resources, Punjab Tractor Limited, Ropar; Mr S.P. Oswal; Vardhman Spinning Mills, Baddi district, Solan; Dr Prem Vart, Professor, Mechanical Engineering IIT Delhi (nominee of the IV.T); Dr V.K. Sharda, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering, Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur (representative of the Faculty); and Mr Yogesh Gupta, senior lecturer in Maths, Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur (representative of the faculty): The Principal Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur, will be the member-secretary.

Bus stand cries for attention
From Bijender Sharma
JAWALAMUKHI : The local general bus stand is in a pitiable state. It appears the nagar panchayat is least bothered to improve its condition.
The construction of the Rs 16 lakh bus stand was started five years ago by taking over a primary school but it was abandoned midway. According to the government plan, a multi-storeyed building was to be constructed but nothing of the sort has been done. The bus stand is functioning in the old building of the school. The HRTC office and workshop are also working in the old building.
In the absence of a boundary wall, stray cattle keep roaming inside the bus stand, littering dung here and there. Congress grass and wild vegetation have also surrounded the area, giving it a bad look.
The sanitary conditions leave much to be desired. Garbage and clouds of dust are common. Passengers can be seen urinating in the open as toilets remain choked most of the time. No water supply is available in the toilets.
All drinking water taps are missing, leading to a shortage of water. The hand pump is also not in the working order. The metalled area inside the bus stand has potholes which gets filled with rain water. The “kutcha” portion, too, becomes slushy during the rainy season. Even the main drain gets choked quite often due to slush.
The bus stand has no proper entry and exit gates. Though two bus yards and sheds exist in the stand, only a few bus drivers use these. Most of them park their buses at will. A large number of long-route buses bound for Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh do not enter the bus stand and prefer to pick up passengers from outside. A number of buses bound for Una, Nangal and other places also do not enter the bus stand and divert from the chowk, leaving passengers in the lurch.
There is no proper lighting arrangements in the compound. Only a few lights can be seen over a shed which are insufficient to illuminate the bus stand.
The condition of various shops at the bus stand is unsatisfactory. Several fruit shops function in the open. Shopkeepers have been demanding of pucca shops in the compound for long. Commuters demanded streamlining of the functioning of the ticket counter.