Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 7 May: The Arunachal Pradesh Schedule Tribe Welfare Society (APSTWS) on Tuesday appealed to those non-indigenous people who are in possession of scheduled tribe certificate (STC) or permanent residencecertificate (PRC) obtained by fraudulent means to surrender their STCs and PRCs voluntarily.
During a press conference held at the Arunachal Press Club here, APSTWS president Lokam Talo informed that the objective of the APSTWS is to check offspring of non-indigenous people possessing STC and PRC by fraudulent means.
“We are not against any woman getting married to non-Arunachal Pradesh Schedule Tribes (APST). However, their offspring should not illegally enjoy or get benefits of APSTs,” said Talo.
“Our indigenous people, for whom the ST reservation and benefits are meant, are not getting them properly,” he said.
“We are not targetting or are against any particular individual; we are going to launch an exercise to collect data or records of tribal women who married non-APSTsbut their offspring are having ST benefits by illegal means,” said APSTWS spokesperson Pedam Dukam.
“The non-APST offspring who have obtained ST certificate by fraudulent means should immediately surrender their STC and PRC. If we find anyone in possession of illegally obtained ST certificate or PRC, we will lodge FIRs and launch a democratic movement against them,” Dukam added.
The APSTWS expressed hope that the new government would also take serious of the issue, terming it “a serious threat to the indigenous people’s right.”
