‘Centre not against tribal laws’

Agartala:  The modi government is not against tribal customary laws but also favours a uniform civil code (ucc), union minister P.P. Chaudhary said on tuesday.
“The bjp (bharatiya janata party)-led government is not against traditional or customary laws of the tribals though it also supports the ucc,” the minister of state for it and law and justice said here.
“A parliamentary standing committee has submitted its report on tribal customary laws. The union government is yet to take a decision on the report,” he told reporters.
Accompanied by state bjp president biplab kumar deb, the minister said the centre was at work to resolve the contentious issues relating to triple talaq.
The customary laws are prevalent in northeastern states like nagaland, meghalaya, mizoram and arunachal pradesh.
Tribal communities and local autonomous bodies in the northeastern states, as and when the situation requires, resolve their disputes through local customary laws.  The traditional customary laws allow village and district council bodies to adjudicate most cases involving two tribal parties, groups or individuals.
Only the high court and the supreme court have jurisdiction over suits and cases decided by these village and district council bodies.
In february, nagaland witnessed violence after the state government headed by then chief minister t.r. Zeliang announced elections to urban civic bodies with 33 per cent reservation for women.
Various naga tribal groups opposed reservation for women, saying it will infringe on their customary laws and also violate article 371-a of the constitution that grants special status to nagaland and guarantees preservation of such laws.
The unrelenting fortnight-long agitation forced zeliang to step down and naga people’s front supremo shurhozelie liezietsu to take over as the 17th chief minister of the state.
Meanwhile, the union minister p p chaudhary on tuesday alleged that long regime of the cpi(m) and congress has failed to bring required development in tripura.
“Congress and cpi(m) have ruled the state for a few decades but they failed to bring the development required,” chaudhary told a press conference here.
The union minister of state for ministry of electronics and it said that prime minister narendra modi sanctioned five national highways and work was going on in four sanctioned projects, he said.
Choudhary, who is here to inaugurate a newly built software technology park here, said that the prime minister has set a target to bring agartala into the country’s broad gauge railway map by two years.
“The centre included agartala in the list of smart city projects which means rs 500 crore will be invested for the development of agartala city,” he said.
Claiming that a bjp wave was there in the left front ruled tripura, the minister said that the party was hopeful of a sweeping victory in the 2018 assembly elections. (Agencies)