From Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Saturday constituted a High Level Committee for betterment of socio-economic life of the tribal people in the country. The committee will be headed by Prof Virginius Xaxa, member of the National Advisory Council and former academician of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
The committee, which will prepare a paper on the present socio-economic, health and educational status of STs and suggest a way forward, will finalise and present the report within nine months.
It will also suggest policy initiatives as well as effective outcome-oriented measures to improve development indicators and strengthen public service delivery to STs and other tribal populations, an official statement said.
Besides Prof Xaxa, now Deputy Director TISS, Guwahati, the Committee will have Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Dr. Joseph Bara, Dr. K.K. Misra, Dr. Abhay Bang and Ms. Sunila Basant as members. Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs will act as Member Secretary, the statement said.