A Right to Information activist in Manipur has sought the status of a slew of welfare schemes in the State’s hill areas that have allegedly failed to reach many.
In a complaint on Tuesday, Imphal-based activist Wahengbam Joykumar Singh has asked the chairperson of Manipur State Commission for Scheduled Tribes to direct the commissioner and director of the Hill Affairs and Tribal Development Department to publicise the details of the ongoing or implemented schemes and upload the list of beneficiaries.
Information about similar schemes is disseminated and the list of beneficiaries uploaded frequently by the Department for the Welfare of Minorities and Other Backward Classes, he pointed out.
The schemes for the hill tribes include skill development training, free coaching for scholarship and for economic and social or community development.
“Most of the Scheduled Tribe citizens could not get their rights and entitlements due to lack of information as the respondents (commissioner and director) have miserably failed to make open notification for regularly inviting the beneficiaries to submit the application forms from time to time,” Mr. Singh said in his complaint.
He said the proper implementation of the welfare schemes is needed to be monitored for the authority concerned to not deprive the targeted beneficiaries in the remote areas. Mr. Singh asked the chairperson of the ST commission to ensure that the officials concerned disclose the “amounts, quantity and quality of all the schemes to be provided to each beneficiary” and upload the list of beneficiaries on the departmental website with their names and addresses.
He said inaction will render all funds meant for the Scheduled Tribes of Manipur useless.
