Tribal Advisory Councils (TACs)
Context: Recently, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Tribes Advisory Council Meeting, announced Rs 50 thousand for the needy ST-SC students to pursue degree courses.
About Tribal advisory councils (TACs)
- Genesis: They are constitutional bodies formed under the Fifth Schedule to deal with welfare and advancement of scheduled tribes in states.
- According to the provisions of Paragraph 4, under Article 244(1) of Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, TAC shall be established in each State having Scheduled Areas therein and, if the President so directs, also in any State having Scheduled Tribes but not Scheduled Areas therein.
- Membership: It shall consist of not more than 20 members of whom, as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be representatives of Scheduled Tribes in State Legislative Assembly provided that if number of representatives of STs in State Assembly is less than number of seats in TAC to be filled by such representatives, remaining seats shall be filled by other members of those tribes.
- Current Status: Tribes Advisory Council (TAC) have been constituted in 10(Ten) states having Scheduled Areas therein namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.