The Hindu : Smaller ST groups aggrieved

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Smaller ST groups aggrieved

By Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad April 24 . There is a growing feeling among tribals in the State that the reservation benefit is being cornered by one or two dominant groups among them who are "vocal and literate'' and that they too should have A,B,C, D classification like SCs for ensuring benefits to a majority.

A total of 39 communities remain in the official list of tribals in the State, against the 6 per cent reservation provided to them by the State Government in education and recruitment, and the Union Government's 8 per cent in its undertakings/institutions. Quoting some surveys, smaller groups among the Girijans have long been complaining that they are not able to come even to the fringes of the benefits under regular schemes, let alone claiming seats or jobs under reservation. They have been raising an accusing finger against the dominant sections. The grievance is being ventilated regularly in the Assembly by political parties, especially the communists.

The Government, however, washes off its hands on the issue, citing the GO No 3 issued by the Tribal Welfare Department according to which all posts in an area, including that of teachers, are necessarily filled by the "local tribals.'' Touching upon the issue, Bellaiah Naik Tejavath, president, of the Lambadi Hakkula Porata Samithi, which organised a State-level conference on tribal problems at Warangal on Monday said, "Yes, we are aware of the issue and this needs a debate.'' The Warangal meeting, which was attended largely by Lambdas and addressed by minority leaders as well, put three demands--gram panchayat status to all "thandas'' in the State for ensuring facilities like roads and drinking water and power supply, pattas for lands of "podu'' cultivation and implementation of all tribals' rights shown in the Constitution.

Gram panchayat status to thandas appears to be a far cry at this stage. When contacted by The Hindu, officials in the Tribal Welfare Department said that there are nearly 15,000 thandas in the State and if all of them are given the status, they will become even more unwieldy. Mr Bella Naik, however, suggests that four or five thandas can be clubbed into one, at least.

Meanwhile, there is progress regarding other matters concerning Girijans. The backlog of cases under Regulation 1 of 1970 relating to lands in notified areas which belong to tribals but now in the possession of non-tribals, has come down significantly with only about 1,000 cases remaining. The official said there used to be 75,000 cases covering an extent of about 2.5 lakh acres but 74,000 cases were already settled so far, a record. Last year itself, about 3,000 cases were solved covering 5,000 acres.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

TDP to suspend more leaders

Law on unorganised sector proposed

Smaller ST groups aggrieved

Drought: CPI meet to chalk out stir plans

INTUC, BMS flayed for keeping off from May 21 stir