The Karnataka Adivasi Rakshana Parishat will stage demonstrations at district headquarters on August 13 to press for various demands including land grant.
Parishat general secretary M. Krishnaiah said here on Monday that the protests would coincide with the World Adivasi Day.
Mr. Krishnaiah said the parishat would urge the government to set up a separate Scheduled Tribe Commission and a separate Ministry to ensure their welfare. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act, under which individual and community rights were being given to tribals, should be expedited and an ‘Adivasi Bhavan’ established at taluk and district centres. Supporting the steps to free the Western Ghats from Naxals, he said all cases booked against tribals should be withdrawn. He said that ashram schools should be upgraded and 50 per cent of teachers should be appointed from ST groups.
He alleged that the land allotted to 65 tribal families in H.D. Kote taluk had been encroached by people belonging to upper castes. Mr. Krishnaiah urged the government to arrest those who shot tribals while fishing in the backwaters of the Kabini dam. He sought police protection for tribal people for fishing.
