Tribals from different parts of Mysuru district staged a demonstration in the city on Tuesday seeking their rehabilitation besides upgrading tribal ashram schools.
The protesters said the population of adivasis, who were dependent on forest produce, was nearly 3.5 lakh. The tribals said they were victims of forest policies and were uprooted repeatedly from their homes and were denied benefits of economic development.
Though the Centre had promulgated the Forest Rights Act, there are about 6,000 tribal families in the Mysuru district who have been denied those rights. There are 118 tribal hamlets spread across H.D. Kote, and despite assurances by successive governments their living conditions had not changed, the agitators said.
Though the then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna held a mini Cabinet meeting at Hosahalli in 2001 and announced several measures for the rehabilitation of the tribals, including transfer of land, it is yet to be implemented, they said.
Underlining the low standards of education in schools meant for tribal students, the activists said they are not affiliated to the Education Department, and hence the standards had fallen over the years while there was no permanent teachers.
The tribals raised a slew of demands, including shoring up standards of ashram schools, confering forest rights to tribals evicted from Nagarahole and Bandipur, declare forest hamlets as revenue villages, and implementing recommendations of Prof. Muzaffar Assadi on rehabilitation.
