The cacophony and vibrant colours of the village fair could not distract the attention of the few hundred Adivasis who had gathered at the venue of the tribal darbar at Keslapur village on Friday. They were apparently curious to identify government functionaries seated on the dais but were relieved on not finding Lambada public representatives or officials there.
The event remained incident free as the Lambada public representatives, including Khanapur MLA A. Rekha Naik and Boath MLA Rathod Bapu Rao, stayed away and the government was politically represented only by Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna and Adilabad MP G. Nagesh. In the wake of the ongoing rivalry between ethnic people and Lambadas the former had threatened to disrupt the proceedings in case Lambada public representatives and officials were allowed to be present on the dais.
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Flood of petitions
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Relief of the event being peaceful however, was shortlived as the authorities seemed to be caught off balance having landed with a huge number of petitions from Adivasis who only demanded removal of Lambadas from the list of Scheduled Tribes. At least 80 % of the estimated 10,000 petitions received at the reception counters pertained to this demand, which has the officials guessing about categorising them and taking decision on the final destination of the pieces of paper.
The event will also go down in history as one where no government functionary, including Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna and Adilabad MP G. Nagesh, invoked the name of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao or talked of the plethora of development schemes initiated by him. It was perhaps the effect of the demand made by the aboriginal people to the public representatives to stick to speaking on their demand of removing Lambadas from the list of Scheduled Tribes.
The darbar is an annual event organised by the State government since 1963 as part of the famous Keslapur Nagoba jatara in Indervelli mandal of Adilabad district as an effort to reddress grievances of tribals in the fast mode. Until 1990s this darbar was perhaps the only chance for tribals in erstwhile undivided Adilabad district to air their grievances.
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Changed scenario
“Opportunities are there for the asking these days,” pointed out Mancherial District Collector R.V. Karnan who is also in charge Project Officer of the Utnoor Integrated Tribal Development Agency. “Now petitioners can approach concerned Tahsildars or Mandal Parishad Development Officers on any day,” he said elaborating on the changed circumstances.
In tune with Mr. Karnan’s argument, the process of grievance redressal got diluted during the last two decades but there was a sharp rise in number of petitions received by the government which is represented by the ITDA. About 80 % of the petitioners seek either government jobs or financial assistance under schemes of Telangana Scheduled Tribes Cooperative Finance Corporation Limited (TRICOR).
Such petitioners are told to wait for government notification on jobs and to apply online for TRICOR loans. Last year, the ITDA disposed off about 3,000 to 3,500 petitions of this nature and there is no pendency according to ITDA officials.