The sixth endowment lecture in memory of K. Balagopal, Human Rights Crusader for Just Society, was held at Kakatiya University on Thursday in the Senate Hall.
Consultant on tribal rights at National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad, Trinadha Rao, spoke on the topic – Development of Adivasis – Major Challenges in Telugu States. He said that it was the statutory duty of both the governments to recognise and protect the rights of Adivasis ensured under the Forest Rights Recognition Act 2006.
The governments should stop extending the contours of industrial and plantation programmes affecting the rights of Adivasi people in forest areas, he demanded. He hoped that the governments in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh constituted a monitoring committee to monitor the implementation of tribal protective land laws. The right to self-determination and protection of cultural autonomy of Adivasi people must be respected without any external influences by either the State or its agencies or private forces, he said.
The democratic space for decision-making in the design of programmes and financial governance must be ensured by tribal and other welfare departments at the level of Gram Sabha. Inclusion or exclusion of groups in the list of Scheduled Tribes must be based on a socio-economic, cultural study and not on political promises made during the elections, he said. There is an urgent need to protect and develop the relatively undeveloped tribes and also to oppose anti-Adivasi programmes, projects, policies and law.
Dr. Balagopal’s book, published by Perspectives, Hyderabad, Adivasilu, Vidya, Arogyam, Adhipathyam and another by Dr. Trinadha Rao, titled Adivasis’ Struggle for Identity were released.
ICSSR fellow Prof. G. Haragopal said that they were publishing books to propagate the ideology of Dr. Balagopal. Prof. K. Purushotham presided over the programme while Prof. V.S. Prasad, Prof. N. Rama Swamy, Vasantha Laxmi, Ramakrishna, C. Narasimha Reddy and others took part in the lecture.
