“The government does not see or hear the primitive tribal groups (PTGs) or has the heart to understand their plight but they would shake it out of its deep stupor and fight till their rights were ensured,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said.
Addressing a large number of PTGs which participated in the “besiege the ITDA” programme here on Tuesday, she came down heavily on the Andhra Pradesh government as 1,100 villages in the district inhabited by 1.50 lakh PTGs were not recognised as revenue villages and were being denied the benefits of the government schemes and programmes. “You have to agitate to be recognised as a part of the country and tell the government that you do exist,” Ms. Karat said.
More than 2,500 PTGs, including many women who came from the 11 mandals of the tribal area of the district, participated in the programme organised by the A.P. Girijana Sangham (APGS), an affiliate of the Adivasi Adhikar Manch. “We will defend our culture, language and traditions. This is our right and we will also fight against the loot of the government,” she asserted.
Ms. Karat came down heavily on the Forest Department’s move of preventing the tribals from continuing with the “Podu” cultivation (shifting method of cultivation) and booking cases against them. Shifting cultivation was allowed under the Forest Rights Act, thanks to the Left MPs’ insistence, but here it was disallowed. In Tripura, Jhum cultivation, which was similar to Podu cultivation, was allowed and the government was also providing help to the farmers in different ways, she said.
Later the CPI(M) leader, along with party’s former MP and general secretary of the APGS M. Babu Rao, district secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao and others, met Project Officer of ITDA K. Srikanth Prabhakar and submitted a memorandum listing the needs and demands of the PTGs.
According to them, the official assured that the false cases booked by the Forest Department against the tribals would be withdrawn soon and every PTG village would have a Balwadi and the children would also be provided transport. This assurance was given when the CPI(M) leaders pointed out that the Right to Education Act was not being implemented in the tribal areas.
District committee member of APGS Payaka Lakku presided. Former MP P. Madhu and others participated.
