Strongly opposing the proposal of the Telangana government to include the economically weaker sub-castes in the list of Scheduled Tribes, representatives of different tribal organisations decided to present their views to members of the Telangana ST Commission during its visit here this week.
“The commission has been appointed by the Telangana government, but its recommendations are sure to be noted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and we wish to make it clear that we will not accept any move by the government to dilute the benefits guaranteed by the Constitution to the Scheduled Tribes in the State,” R.S. Dora, president of the Adivasi Reservation Samrakshana Samiti, said here on Sunday.
The commission, which is enquiring into the status of the tribal people in Telangana, is actively considering the petitions of Boya Valmikis, Vadderas and Gangaputras for inclusion in the ST list on the grounds that they are economically and socially weaker sections and they do not fit into the definition of tribes as accepted by the government. “Further, each of the communities far outnumbers the entire tribal population of the State,” K. Rama Rao, president of ST Employees’ Welfare Association, said.
Members of the commission S. Chellappa and HK Nagu are scheduled to visit Paderu on October 27, Araku on October 28 and Visakhapatnam on October 30.
“We are urging all the representatives of the tribal people to petition the commission against inclusion of the three sub-castes,” O. Ramalingam, legal advisor to the AP ST Employees’ Welfare Association, said.
It was unfortunate that even after 70 years of Independence, members of Tribes in the Agency areas do not have access to basic amenities like potable water, health and education. The political parties in power instead of looking at implementing the rights enshrined in the Constitution were swayed by electoral compulsions and planning to add ineligible communities to the list, O. Rama Murthy of Girijana Aikya Vedika said.
Representatives of different tribes, ST employees’ welfare associations, ST students’ association, Girijana Aikya Vedika and political parties met on Saturday and deliberated on the common stand to be taken on the issue. The meeting unanimously decided to oppose the move to include sub-castes into ST list and planned to take up demonstrations on the subject at different places in the State.
Representatives of various tribal organisations have decided to present their views before panel
