The 48-hour bandh called by the Girijan Joint Action Committee in the Visakha Agency concluded peacefully on Thursday without any untoward incident. It was total and everything had come to standstill in all the 11 mandals in the agency area.
Since the issue pertained to the welfare of girijans, the response to the bandh was spontaneous and voluntary, said a senior police officer from Visakhapatnam district.
The tribals have taken a strong objection to the Supreme Court quashing GO 3 of 2000, that provided 100% reservation to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates for the posts of teachers in the schools in the Scheduled Areas and the bandh call was given against it, said Kilo Surendra, president of the JAC.
Right lost
After over two decades of struggle, G.O. 3. was passed in 2000. Since then tribal youth were getting recruited as teachers for the schools in the Schedule areas. Now with the quashing of the order by the Supreme Court, the tribals had lost the right that was enshrined in the Constitution, said V.S. Krishna of the Human Rights Forum.
Mr. Surendra told The Hindu that the judgement was detrimental to the development of tribals in the Schedule areas. “We demand that the State government should file a review petition in the apex court and see that GO 3 is safeguarded,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Tribal Advisory Committee held a meeting at Amaravati on Thursday, and the outcome of it is yet to be known.
