A group of tribals representing the Jenu Kurubas and Koragas met President Droupadi Murmu in Delhi recently and apprised her of issues plaguing the community.
S. Sreekanth of Development through Education (DEED), an NGO advocating tribal issues and causes, said the delegation drew the attention of the President to long-pending demands of the community members and the tribulations being faced by the Particularly Vulnerable Tribe (PVT) groups.
The group also apprised the President of a High Court directive as per which 3,418 tribal families had to be rehabilitated in and around Mysuru but the process was getting delayed. The community members sought greater political representation to the PVT groups through internal reservation within the ST category.
Other demands placed before the President included their long-pending plea for notification of tribal areas so as to pave the way for Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act in places where the tribal community has a significant presence and this includes 1,500 hamlets spread across 38 taluks in Karnataka.
Other demands submitted to the President included shoring up of Ashram Schools so that the quality of education imparted to tribal children could improve, provision of scholarship to tribal children, implementation of Forest Rights Act, according to Ramakrishna and Shivu who were part of the team that met the President.
