Associations of the Valmiki community, students and government employees began protests on Wednesday demanding increased reservation quota and other benefits for members of the community.
In Belagavi, Vijayapura and Baglkot, members of the Valmiki Brigade and Madakari Nayaka Sene took out rallies and submitted memorandum copies with their demands.
In Belagavi, Siddaraya Shigihalli, president of the Karnataka State Government Valmiki ST Community Employees Federation, asked the government to implement the Nagmohan Das committee report that recommends a larger reservation quota for ST groups. He said that several undeserving communities had been included in the ST list by politicians over the years and that they were cornering benefits meant for the real beneficiaries.
The Union government accepted the State’s demand for including four tribes to the State-specific ST list in 2019, taking the total number of tribal groups in the Karnataka list to 54.
Meanwhile, Sri Prasannanandapuri Swami of Walmiki Gurupeetha set a deadline of October 30 for the State government to issue a notification accepting all of their demands.
