The State government’s proposed move to hike the reservation for SC/ST communities has sparked fresh demands for internal reservations by the forest-based tribes and adivasis.
They have also threatened to launch a stir in support of their demands and have argued that failure to introduce internal reservation will result in derailment of the concept of social justice as envisaged by B.R. Ambedkar.
Development through Education (DEED), a Hunsur-based NGO fighting for tribal rights, Zilla Buddakattu Krishikara Sangha, a tribal organisation fighting for its rights and other organisations have said that without internal reservation, the purpose for which the SC/ST quota was being hiked, will not be served.
S. Sreekanth of DEED said that though the proposed move to hike the reservation for STs from 3 per cent to 7 per cent is welcome, there are fears that only the Naikas will corner all the benefits as they are the dominant group. Besides, the Naika community is also politically a formidable group and all the 15 MLAs elected from the ST reserved seats belong to one community alone. ‘’There are 50 other communities within the ST list that have been deprived of the reservation benefits’’, said Mr. Sreekanth.
In case of reservation in higher education, only four or five communities of the nearly 100 within the SC group have cornered all the benefits while two groups out of 51 communities within the ST groups have benefitted, said Mr. Sreekanth.
He said the tribal groups had made similar representations to the Justice Nagamohandas Committee as well and hence want the government to introduce internal reservations so that the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG), the adivasis and other forest-dependent tribes also benefit from the hike in the reservation quota.
A memorandum in support of their demands has been submitted to the leaders of various political parties as well as the Chief Minister.
