A three-day national conclave on denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes concluded in Hyderabad on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, MLC and deputy chairman of State Legislative Council Banda Prakash and State BC commission chairman Dr. Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao said Telangana was a leading State in implementing development and welfare schemes for backward castes, most backward classes and nomadic communities.
They vehemently opposed the Centre’s indifferent attitude towards implementing welfare schemes for these sections. They sought to know why the rights of these sections, won after decades of struggle, were being stifled. They also sought to know why the Centre was refusing to take up a socio-economic caste census and wondered how development would take place without the allocation of adequate funds.
Dr. Banda Prakash said the Centre turned a deaf ear to repeated requests for the formation of a separate BC Ministry in the country. He regretted that Prime Minister Modi, who too belongs to a backward-class community, has not done anything constructive for these sections.
People agitating for their basic needs even after 75 years of Independence was deplorable, he said, while also opining that the present attitude of the government reminds him of the Emergency.
“Mere creation of the National BC Commission will not serve any purpose unless it functions to redress the problems of the backward classes in the country. The National BC Commission has become a defunct body and a rehabilitation centre as no vice-chairman and other members required for its full functioning have been appointed. Hyderabad declaration is a landmark development and has never been held in the past in any part of the country and more such conferences should be organised across the country to voice the issues of these communities,” Mr. Krishna Mohan Rao said.
Rajya Sabha MP Lakshman promised to take these issues to the notice of the Union government and get them redressed. He further said the government has taken up umpteen number of welfare schemes.
Congress leader Koppula Raju was also highly critical of the policies of the Union government and felt that trampling the caste census was unjust and undemocratic. He said the Congress would extend full support for the cause of these communities and welcomed the Hyderabad draft declaration.
On the concluding day of the three-day workshop on DNT, NT, and SNT communities, a brainstorming session was held by several leading personalities, including Dr. Banda Prakash, Dr. Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao, Dr. K. Lakshman (MP Rajya Sabha), Koppula Raju (IAS retired), former chairman of National DNT Commission Balakrishna Reneke, social scientists I. Tirumali and Chenna Basavayya.
