People's Democracy

A P GIRIJANA SANGHAM CONFERENCE

‘Recognise Girijan Thandas As Village Panchayaths’

M Venugopala Rao

THE second state conference of Andhra Pradesh Girijana Sangham demanded the state government to recognise the girijan thandas (tribal hamlets) with a population of 500 as village panchayths.  It demanded the government to provide opportunities for education and employment to the plain land tribals by taking up developmental programmes through the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA).

Addressing a public meeting at Sundarayya park at Baghlingampally in Hyderabad on October 5, organised in connection with the two-day state conference of the Sangham, several leaders highlighted the problems being faced by the plain land tribals and articulated their demands.  Dr M Babu Rao, member of Lok Sabha from the Bhadrachalam constituency, regretted that even after 57 seven years of the country’s independence, tribals have been facing the burning problems of hunger and poverty and that the fruits of several schemes implemented by the government were not reaching them.  He demanded the government to form two tribal districts and take up developmental programmes and to form a separate department for protecting the language  and culture of the tribals.  Though 30 lakh tribals were living in plain land areas in the state, they were not getting any help from the government, he said.

Dr Babu Rao also demanded fifty per cent of the  employment opportunities  be set apart for the tribals in those industries set up  in the tribal areas as a result of which they were displaced. The industries should also allocate twenty per cent of their profits for the development of those areas. He demanded distribution of land, house sites and construction of pucca houses to the tribals. 

Sriram Nayak, general secretary of the Sangham, said negligence of the tribals by the government was responsible for their plight of selling away their children.  He requested the chief minister, Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, to fulfil his pre-election promise of recognising tribal thandas as panchayaths.
Sriram Nayak accused the erstwhile Chandrababu government of exploiting the tribals during its nine-year rule. State president of All India SC, ST Employees Union, V V Nayak, vice president of the Sangham, P Raghu Nayak, Professor Ramesh Nayak of the Telugu University, leaders of Tribal Employees Union, Chaitanya Kumar and B Raja Nayak, G Dharma and several other leaders of the Sangham addressed the meeting.  Vice president of the Sangham, V Kota Nayak, presided over the meeting.   Earlier, tribals coming from plain areas in the state, took out a colourful rally from Indira Park to Sundarayya park, holding banners and raising slogans in support of their demands.

SEMINAR

On October 6, a seminar on plain area tribals and their development was organised. Addressing the seminar, the minister for major and medium irrigation, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, promised to pay special attention to construct pucca houses to tribals and dalits.  Accusing the erstwhile TDP government of failure to allocate funds released for welfare and development by the central and state governments on the basis of reservations, the minister  promised to correct the situation.  Lakshmaiah also promised to bring to the notice of the chief minister the demands of the Sangham for recognition of thandas as panchayaths and distribution of 5 acres of land each to the landless tribal families and try his best to solve the same.

B V Raghavulu, state secretary of the CPI(M), demanded the government to hold a meeting with unions of tribals, employees and intellectuals shortly and formulate a plan of action for solving the problems of the tribals well before their dissatisfaction got intensified. He demanded implementation of reservations in the private sector and filling up of backlog posts reserved for
tribals in the government.  Raghavulu pointed out that as a result of the policies pursued during the nine-year TDP rule in the state, unemployment had increased, and employment opportunities decreased as a result of privatisation of the public sector units.  He asked the Sangham to endeavour to remove superstitions among the tribals and to send their children to schools thereby
creating self-confidence among them so that they could lead life on par with other people. Supporting the demands of the Sangham, Raghavulu demanded distribution of government lands to the tribals, and pointed out that lands in plain areas were being grabbed by the industrialists, billionaires and landlords.  Raghavulu suggested setting up of an official machinery to suggest
methods of cultivation to the Lambadas, providing credit to them and making special efforts for development of the backward areas.  Former minister for tribal welfare, Mani Kumari of the TDP, CPI leader Ramnarsaiah, Sriram Nayak and Kota Nayak addressed the seminar.

436 delegates attended the state conference of the Sangham held at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram.  The conference elected M Dharma Nayak as president, Ramavat Sriram Nayak as general secretary, B Kishen,  V Veeranna, D Venkateswarlu and D Prabhakar as vice presidents and V Kota Nayak, Tirupathi Nayak, Dattoo Nayak and  M Chaitanya Kumar as assistant secretaries.

The conference passed resolutions on various  demands, including recognising thandas as panchayaths, separate ITDAs for Yanadi tribals and Lambadi and Yerukula tribals, distribution of five acres of land each to the landless tribal families, filling up of backlog posts in the government reserved for tribals and implementation of reservations in promotions.