Girijan Sangham takes out protest rally against inclusion of new castes

 A rally was taken out by tribal youths, under the aegis of the urban committee of Girijan Sangham, from the Ambedkar statue near LIC Junction to the Gandhi statue near GVMC on Tuesday to protest against the proposal to include Boyas and Matsyakarulu in the ST list.

Sangham city secretary K. Prithviraj said that some political parties were trying to deprive them of their right by including the two castes. The ruling TDP had passed a unilateral decision in the Assembly and sent it to the Centre and the BJP had also supported it.

While the total population of ST s in the State was 27.45 lakh, the two above mentioned castes alone account for a population of over 1 crore. This would mean that the two castes would corner all the benefits at the cost of STs.

He appealed to all the Opposition parties to reject the proposal in Parliament and strive for the uplift of the tribal people. He sought immediate setting up of the tribal university, which was promised in the AP Reorganisation Act. An amendment to the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Act, 2007, should be made in Parliament to take up construction of the university buildings. The BJP government had not taken any steps to move the amendment during the past four years, he alleged. He demanded that the BJP government act immediately and release funds for the establishment of the university.