Tribals in plains suffer injustice
Speaking at a roundtable conference in Vinukonda as part of the 'Tribal Public Awareness Yatra,' he called on the Central and State governments to protect the rights of tribal communities and provide them with political reservations.
He also warned that no one would tolerate other communities being included in the ST list.
The roundtable, held at the Joshua Kalamandir in Vinukonda town, was presided over by Girijana Praja Samakhya State president Raju Naik. Key leaders and intellectuals from various tribal organisations attended the meeting.
Naik expressed concern that even after 80 years of Independence, millions of tribal people in the State lack basic necessities like food, shelter and even essential documents such as ration cards and Aadhaar cards, which prevent them from accessing government welfare schemes.
He argued that for proper utilisation of the crores of rupees allocated for tribal development each year, a representative from the tribal community must be present in legislative bodies. He urged tribal communities to unite and fight for their rights.
Naik pointed out that several tribal groups, including Sugali, Chenchu, Yerukala, and Yanadi, lack adequate representation. He highlighted that confining political reservations to the forest-hill areas has caused immense injustice to the plain land tribes over the past 58 years.
He criticised the persistent attempts by successive governments to include other communities in the ST list, which is a painful trend given the already struggling state of the tribal population. He urged the Central and State governments to recognise this dire situation.
Naik noted that from 1962 to 1967, Assembly reservations were based on a district-level unit, which allowed plain land tribes to contest elections in four Assembly constituencies - Kadiri, Kavali, Macherla and Jaggayyapet. However, a change in government policy in 1967 shifted the unit to a State-level, limiting tribal constituencies to only the agency (forest) areas and causing severe injustice to plain land tribes.
He called on the community to fight for political, social, economic, educational and employment representation for the plain land tribal population, who constitute half of the State's total tribal population.
This is especially crucial as the number of legislative seats is set to increase from 175 to 225 in 2026. He urged every tribal person to contribute to the 'Tribal Public Awareness Yatra' to ensure the message reaches every tribal region.
The meeting concluded with a show of solidarity and the unveiling of posters for the yatra. Several tribal leaders attended the event, including Raju Naik, Ravi Naik, Jarpala Krishna Naik, and Hanumantu Naik.
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