Telangana Tribal Welfare Minister Sathyavathi Rathod today urged the Centre to increase the reservations for STs (Scheduled Tribes) in the state to 10%.
She also sought the revival of a 20-year-old GO 3, to accord priority to locals in education and employment, and the starting of a tribal university as promised.
Rathod was speaking in a video conference of the two-day National Tribal Research Conclave organized by the Centre on tribal welfare.
The minister claimed that the ST population in Telangana was 9.08%, but that the reservations being implemented for them were just 6.5%.
Due to this disparity the ST community was losing benefits in education and employment in the state, she said.
The minister said that the state government had taken legal opinion and moved the Supreme Court to reinstate a GO 3 of 20 years past that the court had quashed in last April, and sought the support of the Centre to restore it to do justice for the tribals.
Rathod also urged the Centre to start a tribal varsity in Telangana as one had already been started in Andhra Pradesh.
"We are awaiting the Centre's nod for the starting of the varsity as we have allotted 350 acres for it and have developed the area with the required facilities. There is a need for the tribal varsity and it will benefit the STs of the state," she said.
The minister also asked the Centre to give more Ekalavya schools, and sought renewal of the Mini Gurukul schools under the state government instead of under NGOs.
Tribal Secretary Christina, Gurukul Secretary Pravin Kumar, Additional Director Sarveshwar Reddy, and officials Kalyan Reddy and Samajuwala Satyanarayana were present.