Congress Demands Even Higher Reservation For Tribals

Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy reiterated his demand for an increase in the reservation for Scheduled Tribes in Telangana from 6% to 10%.

He was addressing the All-India Banjara Seminar held at the Vishweshwarayya Bhavan in Khairatabad on Monday as the Chief Guest.

The seminar, organised by ex-MLC Ramulu Naik, was attended by leaders of the Banjara community from 15 States.

They included MP from Karnataka Umesh Jadhav and former Union Minister Balram Naik.

Reddy said that the 10% reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), introduced by the Centre in 2019, crossed the 50% ceiling on quota imposed by the Supreme Court as per the Indra Sawhney judgement. However, the court did not object to the EWS quota. Therefore, no legal complications were involved in enhancing the ST quota from the present 6% to 10% as the Constitution permitted reservation for STs proportionate to their population, he claimed.

Reddy said that the truth was that the TRS government was not sincere about increasing ST reservations.

"If Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is serious about enhancing the ST quota, then he should go ahead by issuing a GO in this regard. Former Chief Minister N T Rama Rao had enhanced the ST quota by simply issuing a GO," Reddy said.

Reddy also slammed KCR for not releasing funds for tribal thandas upgraded to gram panchayats. He said that these new gram panchayats had no infrastructure to carry out regular activities. There was no building for the gram panchayat and no structure for an anganwadi. The panchayats have no revenue or funding from the government, and most of the sarpanches in these gram panchayats were operating from their houses, he lamented.

Speaking about podu lands, Reddy alleged that the TRS government was forcibly taking back the lands given by previous Congress regimes under the Forest Rights Act.

He said that lakhs of tribals had been cultivating the podu lands for several decades. However, the TRS government was forcibly taking those lands back in the name of Haritha Haram and other purposes.

He also condemned the police excesses on tribals, especially women, to dislodge the tribals from the podu lands.