Hyderabad: Flash protests by Adivasis in tribal dists over scrapping of GO No 3

Hyderabad: Scrapping of the GO No 3 by the Supreme Court has triggered flash protests by Adivasis in the tribal districts of Adilabad, Khammam and parts of Warangal and Karimnagar districts.

The Supreme Court in April scrapped the GO terming it as unconstitutional as two decades old order which provided 100% reservation to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates in posts of school teachers in the Scheduled Areas. A five-judge Constitution Bench, comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose, took note of the concerns among the OBCs and SCs that reservation benefits are not reaching the truly deserving among them.

The top court said that the government is "duty-bound" to periodically review the process in order to ensure that the benefits "trickle down and are not usurped by" the affluent in these categories.

Non-tribal communities living in the agency areas challenged the GO in the Supreme Court demanding to provide them also job opportunities in the tribal districts. Following the court decision, the tribals can avail only 6 per cent reservation based on the population in the agency areas.

This triggered the agitation by the tribals. The Telangana Adivasi struggle committee gave a call for protests and dharnas in many parts of tribal districts. Most of the tribal habitations observed a bandh. In the sensitive tribal district of Mulugu, Adivasi leaders confronted CRPF forces for denying them to stage a dharna. Paramilitary forces have been deployed in tribal habitations to prevent any untoward incidents.

Alerted by the intelligence inputs that Maoist movements increased in the tribal dominated districts, more number of forces were pressed into action and combing operations in the forests where the Naxals set up their hideouts were taken up. Adilabad MP Soyam Bapu Rao told The Hans India that the Telangana government has the responsibility of protecting the rights of the adivasis. The GO No 3 has been issued in the United Andhra Pradesh to ensure the tribals get 100 per cent local employment.

Tribals in the agency districts of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh also lost their right to get jobs.

The tribal communities have been demanding the Telangana government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the scrapping of the order but there has been no positive response so far, the MP said, adding that he would raise the issue before the Union government and request to bring an amendment in the Constitution for the protection of the tribal rights permanently.

Meanwhile, the state government sounded an alert in the Naxal infested areas and is keeping a close vigil on the movements of tribals in the border areas of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.