Tribals in plain areas urged to fight for their rights
Machilipatnam: Vaditya Sankar Naik, national president of Girijana Praja Samakhya (GPS - Tribal People's Federation) and former ST Commission member, stated that plain area tribals in the State are facing injustice, and that all tribals must mobilise to achieve their rights and ensure representation in the Assembly for tribal community.
He was the chief guest at 'Girijana Praja Chaitanya Yatra' round table meeting, organised by Girijana Praja Samakhya and Student Samakhya at N Convention Hall here on Sunday. Addressing the meeting, Sankar Naik said that even after 80 years of the country's independence, millions of tribals in the State are still suffering without basic food, shelter, and security. He lamented that many are still living miserable lives without even a ration card or Aadhaar card.
He pointed out that lack of an Aadhaar card is preventing them from accessing government welfare benefits. Furthermore, he stressed that for the crores of rupees allocated by governments annually for tribal development to be utilised properly without being diverted, there must be a representative from the tribal community in legislative bodies.
He noted that the ST list primarily includes communities such as Sugali, Chenchu, Erukula, Yanadi, Nakkala, and many others, but they lack proper and equal representation. He said that confining political representation of tribals in the State to Agency areas has caused massive injustice to plain area tribals over the past 58 years. He urged them to wake up now and strive to protect their rights. He expressed deep distress that every successive government proposes to include other castes in ST list.
He explained that during the elections held from 1962 to 1967, reservation was provided by taking district as a unit, which allowed plain area tribals to contest in elections. Four Assembly seats in the plain areas—Kadiri, Kavali, Macherla, and Jaggayyapet—were reserved, providing representation in the legislature.
He declared that time has come for all of them to fight so that plain area tribals, who constitute half of the State's tribal population, get representation in social, economic, political, education, and employment sectors in new constituencies that will be formed when the number of Assembly seats is increased from 175 to 225 in Central and State governments in 2026. He called on every tribal member to work towards ensuring 'Praja Chaitanya Yatra' programme reaches every tribal area for future, advancement, and enlightenment of the community.
Girijana Praja Samakhya State President Raju Naik, Corporator Yakasiri Venkateswara Rao, tribal leaders Padmaraju, State Secretary Ravi Naik, Sugali Rights Struggle Committee State President Shankar Naik, Sala Nagaraju, Pandu Rangarao, Kiran, Youth President Hanumanthu Naik, Satyanarayana, Venkataratnam, and others participated in the round table meeting.