Symposium Seeks Solution via Court Post SC Ruling on Tribal Job Reservations

 Hyderabad: A brainstorming symposium organised by Aadhaar Society at Guruswamy Centre in Secunderabad on Wednesday resolved to find ways and means to evolve a remedy via the legislative route to contain the impact of the Supreme Court ruling annulling GO MS No. 3, which had reserved 100 per cent jobs for tribals.

The participants expressed dismay that the five-judge bench judgment was part of the descheduling of tribals from scheduled areas. Fear was also expressed that the judgment given on April 20, 2020, may open the gates for dilution of legislation like Regulation 1/70, Record of Forest Rights (RoFR), Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 (PESA).

Addressing the meeting Vedma Bhojju, MLA from Khanapur, said, “Our struggles are not bearing the results we seek. Tribal sarpanchs are facilitating settlers from outside by giving permissions. Tribal public representatives are ready to accept suggestions from intellectuals like Prof. M. Kodandaram, Prof, Kasim among others.

Bhojju said that Adivasi organisations should come together to achieve the goals. “Seven tribal MLAs met the Chief Minister to seek remedy for the scrapped GO 3. He has responded positively,” Bhojju said.

Expressing fear that protections accorded to scheduled areas are being whittled down bit by bit, Palla Trinadha Rao, forest and tribal rights activist, said, “The GO was scrapped citing Indra Sawhney case which limits reservations to 50 per cent. The judges opined that reserving 100 per cent of jobs to tribals was against the Constitution.

“Now the district has been made a unit in calling for notifications and nearly 23 of them were issued after the judgment. Non-tribals hold 51 per cent, 71 per cent and 61 per cent land respectively in the erstwhile Khammam, Warangal and Adilabad districts. With non-tribals exceeding 50 per cent in the scheduled areas, the court might find justice in descheduling these areas in the future.”

On the contrary demand for including 240 tribal dominated villages in scheduled areas has been pending for years. A reverse process is happening in the name of projects like Polavaram, he added.

The meet paid homage to Komaram Bheem, Birsa Munda and other tribals who lost their lives in Chhattisgarh recently.

It was attended by the society members Gondi Venkataramana, Metla Papaiah and Gedam Janardhan.