ST status to Valmiki/Boyas will not affect tribes of agency areas: CM Jagan
Vijayawada: The AP Assembly passed two key resolutions on Friday, seeking ST status to the Valmiki / Boya community and SC status to Dalit Christians. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that the two resolutions would be sent to the Centre for approval, as per the promise he had given to the people during his Padayatra.
He assured the Assembly that inclusion of the Boya / Valmiki community in the list of the Scheduled Tribes would not affect the rights and facilities of STs living in the Agency areas in AP.
In specific, he allayed the fears that the inclusion of the Boya / Valmiki community that lives in the Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur and Chittoor districts into the ST list doesn’t reduce the quota of the STs of the Agency areas in government jobs or educational institutions. “The zoning system is in force as per the six-point formula,” he pointed out.
The Chief Minister explained that the inclusion of Valmiki / Boyas may have only a negligible impact on the Group 1 jobs that come under the non-zoning category. “This would be negligible as only 386 Group 1 jobs had been notified in the last 10 years and the 6 per cent reservation would mean only 21 or 22 posts, he said.
He said the one-man commission headed by Samuel Anand Kumar that studied the social and economic conditions of the Boyas in the four districts, and the ST Commission too, also agreed with this assessment.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said government jobs in the zoning system and districts constituted 99 per of the total jobs and the STs of the Agency areas would suffer no loss by the present decision.
He appealed to the ST community not to believe in the false propaganda being carried out in a section of the media vis-à-vis this matter. “The resolution was introduced in the Assembly requesting the Centre to include the Boya / Valmiki community in the list of the Scheduled Tribes as per the promise given to the community during my padayatra,” he said.
Speaking on the second resolution that requested the Union Government to extend the Scheduled Caste status to members of the Scheduled Caste community who converted to Christianity in Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy said the economic and social statuses of the people do change automatically just because they converted to another religion.
