The Telugu Desam Party has urged the Center to include Valmiki/boys in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Andhra Pradesh.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday urged the BJP government at the Center to introduce a bill in the Parliament and recognize Valmiki/boys of Andhra Pradesh as ST.
He said the communities live in extreme poverty in the plains of the state. In 2016, a team was constituted under the chairmanship of Prof. Satyapal to conduct a comprehensive study on the status of Valmiki/Boys, and after a year long research, it was concluded that it was necessary to include in the ST list. Despite meeting the norms, there was inordinate delay in its implementation.
Recalling that in the past several commissions had recommended their inclusion in the ST list, Shri Naidu said that in 1964, the State Government issued orders declaring equal status to the communities living in both Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra region. had done.
Eventually in 1968, the communities were included in the ST list, but in July 1977, the then government recognized only the Valmikis living in the Agency area as ST and this led to communities living in the Eastern Ghats, North Eastern Andhra Pradesh. Differences arose between them. And the buoys are scattered in different parts of the state. He pointed to the fact that their counterparts in neighboring Karnataka enjoyed ST status.
“My government has tried to resolve this issue in the past in 2017 by passing a resolution to this effect in the Cabinet, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council and sending them for the approval of the Centre,” he said, adding that unfortunately, The proposal was still pending with him.
He said that on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Maharishi Valmiki, the Center should fulfill this long pending demand.
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