Tourists face inconvenience as AJAC bandh hits normal life in Vizag agency

Visakhapatnam: Tourism sector bore the brunt of the Adivasi Joint Action Committee (AJAC) sponsored bandh after protestors stopped vehicles at Araku valley in Visakhapatnam today.

Parvathipuram-Manyam, Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR), and other tribal pockets in Andhra Pradesh are observing the strike against the government's decision to include Boya and Valmiki communities in the scheduled tribes (ST) list.

Adivasi groups in Andhra Pradesh are opposing the inclusion of the relatively developed Valmiki/Boya communities of the erstwhile districts of Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa and Chittoor in the list of STs. They believe that the move would affect their development and infringe on their rights. Tribal organizations protested on the roads in Araku, Paderu, and highways in the state. For a few hours, RTC bus services were stopped.

On March 23, Andhra Pradesh Assembly adopted two resolutions urging the Central government to include the Boya/ Valmiki community in the Scheduled Tribes list and extend Scheduled Caste status to members of the community who converted to Christianity.

It is for the second time in seven years that Telangana legislative assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to include Valmiki Boyas and 10 other communities in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list.

On Thursday, retired deputy-collector and president JAC K Dharma Rao said the AP Assembly resolution in favor of the inclusion of the two communities in the ST category would be detrimental to the interests of most backward tribes in Parvathipuram-Manyam district and other parts of Andhra Pradesh.

Presently belong to BC

Valmiki/Boya communities currently belong to the Backward Classes (A) category, except in Scheduled Areas (Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) areas), where Valmikis enjoy ST status. Data says there is around 20 lakh population in these communities. If they are all notified as STs, the ST population in the State will increase.

CM assures tribals

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy assured that the inclusion of the Boya/Valmiki community in the list of the Scheduled Tribes would not affect the STs living in the agency areas of the state. The House introduced the resolution requesting the Centre include the Boya / Valmiki community in the list of the Scheduled Tribes as per the promise given to the community during his Pada Yatra.

Chief Minister allayed the fears that the inclusion of the Boya/Valmiki community in the Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur, and Chittoor districts into the ST list will not reduce the quota of the STs in government jobs or educational institutions as the zoning system is in force as per the six-point formula.

"The inclusion may have only a negligible impact on the Group 1 jobs, which come under the non-zoning category. It becomes negligible as only 386 Group 1 jobs were notified in the last 10 years, and the 6 % reservation only amounts to a meager 21 or 22 posts", said Jagan Mohan Reddy.

A commission headed by Samuel Anand Kumar, which studied the social and economic conditions of the Boyas in the four districts and the ST Commission, agreed with this assessment.

Jagan said the government jobs in the zoning system and districts constitute 99 per of the total jobs, and the STs of the agency areas would suffer no loss because of the possible inclusion. He asked the tribals not to believe the false propaganda being carried out.

Rejected in TDP regime

During the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government in 2018, 2109, the Registrar General of India (RGI) had twice rejected a similar proposal, which sought the inclusion of Valmikis and Boyas across Andhra Pradesh in the ST list.