Karwar: Strengthening their demand for Scheduled Tribe status, Karnataka's Halakki Okkal community leaders are planning to meet Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary.
Community leaders have already approached several officials and elected representatives to fulfill their longstanding demands. "We met the Deputy Commissioner last month and sent a letter to the Registrar General of India through him. Two days ago we met Member of Parliament Ananth Kumar Hegde and submitted our memorandum," said Hanumant Gauda, president of Uttara Kannada Zilla Halakki Okkal Community.
Halakki Okkal community is one of the backward tribes of Karnataka. For decades, the community has been struggling for ST status and they have strengthened their demand in recent days. Leaders complained that while the government has recently honoured two members of the community with Padma Shri, their demand to be included in the Scheduled Tribe list still remains unfulfilled.
The Halakki community, with about 1.50 lakh population, is spread across in four Taluks of Uttara Kannada. Most of them are agricultural labourers.
"Our people are mostly agriculture labourers and many of them do not own land. After basic education, most youths venture for work. If we are included in Schedule Tribe it will be of great help to the community," Gauda said.
At present, the community is under Category-1.
"There are many big communities in the category and we hardly get anything under the reservation. The state government conducted a study of the community 15 years ago and the state cabinet approved the proposal in 2010. The proposal has been sent to the Union government. The Registrar General of India's office asked for additional information. It is over four years since the study was conducted and there is no progress on the matter," he added.
“As the proposal is now before the State government, we will meet Social Welfare Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary. We are hopeful that the government will support our cause and place it before the Centre,” he added.
