Cuttack (Orissa): The tribal organisation ‘Kui Samaj’ has given a bandh call in Kandhamal district on January 21 alleging that the State government is not taking proper steps to fulfil their demands.
Secretary of the coordination committee of the Kui Samaj Lambodar Kanhar said they had handed over a list of demands to the government.
According to him initially the State government had shown some interest to fulfil the demands and to pacify the Tribals.
Taking advantage of this slackness the exploitive non-Tribals had started using legal hassles to hold grab over tribal land and to protect the benefits they had acquired through false tribal certificates, Kanhar said.
“But later the State government has started ignoring the tribals,” Kanhar alleged.
According to him the State government did not prefer to consult with the tribal organisation and its leaders even while taking decisions related to the Tribals.
The organisation was not satisfied with the way in which the Tribal Advisory Council (TAC) had suggested to the addition of the term ‘Kandha’ with ‘Kui’ in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list without consulting the Tribals. They were opposed to the use of ‘Kui-Kandha’ as proposed by the TAC.
The tribal organization wanted it to be used in the form of either ‘Kui (Kandha) or ‘Kandha (Kui)’. According to Kanhar use of ‘Kui-Kandha’ would allow deceptive Kui speaking non-Tribals to get identified as Tribals.
In the volatile Kandhamal district bandh calls have become part of life. It is easy to observe a bandh as the panicked residents have no desire to take risks and prefer to stay inside and put down their shutters at the call of a few posters.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Kui Samaj calls Kandhamal bandh on Jan 21
