The Tribal Coordination Committee staged a protest in Madikeri demanding an immediate end to atrocities against tribal communities and urgent provision of basic amenities.
Protesters, including tribal leaders, marched to the District Collector’s Office, raising slogans and submitting a memorandum of demands to the government through the district administration. Key demands included:
No eviction of tribals from national parks, reserved forests, and tiger reserves.
Effective implementation of the Tribal Forest Rights Act, 2006.
Recognition of tribal rights over land and forests to prevent harassment.
Protection of tribal rituals and beliefs from communal attacks.
Time-bound development plans with basic amenities such as schools, drinking water, electricity, roads, healthcare, and housing.
Allocation of sufficient budgetary funds for tribal welfare.
J.R. Prema, convener of the Tribal Rights Coordination Committee, highlighted that many tribal families work as daily-wage laborers, living in plantation row houses or forest areas without basic facilities. Large sections remain uneducated and lack Aadhaar, ration cards, and voter IDs, leaving them excluded from government benefits. She urged simplification of procedures for issuing such documents.
P.R. Bharath, CITU District President, said that even on the eve of the country’s 79th Independence Day, tribals in Kodagu continue to live without secure housing or land. He criticized the administration for failing to distribute available government land to landless tribals, while allegedly planning to lease encroached government land at low rates instead.
Committee members P.K. Ramesh, Y. Ravi, Y.K. Raghu, Bhagya, P.B. Boji, and labor leader H.B. Ramesh were among those who took part in the protest.
