Around 20,000 people from all 30 districts of the state are expected to participate in this protest during the winter session being held in Belagavi. There are more than 5 lakh Kurubas in Belagavi alone.
Bengaluru: Several Kuruba community organizations, including the Karnataka Pradesh Kuruba ST Horata Samiti, have said that they will hold a massive protest in Belagavi on December 15, demanding inclusion of the Kuruba community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.
Committee president Siddanna Teji said that around 20,000 people from all 30 districts of the state are expected to participate in this protest. There are more than 5 lakh Kurubas in Belagavi alone. “Our only demand is that the Kurubas should be classified as Scheduled Tribes across the state,” he said.
It is an injustice to our community. In Kodagu and Bidar districts, the Kurubas are getting ST status and reservation benefits, but in the rest of the parts, we remain in the 2A, OBC category. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, the community is identified as ST. In Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it is identified as SC.
In Karnataka, the Kuruba community, which should be in the SC list, has been wronged by being included in the OBC list. The Kuruba community of Karnataka is one of the most important tribal communities in the country, so the state government will protest and demand that the Kuruba community be included in the SC list as an alternative term for Kuruba, on December 15 during the winter session being held in Belagavi.
