The internal reservation demand for the Madiga’s has not been fulfilled since 2012 after the A J Sadashiva Commission submitted a report to the Karnataka government.
Bangalore: The Madiga community in Karnataka has been protesting for the implementation of reservation within the SC community.
According to NU Srinivas the state convener of Karnataka Dalitha Sangharsha Samiti “Being the part of an oppressed community the state government should provide internal reservation to us. We are demanding this for the social and economic equality, as our community is still deprived of basic necessities.”
A study by Swabhimani Dalit Shakti shows that the madigas in Karnataka have poorer access to government schemes. The 70 percent of Madigas in Haveri district of Karnataka have non-availability of toilets under the swach bharat mission; they do not receive work under the national rural employment act and only 0.28 percent of people have been graduated.
According to Anik, a human rights lawyer in Karnataka “The internal reservation is basically for the growth of the population in the particular community.”
The internal reservation demand for the Madiga’s has not been fulfilled since 2012 after the Justice A J Sadashiva Commission submitted a report to the Karnataka government. The commission recommended the distribution of the 15 percent reservation into four groups through which the left would get 6 percent, the right 5 percent, the touchable 3 percent and 1 percent to others.
According to Vijaya Narasimha, the protestor “We will strike for six days and if our demands are not fulfilled we will march towards Vidhana Soudha in order to make our demands fulfilled.”
It has been eight years since nothing has been done. The Supreme Court in 2020 gave a verdict which allows the states to have internal reservation for the SC’s and the ST’s but the people are again kept at a standstill.
