Association for India's Development (AID)

5011 Tecumseh Street,  College Park, MD 20740 USA

 
Contact:

For Immediate Release
July 10, 2007

Concerned TANA Attendees in Washington Take Up 27 year-old Tribal Cause – Chief Minister of A.P. Urged to Extend 5th Schedule
75% NRIs Unaware of Right to Information Act, 81% Pay Bribes.

All that glitters is not gold.  The Telugu Association of North America (TANA) conference at Washington DC  drew concerned attendees past the glittering jewelery stalls to support the noble cause of 805 non-scheduled girijan (tribal/adivasi) villages in Andhra Pradesh still awaiting to be recognized under Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. The TANA conference attendees have written to the Chief Minister Dr Rajasekhar Reddy that no previous AP government has completed the process that was started in 1980 of recognizing these pending tribal villages.  Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Bihar have successfully completed the same process since 1980, while Andhra Pradesh merely listed these 805 villages and hasn't followed up.  Recognition under Schedule V will help non-schedule tribals in several districts of AP get protection for their lands and equal access to tribal welfare programs of the centre and the state.  The Central government had asked the AP government for survey and maps of the villages that are pending under Fifth Schedule. The Chief Minister had promised in the elections to take care of this, and later in the recent Assembly session the issue was again raised by few MLAs.  However no action has ensued despite assurances by Mr D. Redya Nayak, Minister for Tribal welfare that the survey mapping will be done. The concerned attendees demand Dr Rajasekar Reddy to "fulfil your responsibility as chief minister towards girijans by recognizing their right to 5th Schedule so they get the benefits due to them."

In solidarity with the "Fifth Schedule Sadhana Committee" formed by the non-scheduled area girijan youth that have been fighting non-violently, a booth at the TANA Conference 2007, highlighted the issue through posters, video presentations, press releases and eye witness reports of the non-schedule area tribal struggle in Andhra Pradesh.

Another golden cause taken up at the booth was the Anti-Corruption campaign by the Association for India's Development (AID).  A survey of the TANA conference attendees conducted on July 7, 2007 revealed that 81% of the attendees had paid bribes in India.  And what did these Non Resident Indians (NRI's) bribe for? While leaving India the pay a bribe to get International Drivers Permit and passports, while re-entering India at the customs, and while in India for getting land records. The AID survey revealed that these were the top corruption hot-spots in their mind.  What was shocking was that 75% of the NRIs at the TANA conference, haven't heard of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, one of the most significant achievements of Indian democracy in recent times, that increases transparency and accountability of governance.  AID volunteers listened sympathetically as some NRIs told them that their parents in India are not getting pension due to corruption and they didn't know what to do.  They were pleasantly surprised when they were informed that the RTI Act has been successful used by common people in India to get pensions, ration cards etc without paying bribes. Recently due to efforts of AID the Indian embassy in Washington DC has begun to accept RTI applications for a fee of 24 cents from any Indian citizen in the USA. Thus the NRIs can directly write to the Public Information Officer at the embassy asking for their parents pension status as well as seek the name of the officer who is delaying the release of pension.

LETTER    TO   CHIEF   MINISTER

From:
Concerned attendees of Telugu Association of
North America (TANA) Conference in Washington DC

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Ravi Kuchimanchi
Attn: 5^th Schedule Expansion
5011 Tecumseh Street, College Park MD 20740, USA.
E-mail: khiyali@gmail.com
Phone (USA): (216) 534-4889, Fax: (301) 345-5308

Date: 6^th, 7^th July, 2007

To

Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy
The Chief Minister,
Andhra Pradesh, India

Subject: Expansion of 5th schedule to long-pending 805 tribal villages

Dear Rajasekhar Reddy garu,

We bring to your urgent attention the fact that the government of Andhra Pradesh had enumerated 805 girijan/tribal villages in the year 1980 to be added to the 5th Schedule of the constitution. However the process was left pending by the previous governments and these villages still do not get the benefits due under 5th Schedule. We are writing to demand that in your term as Chief Minister these villages (with population of over 200,000) be duly notified as Schedule V villages and given the recognition that our constitution guarantees to all tribal villages.

You must be aware that the governments of Maharashtra, Bihar and Rajasthan also enumerated their tribal villages, at the same time in 1980. Theirs have already been incorporated in the 5th Schedule, while Andhra Pradesh's list seems to be lacking the government's political will.

Recognizing the long-delay in granting Schedule V status, in the 2004 Assembly election campaign you promised that the Congress government will definitely expand the 5th Schedule to all the pending villages. We urge you to keep your promise.

These non-schedule area girijans in Andhra Pradesh have been fighting for their rights non-violently through the 5^th Schedule Sadhana Committee. We are informed that the Central Government had requested the Andhra Pradesh Government to submit map and survey details so as to incorporate the pending 805 villages in Schedule V. Due to the efforts of the Sadhana Committee, some MLAs have raised the issue in the last assembly where the minister has promised to initiate the survey and mapping.. However the AP government is showing no urgency in completing the survey. Without the details the President of India is unable to notify the villages of Andhra Pradesh. We would like to know the reason for the delay and if there is anything we can do to help speed the process. We urge you to fulfill your responsibility as chief minister towards girijans by recognizing their right to 5^th Schedule so they get the benefits due to them.

We solicit your immediate action on this matter and hope to hear from you soon,

Thanking you,
Sincerely.

(4 pages of signatures of concerned people signing the petition at the booth that focused on AIDing Vth Schedule Expansion in Andhra Pradesh at TANA Conference were attached).