Date:30/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/30/stories/2006053006430400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Panchamashalis seek berth in Ministry

Staff Reporter

Demand inclusion in list of Other Backward Classes

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Veerashaiva Panchamashali Sangha has criticised the State Government for excluding it from the list of Other Backward Classes and for not giving it representation in the Ministry.

Sangha general secretary Basavaraja Dindoora told presspersons here on Monday that though the community numbered over 76 lakh, the Government had not ensured social justice to it.

The community formed 85 per cent of the population in 14 districts in the North Karnataka region and the rest was scattered in other districts, Mr. Dindoora said.

Clarifying that Panchamashali was a community that followed the Veerashaiva "religion," Mr. Dindoora said that a delegation from the community would meet Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy shortly to demand its inclusion under the Other Backward Classes list.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the enumeration of the community in the official Census, Mr. Dindoora and the other office bearers of the sangha said the community had decided to commission an independent census of the community with the help of 2,000 teachers from July 1 for obtaining accurate statistics.

The sangha had decided to establish a Rs. 10-crore community foundation for helping students and to establish a guru peetha. Details could be had from the sangha at No. 2, Old CET Building, 15th Main Road, Gandhinagar, Bangalore, he added.