Karnataka - Mysore

Vedike to enrol one lakh members in first phase

Staff Correspondent

Units of the organisation to be opened in all taluks

MYSORE: Kayaka Samajagala Vedike, which recently sought the "Hindu minority" tag for several microscopically small castes and sub-castes among backward classes, has claimed a strength of 1.5 crore people in Karnataka.

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, vedike convener R. Raghu said their forum was trying to mobilise several small and microscopic communities under a non-political umbrella and work for their uplift. Most of these communities were identified by their occupation. They had remained unorganised on account of their miniscule numbers.

The Vishwakarma, Kumbara, Madivala, Savitha Samaj, Ganiga, Balija, Nekara, Kuruheena Shetty, Raju Kshatriya, Jetty, Bhavasara, Dombidasa, Sadushetty and a host of other castes came under this category, he said.

"There are 102 castes under Backward Class 2A, besides 94 which come under I A," Mr. Raghu, who is a former Chairman of the Karnataka Exhibition Authority, said.

During the recent Census, Mr. Raghu claimed that it had been noted that people belonging to these communities had been found in almost all villages. "If all the people belonging to this microscopic minority castes are taken into account, their population will reach 1.5 crore," he said.

He pointed out that there are at least 20,000 people from these communities in each Assembly constituency and appealed to political parties to take up their cause seriously.

However, political parties should not misuse them for electoral gains, he said.

Mr. Raghu said the vedike had received tremendous response in the past few days with a large number of people coming forward to become its members.

The vedike had set a target for registering one-lakh members in the first phase. Vedike's units would be opened in all taluks of the State. It would soon open an employment information centre, he said.

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