The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Make the most of schemes, Lambanis told

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Thursday, Jan 31, 2008
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Make the most of schemes, Lambanis told

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Economically backward communities such as the Banjara community should make concerted efforts to draw maximum benefits from the schemes announced by the Union Government under the Eleventh Five Year Plan, Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajasekharan has suggested.

He was speaking after inaugurating the State unit of Akhila Bharata Banjara Sangha here on Wednesday. The Union Government, in its 11th Plan document, has chalked out a comprehensive programme for the development of economically backward communities with a focus on education, health and self employment.

The Banjara community, which is popularly known as Lambani community in the State, should exploit the opportunity for its overall development, he added.

He said that it was unfortunate that the Congress had not considered the community’s leader Jalaja Naik’s candidature for the Legislative Council for the second term despite her excellent track record.

The former Chairman of the Backward Class Commission Ravivarama Kumar said the welfare schemes of the Union Government and other funds had not been reaching the deserving beneficiaries owing to administrative anomalies.

There were over 29, 000 villages and over 30,000 tandas or hattis, which were neither villages not hamlets, in the State.

Right from time immemorial Lambanis had been living tandas or hattis.

The community had been deprived of their rights all these years, he said. In his report to the Government, he had recommended that creation of revenue villages would help the effective implementation of programmes and schemes for achieving social justice. The Government was yet to respond, Mr. Kumar added.

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