The Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to treat Scheduled Castes who have converted to Christianity on par with the other Scheduled Castes.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who moved the resolution, said there was no difference in the economic status of the Scheduled Castes who got converted to Christianity, but they were ‘unjustly’ losing their caste status and were put in Backward Classes-C category.
Mr. Naidu said such a resolution was sent to the Centre earlier from the undivided Andhra Pradesh. The lone Opposition MLA, P. Vishnukumar Raju, also voted in favour of the resolution.
Other bills
The Legislative Assembly passed a few important bills after the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s speech.
The Assembly passed the Simhachala Varaha Nrisimha Swami Panchagrama Temple Lands (occupied) Regularisation Bill after a short discussion. Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamurthy, who introduced the Bill, said it was long pending.
Pendurthi MLA Bandaru Satyanaryana Murty said over one lakh families would benefit from the Bill. He recalled how former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy promised regularisation of the encroached rythuvari lands but failed to deliver.
The Assembly also approved the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Land Regularisation Amendment Bill. Mr. Krishnamurthy, while introducing the Bill, said that this would resolve the problems people living in patta lands were facing.
The Assembly approved the Andhra Pradesh Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill in which two new private universities have been added to the list. The Minister for Information and Public Relations Kaluva Srinivasa Rao said Veltech University, Chittoor, and Bharatiya Engineering, Science and Technology Innovation University, Anantapur, were added to the list of private universities in the State.