UDUPI: State government is seriously considering accommodating the Koraga community in 7.5% reservation meant for Scheduled Tribes, Kota Shrinivas Poojari, minister for backward classes welfare and religious endowment said. This will help the introverted community take a further step towards social integration, a process that has inched forward ever since the nation got independence and is still a work in progress, the minister said.
Inaugurating the first inter-district sports meet for the Koragas organised by the Udupi district administration on Saturday, Poojari said the government is also committed to fast tracking their integration with the rest of society by giving them easier access to education. “Education is one means which will help the community shed their centuries of diffidence,” he said adding the sports meet too is a means of giving the community much needed confidence.
The state government will also take steps to double the funding for the sports meet from the second edition, the minister said. “I am given to understand that Rs 60 lakh has been set aside for this sports meet. I will speak to the chief minister, department of youth empowerment and sports and the minister concerned to double this amount next year,” Poojari said adding the event will provide a platform for athletes from the community to emerge.
Recalling an initiative taken by then minister for social welfare H Anjaneya to provide housing for the Koragas at a unit cost of Rs 5 lakh against the prevalent cost of Rs 1 lakh, Poojari said he will take steps to revive the same at the earliest. Anjaneya had proposed to construct 132 houses for the Koragas which could not materialise for various reasons, he said, adding the Yediyurappa government will take forward this ambitious project.
Recalling a move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wash the feet of pourakarmikas, Poojari said this was a powerful social message to the country that each individual no matter his stature in society should strive to take the least privileged among them, along with them. “We as a society should emulate this move by helping the underprivileged section move forward in life so that true social parity can be achieved,” he said.