Skip to main content

New Andhra tribal districts should keep in view diversity, topography, cultural context



By Dr Palla Trinadha Rao
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has taken a decision in a recent cabinet meeting to constitute a committee to study the reorganization of the existing 13 districts into 25 based on the number of Parliament constituencies. Instead of considering the Parliamentary constituency as a unit for forming a new district, the Araku (ST) Parliament Constituency may be trifurcated for the creation of new tribal districts keeping in view its diversity in the terms of topography, people living there in and their cultural context.
The Andhra Pradesh Districts (Formation) Act 7 of 1974 provides for the formation of districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh and for alteration of areas or boundaries of the districts in the interests of better administration and development of the areas comprised therein and for matters connected therewith. Unlike in plain areas, in the context of tribal areas, geographical contiguity, match in identities, histories and cultural practices of tribals, resources to survive etc. are to be taken into consideration while redrawing the boundaries to notify the districts in the State.
During the pre-Independence period, the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874 was passed to specify the scheduled tracts and powers of local government institutions. Later, the Government of India Act, 1919 and 1935 were passed excluding certain tribal areas partially and totally from the normal governance. After the commencement of the Constitution of India, the partially excluded areas were brought under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and Article 244 was made applicable for their administration. These areas are known as Scheduled Areas.
The State of Andhra Pradesh has a population of 8.4 crore out of which 27.39 lakh (5.53%) are tribal. There are 19 Scheduled Tribes; amongst them Chenchus, Kondareddi,Gadba, Savara,Kondh, and Porj (6 STs) are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. Their population is 4.5 lakhs of the total ST population of 27.39 lakhs.
The Fifth Scheduled Area spreads over 5 districts namely Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari Districtscovering the 14,132.56 sq.km. The ST population living in this Scheduled Area is about 53%, around 14.51 lakh, whose rights are subject to the special protection of Article 244 and the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Area (PESA) Act, 1996.
At the time of devising and adopting the strategy of Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) for socio- economic development of Scheduled Tribes during Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79), certain areas, besides Scheduled Areas, were also found having preponderance of tribal population. In view of this Clause (2) of the paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule was amended through the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 1976 to empower the President to increase the area of any Scheduled Areas in any State.
Presently, there are 4,764 scheduled villages in Srikakulam,Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari Districts. As part of the rationalization of Scheduled Areas, the Andhra Pradesh government is doing an exercise to include non scheduled areas listed out 553 villages besides other villages left over in the list for inclusion in the scheduled areas of the state.
Tribals living in scheduled and non-scheduled areas have distinct culture and live in specific geographical locations unlike the non tribals living in plain areas. There are also certain tribal dominant villages in other than the scheduled and non-scheduled mandals also. Those villages also have to be taken into consideration for formation of new districts. The major tribes like Savara and Jatapu are spread over in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram districts, Bagata and Khond in Visakhapatnam while Koya and Kondareddy in East and West Godavari districts.
It is pertinent to note that the Bhuria Committee, constituted by Government of India in 1994, for suggesting appropriate framework for governance in the Scheduled Areas, recommended autonomy to adivasis by adopting the broad frame-design of autonomous district councils contained in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. It also suggested reorganization of the districts bringing together both the scheduled and non-scheduled tribal dominated villages.
Further, the provision (o) of Section 4 of PESA, 1996 also directs the state government to follow the pattern of Sixth Schedule to the Constitution while designing the administrative arrangements in the panchayats at district level. The intention is to create tribal autonomous councils empowering tribals for self-rule in the Scheduled Areas.
There is a need to maintain the very fabric of tribal societies in the scheduled and tribal sub-plan (TSP) villages to follow broadly the constitutional design for governance and administration in the Scheduled Areas envisaged under Article 244 of the Constitution of India and PESA Act. Therefore, there is a need to take a different approach in the context of tribal areas while redrawing the boundaries to notify the districts in the State.
The Araku Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh is geographically the second largest constituency in India, which is spread over hilly terrains of the Eastern Ghats. Seven assembly segments Arakuvalley and Paderu (Visakhapatnam district), Palakonda (Srikakulam district), Rampachodavaram (East Godavari district), Kurupam, Parvathipuram and Salur (Vizianagaram district) make up this parliamentary constituency of Araku, all of which are reserved for ST candidates barring one assembly segment i.e. Parvathipuram (SC reserved).
The Araku ST Lok Sabha constituency encompasses 38 mandals, of which 23 are totally scheduled mandals, 7 are partial agency mandals, while only 8 are totally non-scheduled Mandals. Therefore the Araku parliamentary constituency spreads over the majority tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh.
In view of the landscape of the Araku Lok Sabha constituency which is composed of forest, hills and rugged areas, the proposal for three districts is made on the necessity for the effective administration and the need to bring services closer to the tribal people. Three new districts Arakuvalley, Rampachodavaram and Kurupam may be carved out from the Araku Parliament Constituency.
Kurupam district may be constituted with four, namely Bhamini,Palakonda,Seethampet and Veeraghattam in Srikkulam district clubbing with other Balijepet,Garugubilli, GL Puram, Jiyyammavalasa, Komrada, Kurupam, Makkuva, Parvathipuram and Seethanagaram in Vizianagaram district.
Araku valley district may be formed with 10 agency mandals of Paderu revenue division in Visakhapatnam district along with three other mandals namely Salur, Pachipenta and Mantada in Vizianagaram district. Rampachodavaram District may be formed with all 11 agencymandals of East Godavari District with agency mandal Koyyuru in Visakhapatnam district.

Average Size & Populations

The proposed Kurupam district would be with an area of 2,855 sq km, Araku valley with 6,458 sq km, while Rampachodavaram would be with 7,094 sq km and an average distance between the proposed district head quarters to the tail end mandal of the district would be around 70-129 km. The Araku Parliament Constituency covers a long stretch of the tribal tract of 472 km. Therefore with the proposal, the distance from the mandals to the proposed district head quarters will come down significantly.
Average size of the proposed district is around 5,469 sq km. The size of the proposed district would be more or less similar to the present size of the Srikakulam district in the State which encompasses 5,837 Sq.km. Now the average population per district is 38 lakh and the average size is 12,323 sq km. Average population per the proposed district would be around 6.33 lakh as per 2011 census. The average population in the proposed districts would be around 6.67 lakh as per the 2018 population projections.
If the proposed three districts are constituted then they would become exclusive tribal districts as most of the mandals are located in the schedule and sub-plan areas. If the districts are smaller they can be better governed. Therefore, instead of considering the Parliamentary constituency as a unit for forming a new district, the Araku Parliament Constituency may be trifurcated for creation of the proposed new tribal districts keeping in view of its diversity in the terms of topography, people living there in and their cultural context.
A similar analogy may be applied to the Eluru Lok Sabha constituency also while redrawing the boundaries for new districts. A new tribal district may be carved out from the mandals covering both the agency and non-agency mandals in the jurisdiction of Eluru Lok Sabha Constituency.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan  In a groundbreaking  study  spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.
Post a Comment
»

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram  India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.
Post a Comment
»

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.
59 comments
»

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah  Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.
Post a Comment
»

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra  Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today. 
Post a Comment
»

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat
1 comment
»

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By  A  Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.
Post a Comment
»

May the Earth Be Auspicious: Vedic ecology and contemporary crisis in Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan*  Ashok Vajpeyi, born in 1941, occupies a singular position in contemporary Hindi poetry as a poet whose work quietly but decisively reorients modern literary consciousness toward ethical, ecological, and civilizational questions. Across more than six decades of writing, Vajpeyi has forged a poetic idiom marked by restraint, philosophical attentiveness, and moral seriousness, resisting both rhetorical excess and ideological simplification. 
Post a Comment
»

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah  A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”
Post a Comment
»