ST tag for deserving Konkani Kudubis

ST tag for deserving Konkani Kudubis

Mangalore Today News Network

Oct 27, 2014: Report of Socio-economic survey of Kudubis of Karnataka’ by sociologist Y. Ravindranath Rao catalogues the socio-economic indicators of the largely rural dwelling community. “The survey has brought out that Konkani speaking Kudubis are socially, educationally and economically a most backward community in Karnataka,” said Mr. Rao in the report that enumerates 5,372 Kudubi families in 66 villages across Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

He said 80 per cent of those covered believed that a Scheduled Tribes tag for the community will allow them to escape poverty.  The report also says that 96 per cent of the community surveyed live in rural areas or in forests.

The report explains that living in rural areas means that they do not have access to “education and medical facilities, and exposure to modern facilities”  Due to lack of access to education and low-skilled employment, the Konkani Kudubi community should be included under Scheduled Tribes in the State to alleviate its economic backwardness, concludes a survey on the community conducted recently.

Education remains a concern with high illiteracy and a hand full of graduates. Educational backwardness limits employment opportunities. Nearly three-fourths of the community work as daily-wage workers and the average income of a Kudubi per day is found to be around Rs. 30. Tthe Rangarajan panel has fixed the poverty line at below Rs.32/=.

The report reveals a partial success of government intervention schemes. More than 90 per cent of the youth are literate basically (even though the percentage of children in higher education is negligible) and houses without electricity (12.2 per cent) and lavatories (28.7 per cent) are far below the desirable average set parameters .