Karnataka govt recommends Centre to include Kuruba community in ST list

Bengaluru: The state government on Thursday sent a recommendation to the central government for the inclusion of the Kuruba community in the list of the Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The demand for ST status was a long-standing demand of the Kuruba community which forms the state’s third-largest community.

The Karnataka State Scheduled Tribes Research Institute of Mysore conducted a long study and submitted a report in this regard. The recommendations of the report were approved by the Karnataka cabinet after discussions.

Following this, the government has made a recommendation to the Union Ministry of Scheduled Tribes Affairs of the Central Government for the inclusion of the Kurubas in the Central list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India.

In 2017, on the insistence of the Kuruba communities, the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had ordered a genealogical study of that community. In 2019, the Research Institute of Scheduled Tribes was entrusted with the responsibility. The findings were submitted to the government in March 2023.