Chairperson of the Karnataka Banjara Development Corporation Jalaja Naik has said that AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be invited to lay the foundation for the proposed comprehensive tribal park at Laldhari village in Humnabad taluk of Bidar district next month.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Ms. Naik said that the park was being established on 34 acres of land to showcase the rich traditional art, culture and music of the Banjara community and the corporation has already released Rs. 7 crore for the park in the first phase.
Mr. Naik also said that a sum of Rs. 3 crore had been sanctioned for the Banjara language development centre at Kannada University at Hampi and Rs. 1.5 crore had been released. She said that 38 postgraduate students have been appointed to study the Banjara Folk Art and culture at the Banjara Cultural Centre established at Otkodi village in Haveri district. The corporation will train them in the traditional arts of the Banjara community. Already such training centres had been established at Raichur, Bagalkot and Dharwad and shortly one would be established in Kalaburagi.
To bring schools nearer to Banjara tandas and reduce number of dropouts, Ms. Naik said that the corporation has established seven tent schools at Haveri and two in Koppal near the Banjara tandas this year.
Several development works have been taken up for the welfare of the Banjara community using Rs. 100 crore provided by the State government.
She said that the government should convert the eligible Banjara tandas into revenue villages as early as possible and extend benefits to these hamlets.
There were more than 3,351 tandas in the State and more than 800 tandas fell within the criteria of having 50 houses or having a population of 250 to be converted into revenue villages.
