Ex. Officio Dy. Secretary (former),
Finance and Planning Projects Wing,
Govt. of AP,
Vijayawada 520 001,
mobile: 9440508395,
land line : 0866 2562868
The Hon’ble Minister,
Social Justies and empowerment,
Govt. of India, New Delhi.
I would like to give some important events briefly in the life history of Nagaralu caste for the information of the younger and future generation, who like to know about his caste from which he came. I am not giving any hints about the origin of the caste since there are a number of theories about it. But the official version is “The Nagaralu are cultivating caste in Visakhapatanam concerning whom it was recorded (Madras Census report 1901) that Nagaralu means the dwellers in a Nagaram or city and apparently this caste was originally a section of the “Kapus” which took to town life and separated itself off from the parent stock….”. This is the official version by the Govt. authority is Edgar Thurston’s Castes and Tribes of South India. This was the position as on 1901. Afterwards there was no caste wise census in any state and now efforts are being made to conduct caste wise census to establish SC, ST and BC population. We have to wait and see the result.
The Nagaralu caste was in the list of backward classes of Govt. of composit Madras state from which Andhra separated, later formed into A.P. including Telangana. But the list of B.Cs as of combind Madras state continued to operate till 1970. Originally the caste was named as “Nagaram”, “Nagara” finally as “Nagaralu”. There was no grouping of castes as at present i.e., A,B,C,D etc.
Based on recommendations of Sri Anantaraman Commission the Govt. of A.P. published a G.O. during 1970 adopting grouping of castes like ABCDE as is being followed till now. But Nagaralu caste which was in the list of BCs prior to 1970 did not find place in the new Govt. order.
The community from then onwards made several representations to the Govt. to restore back Nagaralu caste in the list of backward classes but there was no response from the Govt. several years elapsed but of no avail.
At that time during 1980 late Sri Pothina Chinna, MLA of Vijayawada-1 moved the matter with the district administration i.e., Dt. Collectors namely Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam and Krishna. This caused some movement. The collectors recommended to Govt. of AP to include Nagaralu caste in the list of backward classes of the state as the caste is very backward. But the Govt. of AP accepted recommendations of the Collectors in principle but instead of giving orders as was done in some other cases, recommended to Govt. of India to include in the list of backward classes. The Govt. of India rejected the proposal of the State Govt. as the backward classes is a state subject and the state Govt. should take appropriate action at its level. Thus the entire activity of late Pothina Chinna gone in waste. The community is grateful to the departed soul of late Pothina Chinna for his zeal in settling the caste problem. Prior to him many stalwarts from the Nagaralu caste fought for the just cause but they could not meet with any success.
During 1982 one man commission headed by Sri N.K. Muralidhara Rao submitted a report to the Govt. and based on the recommendation Nagaralu caste was included in the list of backward classes group ‘D’. But this was short lived. Because the Govt. imposed stay on the operation of the G.O. based on some court litigations. The community people went to a court of law but the court orders did not stood for long except for a few days since the court gave further orders based on review petition filed by the Govt. confirming stay on implementation of G.O. where in 9 castes were included in BC list of A.P. Thus the community was left out of the BC list till 2008.
The state Govt. appointed state BC commission during 1994. The commission sent questionnaire to all castes and communities inviting their reports on the status of their castes. At that time late Prof. B.V.S. Patrudu was the President of AP Nagaralu Sangam and late Dibba Suryanarayana was the secretary. The President held an informal meeting at Modern Café lodge, Vijayawada and deliberated that somebody must be entrusted with the Job of correspondence with the BC Commission. There were so many people at that time and I came to Vijayawada after retirement from A.P. Secretariat, Hyderabad. Sri Bayana Venkata Rao who was Present at that time proposed my name stating that he is fresh from secretariat service and he could deliver goods if he is entrusted with the job. Then the presided passed resolution appointing me as Convenor of the steering committee on BC commission dealings. This committee is so powerful even the president and secretary are also members of the steering committee and they should attend all steering committee meetings. The steering committee started its work by touring the district head quarters and near around villages and apprised them that the BC commission would visit their places and explain to them the plight of their living and income. This has caused much awareness among the community people and then onwards they evinced interest in the activities of the steering committee. Later this has greatly helped them while deposing before the BC commission meetings held at district headquarters of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada of Krishna.
BC Commission actually started its ground work during 1997 through it was constituted during 1994 due to some reason or other. In the same year National Commission for backward classes was constituted by the Cental Govt. and started work immediately and after 2 or 3 meetings at Hyderabad to which our community people also attended. The Central Commission recommended to Govt. of India to include Nagaralu caste in the list of OBCs and the Govt. of India issued orders during 1999 including Nagaralu caste in the list of OBCs. This is the first achievement of the community and the community must be grateful to late P. Upendra, Then MP from Vijayawada for his service to the community. I pray that the departed soul rest in peace.
But the OBC status to Nagaralu community has not helped much except some reservations in Central services and education in Central institutions. As the caste is not in the BC list of the state it has not helped much either in jobs, education and other fields. The BC commission used to conduct public enquiries for inclusion of castes in the BC list of the State. These meetings were conducted during 1997 – 98 at Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada and Hyderabad. The community people deposed before the commission about the backwardness of the community. But the commission did not submit its report due to some reason or other namely court litigations and Govt. apathy. The first commission Chairman Sri Pattaswamy after working for about 9 years left the post. After new Govt. headed by late Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy took charge. Sri D.Subrahmanyam was appointed as new Chairman and BC Commission reconstituted. The newly constituted commission started fresh survey again during 2004. Thus previous 5 member commission collected bundles of data and conducted public enquiries and sat in office for 9 years could not do any thing.
There was great disbelief that the Govt. is not going to do any thing for e-inclusion of Nagaralu caste in the list of backward classes. Mean while our community people felt the need for financial support to the poor students to help them to persue higher education from intermediate onwards and that led to the formation of Sri Nagaralu Education and Welfare society at Vijayawada which is an autonomous body. Regd. No. 299/2000 (06-04-2000) with a membership of 17 people with a meagre capital of about Rs.4 lacks. I was the founder president as selected by the then existing members. The capital of this organization rose to about Rs. 20 lacks with a total membership of 160 members and doing best service to the community even after inclusion of Nagaralu caste in the BC list during year 2008. This society created by a handful of community people yielded best results on the education front. The "society" is one of the achievement of the Nagaralu community.
Coming up again to the BC commission after 2004, the new chairman Sri D. Subrahmanyam again conducted survey of the Nagaralu caste and recommended to Govt. of A.P. to include Nagaralu caste in the list of backward classes under group D. After several meetings with the hon’ble CM late Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy with the active support of Sri. L.Raja Gopal, M.P., Vijayawada. We are thankful to Sri L. Raja Gopal, M.P., of our constituency and other Ministers and MLA for their active support in getting the orders of the inclusion of Nagaralu caste in the list of BCs of AP during 2008.
We consider that the issue which was pending since 1970 was resolved by the hon’ble CM late Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy with humanitarian consideration since no CM of the state dared to touch the subject of inclusion of more castes in the BC list either due to political reasons or financial constraints. We are grateful to late CM since he has done a job Hither to no CM. ventured to do for the last 30 years. Not only this case there are so many other castes with a small number of population were also included in the BC list can any body ever imagine that the scholarships scheme to BC will be to such a magnitude?. A BC student come out from medical college or engineering college without spending a rupee from his parents pocket. There is no state in India where such benefits were extended to the poor students as well as economically backward students. That was possible only to late Dr. Rajasekhar Reddy a magnanimous soul, brave heart. May his soul rest in peace. Later the succeeding rulers will continue his schemes or waterdown the spirit of the schemes due to financial crunch. Time alone can tell.
Sri. Pydipati Gopala Rao
Dy. Financial Adviser,
Ex. Officio Dy. Secretary,
Finance and Planning Projects Wing,
Govt. of AP,
