Protect tribal rights: Sukri Bomma Gowda

Folk nightingale and Padmashree awardee Sukri Bomma Gowda urged the government to provide ST status to the Halakki community.

She was speaking to reporters at the valedictory of ‘Vruksha Suraksha 2019’ organised by the Mangaluru unit of South Kanara Photographers’ Association at the Mini Town Hall.

Stating that Halakki community is in need of basic facilities, she stressed on the need for the government to provide education facilities to the children belonging to the community. “The members, who have been living in forests for generations, are living with Nature. They should not be evacuated and the eligible should be provided with title deeds,” she urged.

Sukri Bomma Gowda, acclaimed as a repository of about 4,000 folk songs, opined that the government should take measures to record these songs of the Halakki community and to publish the same, so that it serves as a record for the next generation. She also called upon the children to work towards the conservation of Nature.