Madikeri: On account of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, the Codava National Council (CNC) will stage a Satyagraha in front of the DC’s office in Madikeri on Aug. 9. Briefing media persons here yesterday, CNC President N.U. Nachappa said that the Kodava community should be accorded with tribal status. The study on genealogy of Kodavas should be continued. Karnataka Govt. had initiated an ethnographic and socio-economic survey to see whether the community qualifies for the tribal status. It’s the second time the survey has been taken up, a response to the alarming decline in population. “The Government, for some reason, has cancelled the survey and this is unfortunate,” he said.

“Our community is dwindling in numbers very fast for many economic and sociological reasons. The population of Kodagu district is around 5 lakhs, of which Kodavas are not more than 65,000. There is an urgent need to sustain the Kodava genus Constitutionally under Articles 340 and 342 of the Constitution that provide for recognising ethno-linguistic tribal minority nationality,” Nachappa said.