KAKINADA: As many as 554 villages in Andhra Pradesh, including 240 in Srikakulam district, 182 in Vizianagaram, 91 villages in Visakhapatnam, 40 in Kakinada and one village in Eluru district, are eligible for acquiring the tribal status, so that they can be included it in the 5th Schedule for securing benefits thereof.
But people other than tribal in such villages are reluctant in getting the villages declared tribal, as their properties can go under 1/70 Act. This would mean lands in the particular village cannot be sold to non-tribal individuals.
Adivasi are, however, exerting pressure on the government for inclusion of the villages in tribal category.
Three Girijana Sanghams are fighting for the same in the AP High Court since 2021.
According to Adivasi MahaSabha legal adviser Inapuram Suryanarayana, the High Court directed the state government in April 2022 to sort out the issue within four weeks. As the directive has remained unimplemented, Adivasi MahaSabha has filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2025.
Giving the background, Suryanarayana said in 1980, the AP government had sent proposals to the central government to include 40 villages of Andhra Pradesh in the 5th schedule, declaring them as tribal villages. But the centre has not yet reacted on the issue. In the interim, another 19 villages in Kakinada district have emerged, where the population of Adivasi is more than 50 per cent.
In this regard, Kakinada district collector Sagili Shan Mohan has submitted details to the government pleader on December 3, 2025, so that the same could be taken up in the High Court.
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