The Karnataka Rajya Madiwalara Kshemabhivruddhi Sangha will stage a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Monday, demanding that the Madiwala community be brought under Scheduled Castes (SCs).
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Thursday, secretary of the Dharwad Zilla Madiwalara Sangha Naveen Kumar Madiwala said that the demand was raised even before Independence but till date it has remained unfulfilled.
He said that the Madiwala community has been included in the Scheduled Castes list in 18 States and three Union Territories in the country, but in Karnataka, the community has been included under the Backward Classes category.
Consequently, the community has been deprived of its rightful share in the field of education and employment, he said.
Mr. Naveen Kumar said that the committee headed by Annapurna of Mysore University submitted to the government the ethnographic study of the community in 2011. However, that file has seen no action from successive governments, he said.
Various religious heads from the community from across the State are expected to participate in the day-night protest.
District unit office-bearers, including Satish Su. Kauthala and Shivlingappa Madiwala, were present.
Published – March 13, 2026 07:46 pm IST
