Telangana: Centre confers Padma Shri on MRPS chief Manda Krishna Madiga

Born in a Madiga community family in Warangal district, he founded Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi in 1994 to address the specific grievances of the community

Hyderabad: Founder and president of Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) Manda Krishna Madiga has been conferred with the Padma Shri award on Saturday.

Born in a Madiga community (Scheduled Caste) family in Warangal district, he founded the MRPS in 1994 to address the specific grievances of the community, regarding the unequal distribution of reservation benefits among Scheduled Castes.

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He had to put up a relentless struggle for three decades, demanding the sub-categorisation of SCs that yielded fruit in August last year. In August last year, the Supreme Court gave a ruling empowering States to create sub-classifications of SCs and STs, for providing quotas within the reserved category.

The sub-categorisation had become so sensitive that, during the Lok Sabha poll campaign last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a meeting organised by MRPS and assured the SC community that the Centre would form a committee to adopt all possible ways of empowering the Madigas concerning their demand of categorisation of SCs.

At the meeting, Manda Krishna Madiga became emotional as he sat next to Modi who embraced and consoled him, describing him as his younger brother.