Codavas appeal for self-rule on Indigenous Rights Day
Madikeri: A peaceful Satyagraha took place on Sunday in the vicinity of the Collectorate and District Administration in Madikeri. The protest was organised by the Codava National Council (CNC) on the occasion of the United Nations World Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Day.
The action aimed to draw the notice of the Government of India, constitutional authorities and the international community to the Codava quest for geo-political autonomy, self-rule and internal political self-determination rights as an indigenous mono-ethnic animistic community.
The Council submitted a memorandum containing ten legitimate and paramount constitutional aspirations to the Union Home Minister, the United Nations Special Rapporteur and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Leading the list is the demand for Codavaland geo-political autonomy and self-rule under Articles 244 and 371 together with the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Schedules, patterned after Gorkhaland, Leh, Ladakh and the North-Eastern states.
Next comes the call for constitutional and United Nations protection for the indigenous Codavas under the Constitution and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Recognition of the Codava sacrament Gun-Thok as an essential religious practice under Articles 25 and 26 read with the Eighth Schedule forms the third aspiration.
The fourth seeks incorporation of classical Codava, the mother tongue of the community, into the Eighth Schedule.
The fifth proposes UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage listing for Codava lands, sacred sites, folkloric arts, lullabies and traditional dance forms.
Establishment of memorials at Devattparamba for the genocide and at Nalnad Palace and Madikeri Fort for political assassinations, plus international Holocaust Remembrance listing and war memorials at Walgully, Mullusoge and Lakdikote, constitutes the sixth demand.
The seventh asks for Inner Line Permit coverage of the whole Codava territory to check demographic shifts and land loss. The eighth seeks recognition of Talacauvery as the holy pilgrimage site of indigenous Codavas and allocation of their Cauvery water share under the 1966 Helsinki Rules.
Special Codava representation in Parliament and the State Assembly modelled on Sikkim’s Sangha constituency is the ninth aspiration. The tenth requires restitution of ancient hereditary lands confiscated earlier and a distinct code and column for Codavas in the 2027 National Population Census and Caste Enumeration. The Council restated its determination to advance these ten goals through peaceful and continuous effort.