Scrap research on Dhangars: Anna Dange

KOLHAPUR: Senior leader and former minister of state Anna Dange has demanded that the ongoing research on the Dhangar community conducted by a Mumbai-based social sciences research institute be scrapped immediately.
Addressing a rally in Sangli city, Dange said that there have been deliberate delays while carrying out the research and so it should be scrapped and the reservation should be introduced for the Dhangar community.
While representing the the dhangar community, Dange said that is notified as a nomadic tribe as per the state government's documentation. However, the community has been stressing on acquiring the status of scheduled tribe, which is accepted at the national level. This would offer more benefits to the community.
The reservation demand has escalated widely during the Lok Sabha and assembly elections of 2014 and the community voted in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party which promised to help them acquire the reservation. Dange, who was an MoS during the 1995-99 Shiv Sena-BJP government had later joined the Nationalist Congress Party.
Dange said, "The Mumbai-based research institute has been asked to undertake a report for the dhangar or shepherd community. The minor spelling mistake has also been accepted by the institute, but its team has not yet mentioned it in the report. There has been immense delay in submitting the report to the state as well. A second stage survey has also been ordered and this should be stopped at once. There is no validity to such a report and so it should be scrapped and the decision on reservation should be taken."