Phralung Buddhists seek reserved seats

GUWAHATI, August 7: The Phralung Buddhist Tribal Youths' Organisation has chalked out a 10-point programme for the uplift of the Phralung Buddhist community of Assam. The organisation was set up on December 2, 1998 on the occasion of the 770th foundation anniversary of Assam with its headquarters at the Patsako Central Thai Academy in Sibsagar district. The programme of the organisation includes establishment of Buddhist monasteries, temples, prayer halls, libraries and Pali and Thai educational institutions and construction of buildings for the purpose of housing the socio-cultural and educational organisations and institutions of the community. The programme includes a social campaign for getting the Phralung Buddhist tribal population enumerated as a distinct entity in the census records and arrangements for inclusion of the community in Scheduled Tribes list of the state and reservation of two Assembly seats - Mahmara and Thowra in the district of Sibsagar - for the community, besides a Parliamentary seat for the community in the Upper Assam districts as per the provision of reservation for ST communities. Phralung Buddhists are mainly a priestly clan. They have been demanding for the past several decades constitutional safeguards to them as Scheduled Tribes and government steps for their socio-economic uplift and safeguard to their religion, language and culture.