Tribals in eastern India protest seeking quotas in jobs, colleges.

Hoogly (West Bengal), Feb 28, : Tribals staged a protest march and stopped trains in West Bengal's Hoogly district on Wednesday to pressurize the state government to introduce a quota system in jobs and colleges.

The protest disrupted the railway services in the district for five hours.

Jharkhand Desham Party activists also said that the government should give official recognition to the Alchiki language.

Nabakumar Hemren, one of the protesters said, "India is a democratic country, we have been staying here for such a long time but we are yet to get a decent treatment from the government and other authorities. We are the downtrodden lot. The incident in Dispur (city in northeast Assam) is an example of that.

Many Hindu communities have been demanding special quotas to garner government jobs and admission to colleges through affirmative action programmes for the past two decades.

Government affirmative action programme benefits several groups, including Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The tribals are the poorest and most marginalised community in India, with the worst social and health indicators. They make around eight percent of the country's one billion strong population.

ANI