Manda Krishna Madiga

Manda Krishna Madiga has spent three decades campaigning for the Madiga community and other groups he argued were left behind within the Scheduled Castes. In 2025 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of public affairs, from Telangana ^[1].

Growing up Madiga

He was born on 7 July 1965 in New Shayampet, Hanamkonda, into the Madiga community, traditionally associated with leatherwork ^[2]. From the early 1980s he was an anti-caste activist in Warangal, choosing legal and peaceful means ^[2].

The MRPS

In 1994 he founded the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) to campaign for the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes, so that reservation benefits would be shared more evenly among all SC communities ^[2]. He took “Madiga”, long used as a slur, as his surname and made it a symbol of pride, and the movement adopted the dappu drum’s dandora as its emblem ^[2].

The MRPS held protests, rallies and, in 2008, a hunger strike ^[2]. In August 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that states may sub-classify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes so that benefits reach the most disadvantaged ^[2].

Other causes

In 2007 he founded a forum for the rights of people with disabilities ^[2]. The citation credits his campaigns with contributing to the Arogyasri health scheme and disability pensions in undivided Andhra Pradesh, and to help for children with heart disease ^[2].