The demands made by a number of tribal organisations in Karnataka for improvement of their economic and social conditions need to be given sympathetic consideration. In a memorandum submitted to the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Areas and Tribes, Mr Dilip Singh Bhuria, these organisations from Mysore and Kodagu districts have sought declaration of all Integrated Tribal Development Programme (ITDP) areas and adjacent tribal areas as scheduled areas in order to better safeguard the tribals' interests. Land alienation and marginalisation are major problems facing tribals in Karnataka as elsewhere and most of them have already lost much of their land and property rights...editorial