Denotified tribes-homeless and harassedSupreme Court Judge Justice D.Y.Chandrachud recently gave voice to the agony of millions of the denotified tribes when he clearly stated that injustice and discrimination was still being suffered by them over seven decades after Independence.
Speaking on the occasion of the 13 th B. R. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture on ‘Conceptualising Marginalisation’ organised by the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, South Asia, he stated, “ The British enacted the Criminal Tribes Act 1871 through which a tribe, gang or class of persons ( believed to be) addicted to the systematic commission of offences were notified. The Criminal Tribes Act was later repealed in 1949 and the tribes were ‘de-notified’.”
The judge known for his deep concern for marginalised sections noted, “Even after nearly 73 years since the tribes were denotified, its members are still subject to oppression and cruelty. Members of the denotified tribes are still picked up by the investigating officers to cover up shoddy investigations.”
120 million people in India belong to denotified and nomadic tribes (DNTs). They are among the worst victims of neglect and oppression. Various nomadic and semi- nomadic and semi- nomadic tribes may be pastoral groups, or they may have artisan based livelihood (like godalia lohars or blacksmiths of Rajasthan) or else they may derive livelihood based on medicinal herbs, acrobatics, folk arts, etc.
Some attention could be drawn in recent years to the numerous problems and sufferings of these neglected groups due to the efforts of social activists and the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes.
This Commission observed, “The Commission was shocked to notice the living conditions of large section of these people during its field visits. It was appalled by the fact that some of these communities are far away from receiving the benefits of freedom and social justice even though they are classified as ST, SC or OBC. The welfare measures implemented for these groups either have not reached them or are irrelevant in their context. Those among the concerned communities who got the benefits of welfare are basically the ones who are better off and organised and the vulnerable groups are completely left out of their reach.”
“Several groups among these communities across the states, in both urban and rural sectors, are seen dwelling in temporary shelters or tents on vacant lands. These people have no permanent addresses; hence they have got no land allocation for housing purpose. With no proof of residence or property ownership certificates, they are not in a position to avail ration cards and have not been included in the BPL list.With no certification of their residence, they also face a lot of trouble in getting the caste certificate, which results further in not being able to avail government welfare schemes.”
Justice D Y Chandrachud
“Among the extremely patriarchal nomadic communities there is hardly any protection for women, and the progressive property laws and laws for the dignity of women have virtually no relevance to the women in these communities. Living utterly undignified lives in destitute conditions, they are subject to maltreatment and abuse by all — the family, the community and the society at large. Having no shelter or support, they fall victim to every kind of social harassment and torture.”
In addition the nomadic communities also suffer. As this report says, “Generally, it is understood by the goverment as well as by the activists that atrocities are perpetrated on the tribes considered ‘criminal’; however, the fact is, that the nomadic communities which are scattered and in today’s circumstances dehumanized into begging or other illegal activities at the bottom most level are being victimised on a growing scale.
Justice Chandrachud also emphasised the need for social mobilisation of collective against discrimination. This should not be seen as identity politics but instead should be seen as necessary for redressing historical discrimination, he asserted.