NEW DELHI: Have you heard of the Gadia lohars who fought in the army of Maharana Pratap and several other Rajput rulers against the Mughals or the Maravars of Tamil Nadu who protected the kingdoms of the chola emperors and resisted the British for many years?

Notified as criminal tribes by the British in the nineteenth century largely as a price for their resistance to oppression and then denotifed by the Indian government but never really classified or given their due, the Modi government has decided to assess and improve the living conditions of 10 crore people belonging to nomadic and denotified tribes of the country whose contribution to the freedom struggle has never been popularised.

Last week, the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Seminomadic Tribes (NCDNT) that comes under the ministry of Social Justice presented an interim report to the centre charting out a roadmap to improve the lives of these communities, bring out their long forgotten history and make them an important part of the electorate by ensuring government schemes such as Mudra and Jan Dhan Yojna reached them.

An exhaustive household survey for the first time has been launched across the county to study the living conditions of these tribes and document their histories. Secretary of the commission B K Prasad said the history of denotified and nomadic tribes was one of suppression and exploitation that they have faced persecution for more than 150 years. This report and the steps we take based on our interactions is an attempt to reverse this injustice.

Agencies Karvy in the nothern zone, Vimarsh in the western zone, Academy of Management Studies, Life Academy of Vocational Studies in the Eastern zone, Karvy in the North Eastern zone and Vimarsh in the southern zone have been picked to conduct this survey.

These agencies starting June 1 are compiling data about each of these communities, taking a sample size of 9000. They will assess the socio economic conditions and submit a report to us in six months, Prasad added. He added that the commission is now working on a deadline and findings of the survey - first in independent India will help it further in its intervention.

The researchers have studied the history and living conditions of over 200 such communities. For instance, the gadia lohar community found in five north states were blacksmiths in the army of Maharana Pratap. They live under self-imposed taboos not to return to Chittorgarh fort, not to use ropes to draw water or use candles at home as a protest for freedom. Today, due to mechanisation, they work as labourers or sell iron scraps, said Siddharth M, researcher, who added that stories collected from all these communities are being documented.

Similar the maravars, glorifed in the ancient text Thirukkurral, were protectors of Tamil emperors and worked as as Kudikaval (traditional policing communities). But they resisted the British who suppressed them. During our interactions they told us the story of Rani Velu Nachiyar who fought the british but was never given the same importance as Rani Laxmibai. Today the community members work in matchbox factories with bare minimum facilities, the report said.

Experts said the colonial category of criminal tribes may have been denotified but many communities remain unclassified. The Ayyangar Committees recommendations led to the repeal of the CTA in August 1952. In 2008, the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) produced a report where it said, But, to keep effective control over the so-called hardened criminals, the Habitual Offenders Act was placed in the statute book.

To address that, besides listing of ways to make schooling and medical care accessible to these nomadic groups and recommending grazing rights in forests, specific training, scholarship and housing benefits, the commission has sought for a review of the Habitual Offenders Act 1952 which has come provisions from the erstwhile Criminal Tribes Act that add to the harassment faced by these communities.

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Government tries to right the wrongs against persecuted tribes - Economic Times