TRIBAL STATUS FOR PAHARIAS STILL A WILD GOOSE CHASE
TRIBAL STATUS FOR PAHARIAS STILL A WILD GOOSE CHASE
Thursday, 23 January 2014 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar
0
The Paharias or Kamars are one of the primitive vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in Chhattisgarh and MP, but in Odisha they are considered to be non-tribals.
The Tribes Advisory Council (TAC), under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recommended for Scheduled Tribe status to the Paharia tribe, but the issue is pending with the Central Government for more than last 10 years.
This has spread resentment among the Paharias, who have threatened to boycott the forthcoming elections unless they are accorded the status at a State-level convention at Bargaon village of Nuapada district.
Over 1,500 Paharia representatives attended the convention to discuss about their problems and suggest an action plan to the Government for their development. The prominent of all issues as expressed by most of the participants of the convention was the issue of the tribal status.
“When our kith and kin in the neighbouring State of Chhatishgarh are one of the PVTGs, why are we not the same in Odisha . It is quite an injustice and violation of our human rights,” lamented the participants.
There are around 2,000 Paharia households in the State living in Nuapada, Kalahandi, Balangir, Bargarh and Nabarangpur districts. 80 per cent of them are landless and almost all do not have proper dwelling place to live. Their literacy level is less than 10 per cent. The Paharias are primarily bamboo basket weavers who usually stay near forest where bamboo is available. They live in small cluster of houses and in most cases the number of houses in a cluster is less than 12.
The Paharias were tribals when they were in the Central Province prior to 1936. The Gauntias (head men) of the villages who belonged to the Paharia community had even been accorded protected status during the first and second regular land settlement in
1891 and 1901 under the British Rule.
Land transfer was not allowed at all under the Central Province Tenancy Act. But the annexation of their habitats (in present Nuapada district) in Odisha in 1936 stripped the Paharias of their tribal status.
The Paharia Gauntias were replaced and at the same time most of the lands owned by the Paharias were being transferred to people of other castes. The land records (Zamabandi records) of the period between 1939 and 1940 shows that most of the land transfer from the Paharia tribals to non tribals have been made after the annexation of these areas in Odisha.
There are also other documents to prove that the Paharias are tribals like the administrative reports of feudatory States prepared by Rechard Temple in 1868-69, writings of V Ball (Jungle Life in India – 1880), writings of MS Sharing (1879) etc. They state that the Paharias are aboriginals, cave dwellers, hunters and gatherers. Census Reports of 1901 and 1911 describe the Paharias as tribals.
The issue of tribal status to the Paharias was first raised by Dr Fanindam Deo in his research work in 1983.
“The scheduled list of the tribals perhaps was prepared by the officials without any
proper study, which excluded genuine groups like Kamar from the list. The officials might have thought that Kamar and the Kamara who are non-tribal (black smiths are known as Kamara in Odia) are the same. This caused the exclusion and deprivation” said Fanindam.
A question was raised in the State Assembly in 1985 by some members on the exclusion and marginalisation of the Paharias. But no action was taken by the Government at that time. After a long gap, the issue drew the attention of the Government, when the Paharias continuously harped on the matter through agitations and engagement in dialogues with the politicians and officials at different levels. In 2005, the TAC under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Patnaik recommended for the inclusion of the Paharias in the constitutional order.
The TAC has subsequently raised the issue repeatedly every year but the matter has not been taken up by the Centre. The State Government in the mean time has issued an administrative order for giving facilities to the Paharias at par with the tribals of all development activities.
However, the Paharias of Kalahandi, Balangir and Bargarh districts have complained that the administrations in these districts were not implementing the order.
Sukalsai Paharia, the only college educated person within the Paharia community in the State, has recently filed a case in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the denial of the status to the tribe.
The commission has issued notice to the Chief Secretary to furnish detail information on the tribal issue. “Our livelihood revolves around bamboo basket weaving, but non-availability of bamboo these days has drastically affected our livelihood. Most of our people are now migrating under distress condition to different parts of the country and are being exploited by the labour contractors and employers,” said Sukalsai.
The convention chalked out a five-point charter of demands which was sent to the Chief Minister.
They include tribal status, a special project for the development of the Paharias, housing, land allotment under FRA, land development under MGNREGS and raising of bamboo plantation, etc. Nuapada district Collector Jaikumar V and DRDA Project Director Pradip Naik assured the people that they would take up the issue with the Government.
Comments
Post a Comment