MAHARASHTRA BHATAKE VIMUKTA MANCH (MBVM)

MAHARASHTRA BHATAKE VIMUKTA MANCH (MBVM)

Concept behind state level process:

In the state of Maharashtra, the population of Nomadic Tribes is anticipated to be one crore, which is divided into 42 different Community Groups of Non Pastoral Nomadic Tribes. Most of these Tribes have migrated from place to place for their survival and livelihood. Many of them have no access to “civil rights” as Indian citizen. Econet was exposed to this reality through one of our action research processes and felt that there was an urgent need to address this and the social discrimination they face.

Our Journey started with a group of individuals and development organizations that came together to address the issues of Nomadic communities. Many individuals in this group are from Nomadic communities and are exploring different approaches to deal with the discrimination in their work areas. There was need for a space to share knowledge and experiences as to date, not much has been written or designed in the specific context of Non Pastoral Nomadic Communities. These individuals and organizations decided that there was need for a Forum to amplify what they have arrived at and thus put up a design of the community for development.

The group initially represented only 4 districts of Maharashtra and a very small representation from Marathwada where the Nomadic population is dense. After an extensive field out reach, two more organizations were identified and this initiated the formation of a Forum for Non Pastoral Nomads in the state of Maharashtra. A periodic facilitated process of 8 months resulted in a concrete agenda for the Forum and helped set up the initial systems and processes.  The resulting Forum was named the Maharastra Bhatke Vimukta Man

h (MBVM) by its members.

The MBVM in which Econet is a human and institutional development (HID) partner has worked collectively on the following action areas:

• MBVM hosted a day long event at the India Social Forum on November 9-13, 2006 to highlight the issues of Non Pastoral Nomads. We invited people from different states working with different Nomadic communities to obtain a National level scenario of Non Pastoral Nomadic communities. One of the most important aspects that came out of this event was the need to develop a niche of these communities and organizations to stand for their own issues.

• MBVM is also working with the National Planning Commission and National NT/DNT Commission on issues relating to traditional hunting communities. Some of the Nomadic communities, like Pardhi and Bhil, are traditional hunters and these communities should get provisions in certain schemes.

• MBVM is in the process of coming out with its first extensive Base Line Survey of Nomadic and Denotified communities. It will include different government institutions related to NT/DNT and will cover 8 districts of Maharashtra.

The Nomad scenario is at a very crucial stage and it is important for other networks or people working with Nomadic communities to recognize the MBVM.