NON PASTORAL NOMAIC TRIBES

NON PASTORAL NOMADIC TRIBES

Out of the three major Tribal Groups i.e. forest dwelling, pastoral Nomads and Non Pastoral Nomads, the Non Pastoral Nomadic Tribes are one of the most vulnerable and neglected Tribes in India. This Tribal group is an aggregation of about 131 different sub communities and clans across India and 42 Nomadic Tribes in Maharashtra. The nature of Non Pastoral Nomadic communities does not allow them to settle at one place for long periods of time. These Nomadic communities are involved in providing goods and services to the sedentary population although their settlements have always been aloof from the main village which is typical to these communities. 

These communities have traditionally been ‘Service providers’ to sedentary communities. Some services they provide are sending messages, selling salt, selling small goods produced in cities, entertaining, hunting small animals like hare and selling for meat etc. With modern technologies developing and communication becoming more accessible most of the profession of these Nomadic communities have become redundant and this has resulted in the ‘traditional social niche’ of these communities becoming irrelevant.

STRUCTURING DISCRIMINATION …

Adding insult to injury they were also labeled criminal / Denotified as traditionally this community would work with the king’s army to loot the opponent and help them win over. Therefore, one particular section has always been used by the people in power to retain their power by creating insecurity in their unit. 

In 1871 during the colonial rule the British had identified some Nomadic communities and labeled them as ‘Criminal’. During the tenure of applicability of The Criminal Tribes Act 1871 any person from this community whether actually involved in criminal act or not was considered as ‘Criminal’. Even a child born from a mother’s womb was considered a criminal. This also worked as a cause for ‘Stigma’ in the society.

This process went on for generations; During the Colonial rule these communities underwent a process of living in community jails. After India got its Independence under the Prime Minister-ship of Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1952 this Act was repealed.

In the changing times the Nomadic Tribes started settling or creating ‘base villages’  for their own families and clans but they were continuously looked at as a ‘threat’ or were ‘unwanted’ by the sedentary population. This was primarily because of division of resources or the portion of the pie becoming smaller and they were mentioned as ‘unwanted because of their criminal background’.

• Econet got introduced to this community through an Action research support when we got into a long term commitment to work with and strengthen organizations and individuals working with Non Pastoral Nomadic Tribes. We have been in dialogue with our Partners for three years now when the group was at various levels of understanding. Over a period of time the understandings have shaped into perspectives developed on the basis of experience, interaction and tried initiatives.
• This support process culminated with five organizations and a community leader representing eight districts in Maharashtra coming together for collaborative action. Econet had a crucial role in this process and was invited as the Human and Institutional Development support partner for this newly formed group.
  
• The group of organizations over a period of eight months have now formed into a State Level forum called  ‘Maharashtra Bhatke Vimukta Manch’(MBVM Froum). Along with Econet, some of the partners have also initiated a dialogue at National level and the formation of a national level group is in process.
  

Econet is involved in implementation on participatory studies to generate documents of contemporary relevance for analysis and design for development of these communities. As part of our Legal and Advocacy support role we are making outreach efforts to visualize the issues of Non Pastoral Nomads. 

• MAHARASHTRA BHATAK VIMUKTA MANCH (MBVM)
• NATIONAL PROCESS
  
• DOCUMENTATION