Delibera(onsofaGroundLevelPanelofrepresenta(vesfromDeno(fiedandNomadicTribesinthecontextofthe

SustainableDevelopmentGoals

JUNE2017

Delibera1onsofaGroundLevelPanelofrepresenta1vesfromDeno1fiedandNomadicTribesinthecontextoftheSustainableDevelopmentGoals

©PraxisIns(tuteforPar(cipatoryPrac(ces,2017ThisworkislicensedunderhHp://crea(vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

TheGroundLevelPanelofdeno1fiedandnomadictribes

LeHer fromMembersof theGroundLevelPanelonDeno(fiedandNomdicTribes to thePrimeMinisterofIndia

HonorablePrimeMinister,7RaceCourseRoad,NewDelhi

We,theelevenmembersoftheGroundLevelPanelrepresen1ngeightdeno1fied,nomadicandseminomadic tribes in India,havedeliberatedon the sustainabledevelopmentgoalsand thedata thathasbeengeneratedfromamongstourcommunityinvariousstates.AsyoupresenttheIndiacountryreporttotheUnitedNa1onsmemberstatesanddeliberatewiththem,wewould liketoplaceourrecommenda1onsalongside.

Our exper1se to be ground level panelists is our lived experience - an experience of s1gma anddiscrimina1onasaresultofusbelongingtodenitrifiedcommuni1es.Wediscussedanddeliberatedmanyissuesbetween18and19June2017andspentasignificantamountof1melearningfromeachother.

As a process, we first reviewed the status of our lives and mapped our families’ tradi1onaloccupa1ons andwhen andwhy they had to be abandoned, the sixteen sustainable developmentgoals and the data collected from amongst our communi1es in five states including Bihar, Delhi,Haryana,Rajasthan,WestBengalandMaharashtra.WhileourIndianCons1tu1on,in1950,directedsuccessive governments to ensure Food, Shelter, Health, Educa1on and Livelihood to all ci1zens,thesewerereaffirmedbytheMDGsandnowtheSDGs.Despitethis,weareunabletoaccesstheseandwe feel that the targets shouldbe seton themeans toovercome thosebarriers,whichhavepreventedgovernmentsfromachievingthesegoals.Wehaveiden1fiedmanysuchimpedimentsthatarefundamentalandwemustfindboththepoli1calwillandins1tu1onalmechanismstoovercomethese.

While we havemul1ple iden11es, we do not claim these as a representa1ve voice of everyone.Theseareourviewsbasedonourlivedexperiencesofs1gma,marginalisa1onanddiscrimia1on.

WearethankfulforthevaluablesupportprovidedtousbythePanel’sSecretariatNa1onalAllianceGroup for Deno1fied, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes and Praxis Ins1tute for Par1cipatoryPrac1ces.

Wehopeyouwill takecognisanceofthisreportonplanninganysubsequentpoliciesandschemesfortherecogni1onanddevelopmentofdeno1fiedtribesinIndia.

MembersoftheGround-LevelPanel

Background

The ‘Criminal’ tag inflicted by the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 on nearly 1500 nomadic and semi-nomadictribesand198deno1fiedtribes,comprising150millionIndians,(RenkeCommission,2008)did not vanish with the repeal of the Act on August 31, 1952. Instead, it con1nued through theHabitualOffendersAct,1952,indifferentIndianstates.

Tenyearsago,theUnitedNa1onsCommideeontheElimina1onofRacialDiscrimina1onstated itsconcern: “the so-called deno1fied and nomadic tribes (DNTs), whichwere listed for their alleged“criminaltendencies”undertheformerCriminalTribesAct(1871),con1nuetobes1gma1sedunderthe Habitual Offenders Act (1952)” and recommended that “the State party repeal the HabitualOffendersActandeffec1velyrehabilitate”theDNTs.

The Na1onal Human Rights Commission recommended repealing the Act in 2000. The mainoccupa1ons of the communi1es such as snake charming, trickswith bears andmonkeys, brewingliquor and hun1ng – were criminalised which was leading to re-s1gma1sing of the communi1es.Withtheirtradi1onaloccupa1onstakenawayandwithoutaccesstonewskills,manywerepushedintocriminalac1vi1esthusreinforcingthemarginalisa1onoftheDNTs.

TheNa1onalAllianceGroupforDeno1fiedandNomadicTribe(NAGDNT)alongwithPraxis-Ins1tuteforPar1cipatoryPrac1ceshasfacilitatedacommunitybaseddatacollec1onandanalysisprocesstodeliberateandunderstand the roleofGovernmentandBusinesses in realising specificSustainableDevelopment Goals in the context of the DNTs. As part of this process following highlighted SDGGoalswerecovered:

Ground Level Panel: Democra(sing Global Policy Making and Processes through Par(cipatoryResearch

TheGroundLevelPanelconsis1ngof11individualsfromBihar,Gujarat,Haryana,UdarPradeshandWest Bengal, some of whom par1cipated in the study and some who have faced s1gma anddiscrimina1onasaresultoftheirDNTiden1tycametogetherasagroundlevelpanel,toanalysethefindingsaswellascollec1velyinfer.Between18and19June,thepanelistscollec1velyexploredtheirlocal reali1es, experiences, perspec1ves and strategies they employ to copewith the s1gma anddiscrimina1on they face. The ground level panel process enabled the community members totransi1onfrombeingcarriersofknowledgetotheownersandusersofknowledge.

PANELMEMBERSA(sh is29-yearsoldandlivesinChharaNagarofAhmedabaddistrictofGujarat.HebelongstotheChharacommunity,whichisasubcasteof Sansi.Many communi1es across India have a blend of tradi1onaland modern forms of income genera1on and the Chhara are notdifferent. It is said that almost every home in Chharanagar makesalcoholusingtradi1onalprac1cesandtechniques.Theyoung,theold,menandwomen;allareinvolvedintheprocessofbrewing.A1shgrewupinthisenvironmentanditishisfirmbeliefthatthereasonbehindhis community’s dependence on alcohol produc1on is primarilybecause the government has not lej them many other avenues of

earningincome.Fromthe1mehewasyoungandawareoftheopportuni1esthatlifecouldaffordthrougheduca1on,A1shpledgedtohimselfthathewouldnotgointotheliquorbusiness.Ajeryearsofdifficultyandvariouschallengesthismo1va1onanddetermina1onledhimtowhereheistoday;agraduateintheDrama1cArtswithadiplomainMassCommunica1on. A1shisnowworkingtowardscrea1ngavoiceforhiscommunity throughwhathetermstheatreac1vism.Hisgoal is togivethepeopleofChharanagaravoicethatwillallowthemtospeakforthemselves.

BholaNathSarbar is52yearsoldandlivesinthePuruliadistrictofWestBengal.HewasbornintotheSabarcommunity,atradi1onallyforestdwellingtribewhohaverelied,forcenturies,ontheresourcesoftheforesttosurvive.Asaresultofthis,thecommunityhasverylidle skill in developing resources via the agricultural mode ofproduc1on. This has recently compounded into a large scaleproblemforthemenandwomenofthiscommunitywiththeadventofnaxalisminthearea.Thepoliceojenrestrictmovementintotheforest on the grounds of maintaining security. Bhola Nath waswrongfullyarrestedbythepolicewhenhewas just15yearsold, thecharges against him were serious. He spent twomonths in prison as an undertrial. Then through thesupportofacivilsocietyorganiza1on,hewasabletofighthiscase.Althoughhewasfinallyfoundinnocentbyacourtoflaw,ittookhim15yearstoremovetheblemishagainsthisname. Itwasthisinjus1cethatledhimtojoinacivilsocietyorganiza1onbythenameofPashimBangaKheriyaSabarKalyanSami1.Hiswork to help his community knows very few bounds and now as the president of the Pashim BangaKheriyaSabarKalyanSami1,thefutureforBholaNathSabarandhiscommunityisbright.

Gom(deviis60andlivesinBandadistrictofUdarPradeshandbelongs to Bediya community who are which are tradi1onallyengagedindoingar1s1cperformances(nautanki).Shewasabletohaveanincompleteeduca1on1llstandardtwo,asthereasonbeingintheircommunitythereisabeliefthatul1matelythegirlsfrom their community has to perform nautanki or becomemistressof theuppercastemen.Shehas twochildren;bothofthem are physically challenged. According to her communityprac1ce she was earlier engaged in Nautanki performances,however, she later realized that themeans of entertainment of

peoplehavechangeddras1callyandtheirpercep1ontowardsnautankihasdegradedfromarttoleisure-vestedcommodity. Moreovershealsofeelsthereisnoself-respectlejinthisjobandevenherchildrenusedtocarryashamebecauseofherengagementinnautanki.

KesarDas is30yearsoldandlivesintheFatehabaddistrictofHaryana.Hehas graduated from class 12 and thismakes him a part of a of few in hiscommunitywhohavereceivedaformaleduca1on.Butthisisnottosayhiscommunity doesn’t have knowledge. Kesar Das belongs to the Oddcommunity who have been long regarded as a community of ‘indigenouscivil engineers’. They community is known in par1cular for their skill inbuilding dams, embankments and even canals. However these impressiveandproudpeoplehavebeendealtasevereblow. Justover2monthsago,thegovernmentsuddenlyevictedfamiliesfromtheareaandhouses,wherefamilies had been living for three decades, were demolished. During theensuing tensionsbetween thecommunityandpolice,awoman'shandwasbrokenand requiredher to

seekhospitaliza1on.

KiranDeviis61-yearsoldandlivesinBandadistrictofUdarPradesh.She is from Bediya community, which is a performing nautanki.WomenofBediyacommunityaretakenbymenfromhighercasteandkept as their mistress. They live with them without ever genngmarriedandhavechildfromthem.Shehas2daughterand3sonsandallareeducated.Thoughsheherselfhaspassedonlythstandard.Shecould not con1nue with her educa1on because their was pressurefromothercommunitymembersonherfamilyandhisfamilywasalsonoteconomicallysoundtosupporther.Thereisnorespectanddiginity

whenshedoesnatanki that’swhyshehas lej it.Shealthough lovesperformingnatanki that’swhysheonlydoes it forgovernmenteventsbutnot inpubliceventsas theydoesnottreatherasanar1st.Shewantshercommuntytoberespectedamongothercommuni1es.

MahendraDevi is50yearsoldand lives in theFatehabaddistrictofHaryana. She has long been an advocate for her community. Hermodelofadvocacycentersaroundarightsbasedapproach.Deviandher community belong to the Bawariya tribewhohave tradi1onallybeenacommunitywithastrongrela1onshiptotheforest.ThenameBawariyacomesfromthewordforthenoosewithwhichtheywouldtrapandsnarewildanimals,bawar.Theyhave,forcenturies,usedasustainable model of hun1ng and gathering to survive. About 2monthsago,thehousesinDevi’scommunityweredemolished.Someof them were over 30 years old. They eked out their shelter in anearbybysedlement thatserveda rudimentaryshelter.Duringoneof thenights in thisshelter,astraydog walked into an unsecure enclosure and carried away a young child with him. The child was lateradmidedtohospitalfortreatment.Thissurrealexperienceemphasizesthenatureoftheirlostiden1ty;aonceproudandnobletribe,theBawariyahavebeenturnedfromhunters,tothehunted.

Sakila, a youngwoman of 19, lives in Bihar. She and her family aremembers of a community of professional dancers, singers andacrobatswhomigratedtoBiharfromRajasthanmanyyearsago.ThisistheNat community.While inRajasthan theNatwould gainmuchoftheir sustenance from patronage that came from local Rajput rulersand thus theyalso call themselvesRajNat.Another interes1ng termused to refer to the Nat people isBhanma+, this translates literallyinto ‘somethingamazing’.Sakila’s father isa labourerworking in theagricultural sector but has constantly encouraged her to study andpursueherdreams.Asaresultofthissupportandhardwork,SakilaispursuingBachelorsdegreeinArts.Sakilaalsoensuresthatallher1me

intheeveningisdedicatedtoteachingchildreninhercommunity.Sheisdoingthisbecauseshebelieves

thatonlywhenone iseducated isonecapableofchanging the fateof their community. Sakila is trulylivinguptotheBhanma+epithet.

ShakinabenMovar is fromsmallvillagecalledNavahanjiyasar inthecoastalareaofMaliyablockofMorbidistrictonthebanksoftheLidleRannofKutch inGujarat. Shebelongs toadeno1fied tribe, muslimcommunitycalledtheMiyanasandlikemanycoastalfamilieslivingattheRann,her familytooistradi1onallyinvolvedinprawnharves1ngsincethe60’s.Itishermainsourceoflivelihoodandsurvivalandsheworkson kanthas (Prawn catching areas) for fourmonthsevery yearduringtheprawnseason.Thistradi1onaloccupa1onhasbeenaffectedbylargeruncertaini1esoftheoccupa1on butwiththesupportofthewomen’s collec1ve that she is now a part of: Azad MachimaarCoopera1veandthelargercollec1veonwomen’sissuesinMaliyablock

calledtheMaliyaMahilaShak1Sangathanshehas beenable to take forwardthecommunitystrugglesonlivelihoods,foodsecurity,tradi1onalfishingrights,andonbasicissuesofhealthwaterandroadsandraisethestatusoftheMiyanacommunity.SheisaleaderinthecommunityandhasbeenpartofthestruggleforrightsoftheDeno1fiiedcommunityfortheirtradi1onaloccupa1on.

Siddique Usman Sama hails from village Suraj bari in KutchhDistrict of Gujarat, from a family ofMacchimars (fishermen). Atthe age of 14 years he joined his family occupa1on and thusremained unledered. In 2009 he joined theMacchimar AdhikarSangharsh Sangathan at the insistence of the Sarpanch of hisvillage.Sincethenhehas1relesslyadvocatedfortherightsofhiscommunity, which is his foremost interest now. He led hiscommunity in a four year long badle against companiesestablishingpowergridsincreeksinhisareawhichwasadverselyaffec1ngtheMacchimarcommunity.ThecasewenttotheGujaratHighCourtwhichpassedanorderintheirfavor.SimilarbadlesarebeingfoughtbyhisSangathanagainstsaltcompanies.

SubheySingh is11yearsoldandlivesinFatehabaddistrictofHaryana. He is from bawariya are hun1ng community whoderive theirname fromthewordbawarornoosewithwhichthey snarewildanimals.Hisen1re familyhasbeendisplacedfromtheirhomesindecemberwheretheyhavebeenlivingforlast30years.Hewasatthat1meenrolledinstandard9thandwas about to apear for exams for the same year. Howeverbecauseofthedispalementofhisfamilyhehadtodiscon1nuewithhis educa1onandnowhasnoenrollment in school.Hisfather died 5 years ago and now en1re responsibilty of his

family isonhismother’s sholder.Being theonlybreadearner in the family shehas tosellsbangales inordertosurviveherfamily.

Sundari Sabar, 42, lives in thePuruliadistrict ofWestBengal. Shewasborn intotheSabarcommunity,an indigenoustribewhohaverelied, since 1me immemorial, on the resources provided by theforest to survive. Thus the Sabar people had no real necessity foragriculture and the community has lidle agricultural experience.This has become a problem in recent years due to the spread ofNaxalism innearbyregionsof the forest. Insteadofcrea1ngasafecorridorintheforest,thepoliceojenheavilyrestrictaccessofthe

Sabar to the forest. Sundari is a housewife and is alsoworking as an agriculturalist. For the last 10 years,Sundarihasbeenstronglyinvolvedasacivilrightac1vist;figh1ngforhercommunitysothattheymayfinallybegivenavoice.

TheProcessThe11GLPpar1cipantsspenttwodaysdialoguinganddelibera1ngvariousissuesinthecontextoftheirlives.Thebroaddiscussionthemesandprocessfollowedareindicatedinthefigurebelow:

In the discussion on intergenera1onal occupa1ons, the panelists shared the occupa1ons that hadbeen stopped due to changes in laws, criminalisa1on, lack of Government support and facedredundancyduetotechnology.Thesearedepictedinthetwoimagesbelow:

Thepanelistshadadiscussionaboutthevariousstakeholdersthattheyinteractedintheirdailylivesandthepercep1onsheldbysomeofthesestakeholders.Theimagebelowshowsasnapshotofsomeofthesepercep1ons.

Theythendidascoringexerciseofthenatureofdiscrimina1ontheyfacewithvariousstakeholdersasseeninthetablebelow:

Processofexclusion:AviciousCycle!ThemajorchallengeoftheCommunityisthewaytheirhistoryhasbeenwriden.Thetagof‘criminal’againsttheircommunityhasnotdisappeared.Thetagisdeeprootedandisbeyondthemen1oninthelaw.

“Merabaapchornahinhai”Mostoccupa1onshavebecome‘illegi1mate’(asseenalongside),manydueto“progressive”laws.Saperas,Madaris, jaadugars-became criminals because ofwildlife laws and beggary act. Some persons do

STAKEHOLDERS 1(Alwaysdiscriminatory)

2(O[endiscriminate)

3(Some(mesdiscriminate)

4(Nodiscrimina(on)

Doctors 55% 22% 23% 0%Teachers 30% 62% 8% 0%Otherchildren 38% 12% 50% 0%Affluentneighbours 44% 33% 23% 0%Othermarginalisedgroups

20% 20% 50% 10%

Shopkeepers 11% 55% 33% 0%Police 63% 37% 0% 0%Religiousleaders 50% 20% 0% 30%Government 70% 30% 0% 0%

commitcrimesbutitisnotlistedasindividualcrimesbutascribedtothecommunity.CriminalTagojenbringsthemintotheCrimeWhen they explore alterna1ve occupa1on, thecriminaltagaffectseventheirrecruitment.Thenameof their sedlementsor locality itself keepspoten1alemployersontoes.Evenwhentheyareinalterna1veoccupa1on, say domes1c servant, ojen a smallincidents could make them vulnerable with Police.Theonusojen isonthemtoprovethemselves ‘notguilty’. Socie1es and the Governments ojen forcethemawayfromanynewoccupa1on.

CriminaltagojenpusheschildrenawayfromschoolsChildren do face discrimina1on and verbal abusesfrom teachers as well as other children. Theirsedlementsdonothaveadequatepopula1onfortheGoevrnment to build schools in their sedlements.Ojenchildrenaredemo1vated;andtheirambi1onsarelimitedtouseeduca1ontomoveawayfromtheirpresentstatus.

Thetrapisdescribedbelow:

Thepanelistswere shownfivedigital stories createdby representa1vesof threedeno1fied tribes.Theseincluded:

1. Abkuchkardikhanahai(Its1metoprovemyself),whichwascreatedbywomenfromtheChharacommunitywhosharedhowtheycon1nuetofacethebruntofinten1onalmiscriminalisa1on.Itdetails the experience of a group of girls from this community including a doctor, who wereaccusedofstealingfromshops,whentheyhadlegi1matelyshopped,andtheill-treatmentatthehandsofthepolice

2. Nartakikajeevan(Aperformer’slife)isthestoryofagirlfromtheBediacommunitywhopursueshertradi1onaloccupa1onofdancingandperformingandthenatureofharassmentthatshehasto deal with as well as police atrocity. The narrator talks about leveraging modern forms ofcommunica1on to reach out to thewider public to increase their awareness about rights anden1tlements.

3. Main aurmera samuday (My community’s story) is the narra1onof a young person from theKuchbandcommunitywho talksabouthowhis tradi1onaloccupa1onwascriminalisedandhisgenera1on has been pushed into a different kind of s1gma1sed occupa1on of ragpicking. Hedetailsthediscrimina1onheandhisfriendsfaceineduca1onalins1tu1ons,healthfacili1esandwidersociety

4. Apniaankhonsedekhen (See foryourself)createdbyamemberof theBediacommunity talksaboutthelifeofhardshipfacedandhowdancingandperforminggaveherthestrengthtofightwithdiscriminatoryins1tu1onsandsocietyatlarge.

5. HameinChahiyeAzaadSamuday(Wewantanindependentcommunity)tracesthehistoryoftheChharacommunityandhowtheymovedserving intheBri1sharmytomaking illicit liquorand

pickpocke1ng, to make ends meet. It is a story of hope of how community theatre helpedmembersofthiscommunitytocopebederandendswithsomerecommenda1onsanddemandsfromtheGovernment.

UnderstandingResearchDataNa1onal Alliance Group for Deno1fied tribes along with Praxis conducted a small sample studyacross five states- Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan,West Bengal andMaharashtra. The studywasini1atedwiththe iden1fica1onofsomeofthekeygoals.This iden1fica1onofgoalsand indicatorswasdoneinconsulta1onwiththecommideeinvolvingmembersfromthecommunity.

KeyFeaturesoftheStudy1.TheCampaignformedanAdvisoryGroupforDesignwithmembers fromthecommunity. ItwassupportedbyatechnicalteamfromPraxis.2.TheGroupevolvedtheresearchdesignandsample.3. The Campaign recruited volunteers for data collec1on from the community itself. The datacollec1onprocesswasfacilitatedthrougharigorousqualitycheckandsupervisionbyPraxis.5%ofsamplewasreviewedforqualitycheckbyanexternalteamrecruitedbythecampaign.4.Praxisteamorganizedthedataentry,createddatabaseandgeneratedtables.5.Tablesarepresentedtotwopanels:(a)AnexclusivecommunityGroundLevelPanel;and(b)AnAnalysisTeamcomprisingspecialistsfromdifferentfields.6. These two groups did an independent analysis and generated key inferences andrecommenda1ons.

The research process involved two types of research methods- ques1onnaire based householdsample survey and structured community discussions using par1cipatory methods. The datagenerated from the studywas sharedwithpar1cipants and theyengagedwith thesefindingsanddiscussedsimilari1esanddifferenceswiththeirowncontexts.Someexamplesarebelow:

88

12

Percentage of households having caste certificate (percentage of households)

No Yes

50

24

1

25

Percentage of households having legal ownership over housing land

"Not legal" ownership

Largely “Not legal” but do not want to sayRented

Legal ownership

7

17

65

12

Distribution of working population as per availability of work

Full YearMore than 100 daysLess than 100 daysNot able to say clearly

59

41

Distribution of elementary School going age (6 to 14) children who are out of school

StudyingOut of school

FromthedatageneratedfromthestudythepanelistsalsolookedatthedatafromtheSDGvoluntaryresponsefromGovernmentofIndia.Theirresponsesaredetailedbelow:

Government’s

Interpreta(onofSDG

Goals

ResponsesfromPanel

GOAL1Genera1ngmeaningfulemploymentAccesstolifeandaccidentinsuranceBasicservicessuchaseduca1onandnutri1onHousingforallCookingfuelrequirementsofthepopula1onSafedrinkingwateraswellassanita1on

Wedon’tgetsupplyofwaterinright1me.Narmadariverflowsveryclosetousbutweares1llnotgenngwater.TherearenobenefitsforthepoorfamiliesunderPMAwasYojana.Thepoorarenotbenefinngunderthisscheme.ThehousesconstructedforthenomadsaredemolishedUnderlifeinsuranceschemetheygivemoneyajerdeathbutwhenalivethereisnocaretowardsthem;nobodycaresevenifonediesofhunger.Atpresenttherearemanydocumentsthathavebeenmandatedforavailingandimplemen1ngofthegovernmentschemesbutallthemandatesremainsonlyinpapersFirsttheyshouldmakesomefacilityofprovidinglandareastousonlythenhousing,food,educa1on,healthwouldbeneedfultousItisverydifficulttomaketheemploymentcards.Evenifthenameisregisteredwedon’tgetjobs.

GOAL 2: One of thelargest food securityini1a1ves in the world.And since women payh i g h e r aden1on t ohouseholdsecurity,ra1oncards issued in name ofeldest woman of thehousehold

Ra1oncardhasbeenmadeonlinebutthethumbimpressionisnotworkingandleavesuswithoutra1onformonthsGranariesareronng.Shouldbestoredproperlyinthefirstplace.Neitherarera1oncardsmadenordowegetthebenefits.Sowhatisthepointhavingthislaw.Thisisonlyforrichpeople.Wehavetogotothebankajergenngra1on.Ajerdeposi1ngmoneywegetra1on.Wehavetodomanyroundstogetra1onsupply.

GOAL3:- IncreasedAccessAndQualityOfHealthServices

- HealthInsuranceCover(INR100,000(USD1,563))ForFamiliesBPL.

- ProvidingVaccina1onToTackleDeathOfChildrenDueToVaccine

ThereAreALotOfGovernmentSta1s1csButInRealityItIsDifferent.MedicinesAreNotAvailableInGovernmentHospitals.En1reMoneyIsSpentOnTreatment.TheRichAndLeadersAreHealthy.TheAnganwadiCentreInTheVillageOpensOnceInSixMonthsAndDetailsOfPregnantWomenAreRecorded.HowThenIsItPossibleToGetAMonthlyAllowance(NagadTransfer)PoorFamiliesDon’tHaveBPLOrHealthInsuranceCard.That’sWhyTheCommunityIsExcluded.WhenWeGoToTheMukhyaYourNameIsNotInRecordsThenHowCanAnInsuranceHealthCardOfRs100000BeIssuedDespiteHavingABPLCardWeDon’tGetTheBenefitsOfHealthInsuranceAvailabilityOfOneLakhAsHealthInsuranceUnderBPL-WeHaveNeitherHeardAboutItNorDoWeKnowIfTheSameExists.InUPSomeWomenAreBenefidedUnderTheSchemeSomeAreNotBenefided.InUPThereIsVaccina1onDrivesButPregnantWomenAndChildrenCannotAccessNutri1on.CantAccessGovernmentSchemesVaccina1onsAreNotDone

Basedondiscussions,thepanelgeneratedthefollowingdemands:

Freedomfromcriminality,suspicionands(gmaincludingchangethenameofour administra1ve category from “Deno1fied Nomadic Tribe” to “AboriginalTribe”, as thenamedeno1fied tribe is s1gna1sing.One shouldalso re-lookedthelawswhichcriminalisedussuchasHabitualOffendersAct,Beggaryactandso on, and consider an aboli1on of the Habitual Offenders Act. The policeshould also not wrongly implicate and falsely accuse communityrepresenta1ves.

Right for ins(tu(onal protec(on and par(cipa(on which includes having aprovisionofpoli1calreserva1onforDNTsintheLocalSelfGovernancesystem;a permanent grievance redressal system at the na1onal level. This strongna1onalcommissionfordeno1fiedtribesshouldhavesimilarpowerstotheSC/STcommissionandshouldmonitoranddorecordkeeping

Enumera(onanddisaggrega(onofdatabyDNTforallschemes(ofallthe198castes) should be done to provide improved accessibility to Governmentins1tu1ons,policies,schemesandothersocialprotec1onmechanisms.

Right to Budgetary provision: To have an exclusive alloca1on of budget forDNTs in propor1on to their popula1on similar to . There should also be anexclusiverehabilita1oncampaignofprovidinghousingandlandfacili1estotheDNTs,inordertoensuretheirpermanentsedling/inhabita1onandaccessibilityof state ins1tu1onandschemes.Thereneeds tobeanemphasisonschemesthat facilitate beder livelihood opportuni1es for community members andmechanismstopreventdiscrimina1onofschools.

GOAL5:- Gender equality andempowerment of girlsandwomen,- Increasing female laborforcepar1cipa1on

- Women empowermentcentres

Save,EducateGirlChildCanOnlyBeSeenInTheSchoolsButThereIsNoActual Change Taking Place. There Is Equality Among Literate Men AndWomenHoweverThereAreDifferencesAmongIlliterateAndLiterateMenAndWomen.ThereIsALotOfDifferenceInTheSitua1onAtVillageAndAtTheCi1es.TheWomenAtTheVillagesHaveFormedAGroupOfTwenty-Five. The Group Managed To Open Bank Accounts But There Was NoBenefit From The Same. The Groups Does Not Exist. Under TheWomenAndGirlEmpowermentSchemeOnlyThoseGirlsAreBenefidedWhoGoToSchoolsUnderTheSchemeButThoseWhoDoNotGoToSchoolsAreS1ll Excluded From All The Facili1es. Women Who Visit GovernmentHospitalsFaceVerbalAbuses.InSomeVillagesOfUP,SomeCommideesOfWomenHaveBeenFormedOfWhichTheWomenAreMembers.SomeOfTheWomenHaveBeenBenefidedUnderTheSame.MNREGACardHasBeenProvided.SomeOfThemAreEmployedHoweverForSomeTheEmploymentHasRemainedInPapersOnly.TheWorkIsNotAvailableFor100Days.ThePoorAreAllExcludedFromTheSame.NoWomenEmpowermentCentreIsPresentInTheVillage.

SampoornaVimuk(MainstreamingDeno1fiedandNomadicTribesamongIndianCi1zenry

hasbeenorganisedbywithsupportfrom:

Membersoftheallianceinclude:ANANDI

BudhanTheatreCHELA

JanKalyanParishadMajiBadhilakhi

MaliyaMahilaShak1SangathanNomadTrust

OddCommunityCouncilofIndiaPaschimBangaKheriaSabarKalyanSami1

SambhawanaWelfareSocietyTANDA