November Print Issue
Santosh Pawar
De-notified tribes are born as Humans but labeled as Criminals. India acquired independence in 1947 but still their freedom and rights are not granted to them. They are one of those who enriched Indian history, culture and social life. They are offenders without offences. Even offenders have rights in legal system of a democracy but they are restricted through legal and social institutions. De-notified tribe’s human rights entitlements are known, but ignored by the mainstream of the society. They are Indians without Indian citizenship entitlement.
Chhapparband is one of the De-notified Tribe communities in Maharashtra which is marginalised socially, economically and politically till today. They were criminalised and brutally killed by the British Government. These communities were threat to British Empire. The aim of the British Government was to control this vast population which was nomadic in nature. In the name of maintaining law and order, British government used “Criminal Tribe Act” as an effective weapon against these rich cultured community, converted them into very cheap wage labour. Due to colonial encroachment these communities became socially-economically-politically and culturally vulnerable.
The ‘Chhapparband’ is elaborated as ‘Band’, means the group of people and this community is mainly known for their art of building the ‘Chhappar’, so together this community is known as ‘Chhapparband’. Traditionally this community used to make coins such as Mohara, Hon, etc., through melting gold-copper and other metals and secondly they were well-known for the art of making temporary tent (Chhapparband) for Kings and Sardars. It was criminalised for making fake coins during the British era.
After Independence of India in 1978, Chhapparband community has been identified as De-notified tribe community, but due to high illiteracy rate this community was unable to understand the politics of Shah Community (one of a Muslim community), which wrongfully diverted the Indian government and encroached in Chhapparband community and they forced government to sanction the benefits. After 15 years of agitation of ‘Pradesh Vimukta Chhapparband Jamat Vikas Parishad’ on 15 Feb 2015, government removed Shah Community from the Chhapparband community’s list and passed new resolution.
While working with Chhaparband community at Juna Bajar, Pune, I got exposer to know the community better. The community has been migrated from different parts of India. There originally migrated from Bijapur (Karnataka) and Solapur (Maharashtra). In Solapur they used to work in Mills (Laxmi Mill) and also the other labour work. But after the loss of their livelihood option in Solapur they migrated to the other region of Maharshtra.
Juna Bajar (Mangalwar Peth) constitutes more than 900-1000 houses. The houses have been built aside of railway track. Many a times, this basti has been demolished by the municipal corporation and has filed criminal charges against community local leaders.
With many efforts this community used to build houses again, but they have always lived in an environment of fear. They have a strong Jat Panchayat. Outsiders are strictly not allowed in their Jat Panchayat. Somehow I managed and built the rapport to seat in their Jat Panchayat.
I identified three basic issues which need focus in the community that are Education, Citizenship Entitlement and Livelihood. This community doesn’t have any educational inspiration, due to which huge negligence is found towards education. Very few people are graduated from the community. Women are more backward than men. They are not allowed to get higher education over preference to marriage. Child marriage is commonly seen in the community. Their basic issue is with legal documents. Many of them don’t have Caste Certificate due to which they are unable to avail their rights.
We managed to organise an event on Chapparband Samaj in Pune, Ambedkar Sankritik Bhavan, with community members on 30th November 2015, where all the stakeholders of the city came and this was also attended by the State welfare minister and Union minister. They promised to work on the issues of the community.
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