Tanisha Jain
Bachelor of Arts, Journalism, OP Jindal Global University
The nomadic communities or the ghumantu jaatis are well scattered across the state of Rajasthan. They were originally nomadic caravan runners who travelled wherever their caravans were in demand. These families are members of the de-notified, nomadic tribes. In 1871, the Banjaras were brought under the Criminal Tribes Act which ended their ability to carry out their trade. This colonial 1871 act is no longer in existence as the community was de-notified in the 1950s. However, the communal prejudice is still observed in practice. The police, even today, rounds up members of these communities on the assumption that they must have caused the crime. Various de-notified tribes like the Chhara, Devipujak and Sansi find themselves living under the tag of habitual offenders, despite the legislative liberty granted to them. Am eminent filmmaker, Dakxin Chhara, tells Economic Times, “Unlike the Dalits and other marginalised communities, the DNTs never had the scope to represent themselves in the formation of the Constitution and thus have remained unrepresented in the national polity so far. The Habitual Offender Act has seen our people being locked up within our houses from sunset to sunrise by the police till as late as 1965, apart from living in fenced ghettos.” Besides, the Criminals Act, others like the Forest Act and the regulations on salt trade have immensely impacted the livelihood of the tribal communities. As for state policies, the Godio Lohar Scheme is the one existing program and policy for the Godio Lohar (tribal) community in the state of Rajasthan. A total of Rs. 35,000 is provided in two instalments to each member of the Godio Lohar community. It also works as constructing houses and providing land in both urban and rural areas at a lower rate.
The National Commission of Denotified Nomadic Semi-Nomadic Tribes recieved around 3700 petitions from the communities. Out of these, 342 petitions were sent with respect to lack of education, 568 for housing and land issues and 454 petitions for documentation and identity. In the Tribal Committee Report (2014), Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes and Particularly Vulnerable Groups (PWGs) have been discussed. In the report, one major issue that has been raised is “the lack of proper enumeration and classification which has made the planning and implementation of welfare schemes difficult.” Even when the government opens schemes for those in need, they don’t benefit out of them because they don’t have the necessary documentation. With no voter’s ID, political parties pay no heed to their requirements and living conditions and continue to further marginalise them. They need enough representation in the voter’s bank for people in power to cater to their needs. Pregnant women of the community are shooed away from hospitals resulting in no documentation of birth. This further results in the government schools and organisations rejecting them. They have to resort to temporary settlements and menial jobs due to no proper education. By an estimate, around 8% of the population of Rajasthan belongs to the nomadic communities. According to the Renke Commission Report of 2008, 98% of the nomads in the country do not own land, 57% live in jhopdis (impermanent huts) and 72% lack basic identification documents kite Aadhar, ration cards and voter IDs. Furthermore, 94% of nomads have not been included under the Below Poverty Line category, despite many of them being eligible for it. Moreover, according to the commissions’s research, 13 nomadic communities of Rajasthan are not included in the SC/ST/OBC bracket. Due to this, they miss out on reservations and other programs designed by the state. About 453 petitions were sent to the commission requesting inclusion. Both BJP and the Congress manifestos had mentioned the uplift of these communities before the Rajasthan Assembly election in 2018. Sadly, no serious steps have been taken to address the lack of documentation since then. The state’s changing governments have failed to embrace the communities.
With the Nomadic tribes in India struggling against the prejudice and stigma around them, they find their European counterparts in the Roma community, also known as the Gypsies. Much like the nomadic tribes in Rajasthan, no one has an exact count of the number of Romani people, however, they are estimated to be more that 20 million in eastern Europe alone, according to World Bank in 2002. They serve as a scapegoat in the European diaspora whenever Islamophobia or refugee hysteria dies down. Ever since the Nazi period in Europe, the Romas have been victims of persecution. hey were compared to rats and fleas and called for their elimination “through biological means” in an article published by a Nazi Journal in 1939. A few European countries started laws to forcibly ‘integrate’ the Romas, which means banning their language and taking hold of their children. Various central and eastern European countries such as Slovakia, Hungary and Romania inhabit Romas living in futile conditions with no representation in the government. They live in poverty, lack proper housing and standard education, leading generations and generations into a bleak future. Childbirth is often their only way of receiving legitimate government handouts but hardly a handful of Roma kids receive an education. Similar to their Indian counterparts, they becomes victims of police brutality and society stigma.
The Romas originated from the Punjab region of Northern India entered Europe in the eighth and tenth centuries C.E. as a nomadic community. They were named the Gypsies as the Europeans mistook them to have come from Egypt. A historically constructed phenomena, ‘antigypsyism’ is, to this date, witnessed in European countries. It is coupled with complex racism and stigma against this community. Jamen Gabriela Hrabanova, director of ERGO Network states in a reference paper, “The term antigypsyism is increasingly used, but there is no common understanding of its scope, depth and implications. This hinders the formulation of effective answers to tackle it.” Fifteen anti-racist and Roma NGOs came together in December 2018 to urge the EU contras to upgrade their Romani integration strategies. The organisations demanded policies in order to combat antigypsyism and an overall inclusion of Romas in the processes. They urged the countries to recognise various forms of antigypsyism as forms of racism. Why is it that Roma inclusion, even to this day, remains a far fetched dream?
The Romas in Europe have formed a unified voice. The tribes in Rajasthan are also working towards a brighter future for themselves. But as far as societal structures are concerned, they still have a long road ahead before they are recognised and respected.
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