NGOs work to include nomadic tribes in 2011 census

Sarang Dastane

PUNE: Despite being Indian citizens by birth, nomadic and denotified communities in the country do not have any constitutional rights. But all this may change with the 2011 population census as a city-based NGO is trying to spread awareness among tribe members of the benefits of joining the "mainstream".

A large section of these communities has remained out of census list for last 60 years as they are not registered as primary residents. However, if all goes as planned, the nomadic and denotified communities of the state may enrol their names in the population census after the 1931 census.
City-based NGO ECONET took a step ahead in this regard on Saturday when it conducted a workshop for representatives of nomadic and denotified communities. The workshop was organised to guide these communities towards making a conscious and well-informed decision and make them aware of the census procedures.

The workshop was organised jointly by the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and ECONET.

"Representatives from as many as 12 districts of the state participated in the workshop and will now educate the members of their respective communities. We hope that such workshops will help these communities become a part of the mainstream and enable them to enjoy their constitutional rights," said Krishna Srinivasan of ECONET.

Elaborating on the need for the members of these communities to enrol themselves as primary residents, Krishna said, "Nomadic and denotified communities have been facing peculiar problems because they are not a part of the census and hence have no identity cards or citizenship rights. They have no ration cards, voters' identity cards and caste certificates. Also, the NT-DNT communities are not included in our constitutional schedules. Therefore, we, and various other NGOs and forums, are working towards ensuring that all these communities enrol for the 2011 census." He added that the participating community members have been briefed to give proper information about their mother tongue at the time of census. "This will help in identifying areas with nomadic and denotified tribes," he said.

"The last community-wise census of these tribes was done in 1931, and since then only projections have been used to arrive at an estimate of their population. There are 42-44 different nomadic tribes in Maharashtra, with a lot of diversity even within the community. These communities constitute 9 to 12 per cent of the state's population," added Krishna.
An official from the census department said, "We request people to remain present at their houses during the census time period. It will be difficult for the officials to register people, if they remain absent from their homes."

The word Nomadic Tribes refers to the people, who were forced to live a wandering life by the Indian Caste System. The Nomadic and Denotified Tribes constitutes of about 60 million in India, out of which about five million lives in Maharashtra. There are 313 Nomadic Tribes and 198 Denotified Tribes.