Demand for ‘tribal’ status

In News 

The Centre is reported to be considering granting “tribal” status to the Trans-Giri region of Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district. 

Background 

• The Constitution provides for two types of areas: “Scheduled Areas” in terms of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, and “Tribal Areas” in terms of the Sixth Schedule.
  • “The “Tribal Areas” are designated in terms of Article 244(2) of the Constitution…read with Sixth Schedule

•  Himachal Pradesh submitted a proposal for notifying the entire Trans-Giri area of Sirmour district, Dodra Kwar Sub-Division of Shimla district, 15/20 areas of Shimla and Kullu districts as Scheduled Areas in Himachal Pradesh.”
• The government said, “for declaration of Scheduled Areas the criteria followed are: 
  • preponderance of tribal population, compactness and reasonable size of the area, a viable administrative entity such as a district, block or taluk, and economic backwardness of the area as compared to neighbouring areas.
• The proposal was examined in the Ministry and could not be considered due to lack of requisite criteria, as mentioned above. 

About 

• The demand to declare Trans-Giri a tribal area is old — and is tied up with the demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Hatti community which lives in the area.
• The community and the land
  • The Hattis are a close-knit community who take their name from their traditional occupation of selling home-grown crops, vegetables, meat, and wool at small-town markets known as ‘haats’. 
  • Hatti men traditionally don a distinctive white headgear on ceremonial occasions.
  • The Hattis live in 154 panchayat areas, and members of the community numbered 2.5 lakh in the 2011 Census. 
    • The present population of the Hattis is estimated at around 3 lakh.
  • The Hatti homeland straddles the Himachal-Uttarakhand border in the basin of the Giri and Tons rivers, both tributaries of the Yamuna. 

• The Hattis are governed by a traditional council called ‘khumbli’ which, like the ‘khaps’ of Haryana, decides community matters.

• Demand for tribal status

• The Hattis have been demanding ST status since 1967, when tribal status was accorded to people living in Jaunsar Bawar in Uttarakhand, which shares a border with Sirmaur district. Over the years, various ‘maha khumblis’ passed resolutions pressing the demand.

Source:IE