Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Member of Parliament, Thoothukudi, has promised to institute a mechanism to ensure that Nomadic/Denotified/ Semi-Nomadic Communities (NC, DNC, and SNC) in Tamil Nadu get community certificates without hassles. Releasing a report on the Status of Nomadic Tribes in Tamil Nadu, she assured the community that the issue would be taken up with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
The report was released at the Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) on September 6 to mark the 71st Vimukta Day (the day in which criminal tribes were denotified and observed every year on August 31). The study was conducted in 1485 households of the Narikuravar, Boom Boom Mattukaran - Aadiyan, Lambadas, and Kattunaykars in eight districts of Tamil Nadu. The study explored various concerns of nomadic communities including educational status, access to infrastructure, and government facilities and alarming gaps in education.
“The Tamil Nadu government is working towards creating an inclusive society. But, we could also see hesitation among officers while issuing community certificates to the Denotified Community members,” said Kanimozhi. She acknowledged that some communities in her own constituency faced such issues. Getting a community certificate and availing schemes introduced by the government is still a challenge for many households, she said, assuring to bring this to the notice of the Chief Minister.
Of the 1485 households which participated in the survey, 1118 (75%) had no members who completed Class 10. A total of 1275 households had no members who passed Class 12 and 1378 households had not even a single graduate. The study also found that the students from the community faced barriers and discrimination in educational institutes.
The comprehensive participatory study of four nomadic tribes in the state was conducted by Vanavil Trust, a Nagapattinam-based NGO that works among the Aadiyan community, in collaboration with Praxis and with the support of the Research Organisation for Social Action (ROSA) and the Empowerment Centre of Nomads & Tribes (TENT).
Revathi Radhakrishnan, Founder and Director of Vanavil, said that India’s NT/DNT/SNT population exceeds 14 crore people. “Surprisingly, there is not much data available about their state-wise populations or socio-economic conditions. The data gap is particularly felt in Tamil Nadu,” she said.
Reavathi said Vanavil has recognised the need to gather both quantitative and qualitative data to address the issue “This data will help us understand the histories of these communities and identify their specific needs and concerns for government attention. It is important to note that while these communities are marginalised, they are not unskilled or abject. They are people with a rich history of art, music, and craft labour” she noted.
Filmmaker Dakxin Bajrange highlighted the historical error of branding the NC, DNC, and SNC members as criminal tribes and said it was one of the root causes of the hardships faced by them.
Dakxin said the role of the nomadic tribes in the 1857 revolt eventually led the British to pass the Criminal Tribes Act 1871 (CT Act) in India. After the rebellion, British officials studied how the rebellion was organised and spread across the country. “The British came to know that nomadic tribes carried messages, arms, and the essentials that were needed for the rebellion. They wanted to stop their mobility and monitor their movements. In order to do that, they enacted the CT Act, as they believed in ‘born criminal’ theory”, Dakxin said. People from communities branded as Criminal Tribes in that time period were persecuted, tortured, and arrested for crimes that they never committed, he said.
After independence, the Union Government formed the Ayyangar committee to decide whether the Criminal Tribes Act needed to be continued. Based on the recommendations of the Ayyangar committee, CTA was repealed on August 31, 1952. It is observed in many states as Vimukta Divas or Liberation Day. Many participants in the event urged the state government to formally declare August 31 as Vimukta Day.