COVER STORY

How the tribal revolt began

ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR

THERE are nearly 70 million people in India belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, and they constitute over 8 per cent of the population. In all, 698 S.Ts have been notified from time to time under Article 342 of the Constitution since 1950. A tribe's "primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, and social and economic backwardness" are taken into consideration before notifying it. Among the 698 S.Ts, 75 have been identified as Primitive Tribal Groups. More backward than the S.Ts, these memebers still live in the pre-agrarian stage and have low literacy rates. The population of these groups is stagnant or even declining.

C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

A Gadaba tribal woman near Paderu.

Among the 40 tribes inhabiting Andhra Pradesh's four north coastal districts, the Konda Dora, the Manne Dora, the Nooka Dora and the Valmiki, among others, are said to be indigenous while the Gond, Lambada and Bondo tribes are said to have migrated from neighbouring States.

Like tribal people elsewhere in the country, they have constantly been in conflict with the forces trying to exploit their illiteracy, ignorance and knowledge of the rich natural resources

Displaced from their homes, alienated from their lands and deprived of their resources, the tribal people have often taken to armed revolt in the past. In the Rampa region of East Godavari district, 12 tribal revolts (locally called fituries) occurred between 1770 and 1924. The main causes of these were the general discontent with the local administration (such as the mansabdars) and traders and exploitation by outsiders. One fitury, between 1879 and 1916, was against the creation of forest reserves and restrictions on tribal people's access to the jungles.

The 1922-24 fitury, against the restrictions on shifting cultivation, and access to forests and the tyranny of petty local officials, was led by Alluri Sitaramaraju who became a local legend. In Adilabad district, which has a predominant Gond population, the Bebijhari uprising in 1940 was against exploitation by non-tribal people and land alienation, and restrictions on shifting cultivation and access to forests.

A tribal woman belonging to Borra village.

Tribal unrest and discontent with the administration continued in independent India too. The Indervelly incident of 1964 was triggered by land alienation and large-scale entry of aggressive and acquisitive non-tribal communities.

With the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act in 1980, life became extremely difficult for the tribal people as they began to face eviction. Seen more as a law and order issue rather than a social problem, the periodic outbreaks of tribal unrest were put down by the police.

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