constituent assembly of india debates (proceedings)- volume vii

Mahals. The demand for education is however becoming very keen.
In the Warli areas of the Thana District visited by us practically all the land had been taken up by
non-tribals and the tribals were reduced to the condition of landless serfs. The Bombay Government have
in fact now found it necessary to pass special legislation to prevent alienation of land. On account of the
acquisition of all the land by a few people, the land system in this tract has been virtually transformed
from a ryotwari system to a system similar to the malguzari system of the Central Provinces.
(c) Central Provinces & Berar. - The partially excluded areas, of which Mandla District is the
largest unit, contain only 833,143 tribals out of a total tribal population of nearly 3 millions. The Gond
(including Maria and Pardhan) is the main tribe in the C. P. and the Korku in the Melghat are prominent
in Berar. Although backward and adhering largely to their own customs and ways in the areas where
they are still most numerous, the tribes have in appreciable degree assimilated the life of the rest of the
population and tribal institutions are either weak or practically non-existent. Mostly the tribes have taken
to settled cultivation and there is little bewar or dahia in the province. Of handicrafts and cottage
industries, however, there is next to nothing and this is the great weakness of the aboriginal economy.
The aboriginal is given to drink but opinion in favour of temperance or prohibition seems to be gaining
ground.
The partially excluded areas are, with hardly any exception, administered in the same manner as the
other districts. The C. P. Land Alienation Act of 1916 is the only notable legislation enacted specially for
the protection of the aboriginals and restricts the transfer of agricultural land from aboriginal to nonaboriginal
classes. In 1940,when the C. P. Tenancy Act was amended to confer rights of alienation on
certain classes of tenants, the application of the amending Act to the partially excluded areas was made
subject to certain modifications designed to secure that unscrupulous landlords would not manipulate to
their own advantage the complicated provisions of the Act.
A special enquiry into the problems of the aboriginals was ordered by the C. P. Government and a
report was submitted by Mr. W. V. Grigson in 1942. Among the points made by Mr. Grigson were the
weakness of the tribal representatives in the local boards and the need for provisions to prevent the
application of legislation to aboriginal areas except after special consideration. Mr. Grigson was also
examined by us as a witness and expressed himself in favour of a system of indirect election for the
aboriginals. Opinion of a number of C. P. witnesses was not in favour of reserved representation for the
aboriginals in proportion to their population. Some witnesses preferred nomination out of a panel
submitted by the District Officers. At present there are three tribal members in the Legislature although
only one seat is reserved.
The Provincial Government have now created a special Department and inaugurated a scheme of
development of the aboriginal areas in which multipurpose co-operative societies play a prominent part.
Opinion in the C. P. (as in Bombay) was strongly in favour of boarding schools with free meals as the
only way of making schooling acceptable to the aboriginals.
(d) Orissa. - This province contains a partially excluded area of nearly 20,000 sq. miles, i.e., almost
two-thirds of the province is partially excluded. The partially excluded area includes the portions of the
Madras Agency Tracts transferred to Orissa, the Khondmals of the former Angul District and the
Sambalpur District which was formerly in the C. P. The total tribal population of the province is
1,721,006 of which 1,560,104 are found in the partially excluded areas. The tribes inhabiting this
province are among the most backward in the whole of India. The Bonda Porja, Gadaba, Kondh and
Savara are among the most important of them. In 1939 the Orissa Government appointed a special
committee to make recommendations for the partially excluded areas (Thakkar Committee) which found
that some tracts were too backward to administer even local boards. Although they have representatives
in the legislature, four of the five reserved seats are filled in by nomination and some of the nominated