Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

86 P. THAMIZOLI AND P. IGNATIUS PRABHAKAR
in 1978, some of the Irulas of this area were able to mobilise themselves.
They made attempts to initiate a dialogue with the institutions of the
state. During that process, NGOs were identified as the only potential
supporters. But in the initial phase, NGOs were unable to produce any
authentic evidence and could not succeed in helping the Irulas to establish
their identity. Without a community certificate, the Irulas encountered
critical practical problems in their daily lives. They were unable to get
ration cards (to buy grains at subsidised rates from the government shops
of the Public Distribution System), or send their children to school. They
were also deprived of any special benefits from government programmes
meant for tribal groups.
Several interactions with government officials at different levels, from
the Village Administrative Officer to the Regional Revenue Officer, who
are responsible for issuing the community certificate, did not yield any
positive result. As the villagers were not able to provide strong evidence
due to their nomadic past, their request was repeatedly declined. When it
was mentioned that some of the Irulas continued to practise rat-hunting,
the official was not convinced. The official’s attitude of searching in the
present for a conventional document for past practices and his lack of
understanding of the dynamics of a socio-cultural system determined
the negative response.
It was during the colonial period that tribal groups all over India were
listed for the first time. In subsequent years, the list was modified a little,
with some additions and omissions. Article 366 (25) of the Constitution
of India refers to Scheduled Tribes as those communities who are scheduled
in accordance with Article 342 of the Constitution; the Scheduled
Tribes are the tribes or tribal communities who have been declared as
such by the President through a public notification. The criterion for
defining the word ‘tribe’ is not spelt out in the Constitution, but some of
the essential characteristics of these communities are: primitive traits,
geographical location, distinct culture, shyness when it comes to contact
with the community at large; and economic backwardness. Anthropologists
are multi-vocal in defining the word ‘tribe’ in the Indian context;
however, elaborating this historical discourse is beyond the scope of
this chapter.
The official tribal list in Tamil Nadu, which was compiled a long time
ago, is a slightly modified version of that prepared by the British. According