Chapter 1 Introduction

Indian society is made of castes, tribe, religions, and nomadic communities. The nomadic communities are outside of the caste system. In India, about five hundred different communities of mobile herders, foragers and peripatetics have been estimated, and their population is roughly mentioned seven per cent of the total.1 The Kaikadi is one of the ex-criminal, nomadic communities in India. The present study is on occupational mobility among the Kaikadis and its impact on social mobility.

The Oxford Dictionary of Sociology defines nomads or nomadism as groups who move from place to place, without a year-round permanent residence.2 Anthropologists have classified nomads into two broad types based on their economic activities. They classified all the nomads either as hunter-gatherers or pastoralists by the extent to which they are independent of other sedentary groups. A third nomadic group, gypsies are excluded from the classical typology. However, the term nomad encompasses three general types: nomadic hunters and gatherers, pastoral nomads, and tinker or trader nomads.

Nomadic communities move from one place to another to for sustenance. Their physical movement is based on their economic activities. According to their economic activities, nomads are classified differently by scholars. Raghaviah has classified nomadic communities in India as well as all over the world into five broad categories: (i) food gatherers (ii) pastoral nomads (iii) trader/seasonal nomads (iv) criminal nomads and (v) beggar nomads.3 Aparna Rao and Michael Casimir classified nomads into three

1 Apama Rao and Michael J. Casimir: '•Nomadism in South Asia An Introduction", in Aparna Rao and Michael J. Casimir (ed.), Nomadism in South Asia, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2003, pp.5-6. : Gordon Marshall (ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press, New York. 1998, p.451. ' V. Raghaviah: Nomads, Bharateeya Adimjati Sevak Sangh. Delhi, 1968.

1 economic categories: (i) pastoralists or animal husbanders, primarily endogamous communities economically dependent on livestock (ii)foragers/hunter-gathers/gatherer- hunter, whose principal economic and traditional subsistence life consists of gathering/collecting and/or hunting and who have no regular access to cultivable land, and (iii) peripatetics, primarily non-food producing itinerant communities subsisting on the sale of self-produced goods, specialized services to sedentary and nomadic clients.4 Arora and Haldar have classified nomadic communities into eight types on the basis of economic activities maintained by nomadic communities in British India. These are: (i) hunters and food-gatherers (ii) traders, involved in selling and buying of cattle, buffaloes and merchandise sell of salt and tamarinds, jaggery, etc. and the hawkers, dependent on sale and purchase of honey, wax, arrow-roots, resins, gums, stick, lac and iron (iii) beggars and fortune tellers (iv) acrobats, jugglers, conjurers and showmen (v) labourers at household chores, agricultural works, cool mining works, road building works, etc. (vi) makers and sellers of different articles prepared with wood, grass, leaves and iron (vii) quacks who obtain their living by selling herbal medicines and (viii) nomads who gain sustenance through means other than the above occupations.5

In view of the above classification, the Kaikadis could be categorised as a peripatetic community notified as criminal tribe in the colonial period. Their notification as a criminal tribe was made a basis for their identification and stigmatization. The stigma of criminality becomes a crucial factor for their social status. Taking into account the importance of this aspect, it is necessary to discuss the construction of Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 and notification of nomadic people as criminal tribes.

The Construction of Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 In the colonial period, some of the nomadic communities in India were classified as criminal tribes by British rulers. To maintain law and order, and to control the criminal activities of persons and groups, the Criminal Tribes Act (CT A) was created in 1871.

4 Aparna Rao and Michael J. Casimir: op.cit. pp. 5-6. 5 Sushil Arora and A.K. Haldar: "Economy of the Nomadic Communities of India", Man in India, Vol. 74, No. 2, 1994, pp.181-191.

2 The construction of criminal tribes has been discussed in three parts. The first part is on the impact of economic policies on the livelihood of nomadic communities under the colonial rule. In the second part, the discussion is about the perception of criminality and the nomadic communities in Europe, particularly in England and causes of the creation of CTA. The third part discusses the stigmatization of nomadic communities and its impact.

A. Colonial Policy and the Destruction of the Livelihood of Nomadic Communities The economic policies and infra-structural developments introduced by the British government ruined the traditional means of livelihood of nomadic communities. The British government introduced trade regulation policy, land acquisition policy and forest policy which affected the livelihood of nomadic communities. The British government wanted to control inland trade. Trade in salt, brass and bell metal vessels was monopolised by some communities such as Banjara and Yerukula (Korava). Before the entry of the East India Company into the salt trade, the Banjaras had a monopoly over the transport of salt in Berar, the Central Provinces and Deccan. They carried and distributed salt across the regions. The salt imported from Nagpur to distribute in the whole Central Provinces was near about 600,000 maunds annually. Apart from Zamindars and ryots, the Banjaras employed about forty or fifty thousand bullocks for this work. It proves the significant role of Banjaras in the salt trade. The Banjaras' trade in salt was seen as smuggling because the salt was imported into the Company's territory of Bengal. By declaring it as illicit or smuggled salt, the Company devastated the long established trade of the indigenous community.

The Korava community met the same fate in Madras presidency. The community was a trader both in grain and salt. From 1805 onwards, according to the British government's new salt policy, it was mandatory for traditional manufacturers to sell salt to the government. Salt, which was purchased at a low fixed price from traditional

6 Nitin Sinha: "Mobility Control and Criminality in Early Colonial India, 1760s-l850s", The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 45, No. 1, 2008, pp. 1-33.

3 manufacturers, was resold at a higher price to petty salt traders like the Koravas. This policy affected the salt trading of Koravas. The Korava community first lost their long- established consumers and afterwards their traditional trade in salt.

As regards revenue policies, a colonial document of 1853 enlightens us on the subject. The document titled India Reform: The Government of India since 1834 itself alludes on the destitution of itinerant traders. It argues that: 'The people of Madras complain that the whole framework of society has been overthrown to their injury, and almost to their ruin. They complain that salt, the only condiment for their tasteless rice and without which neither they nor their cattle can live, is a Government monopoly. They complain that not only are they taxed for their shops in towns, and for stalls and sheds on roadsides, but for each tool and implement of their traders, nay, for their knives, . . . They complain that in order to raise revenue from ardent spirits, the government is forcing drunkenness on them; "a vice", they add, •'forbidden by Hindoo and Mahommedan law'V8

Along with new trade policies, infrastructural developments destroyed the occupations of nomadic communities. In 1850s, for transportation of raw material and manufactured goods, the railway network was constructed. The introduction of railways changed the trading structure in India. For instance, traditionally, the Koravas operated pack- bullocks for distribution of salt - this was overtaken by the railways. Consequently with the introduction of railways, a new section of wholesale railway traders emerged. The Koravas become obligated to buy salt from the traders at a price they demanded and they lost a number of salt selling points across the railways route. In 1904, the Madras District Gazetteer for the Bellary District of southern India described the impact of railways on the Korachas and the Lambads. It reported that: 'The railways again, have robbed some of the people of their only employment. Before the days of trains the

7 Meena Radhakrishna: Dishonoured by History: •criminal tribes ' and British colonial policy, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 2001, p.32. 8 India Reform: The Government of India since 1834, Source: Knowsley Pamphlet Collection, 1853. p. 25. 9 Meena Radhakrishna: op.cit. p.33.

4 wandering Korachas and Lambadis lived by trading with the west coast, driving down there once or twice a year large herds of pack-cattle laden with cotton, piece-goods, etc., and returning with salt, areca, cocoanut and so forth.'10 The Lamanis were the nomadic transporters and petty traders. They were engaged as transporters of supplies to the Mughal army and petty trader during peacetime until the eighteen fifties. With the introduction of mechanized transport and opening of railways and roads by the British Government they lost their traditional occupation of transporting merchandise on the back of pack-bullocks along country tracks." The Banjara community was nomadic. By the time of the Mughals, they were recognized as skilled transport workers and grain sellers. They used the oxen for trade purposes. In the British period, technological improvements in transportation, i.e. metalled roads and the railway system adversely affected their trade.12

In the name of the environment, the forest policies also devastated the subsistence of nomadic communities. Several nomadic communities subsisted on hunting, gathering and bartering forest produce, i.e. on forest resources. The forest laws prevented their free access to forest. It prevented them from collecting forest produce and free grazing of cattle. Several communities suffered a lot due to these restrictions. In Madras presidency, the Koravas were prevented from free grazing of their cattle, which they used for their trading purpose. They were also prevented from collecting forest produce such as bamboos and leaves, which severely affected their occupation of making mats, baskets and brooms, etc.13 The forest policies were indeed land acquisition policies. The government was interested in accumulating forest wealth as state property to increase its revenue. For this puipose, the non-cultivated lands, including forest land was considered as free land. The government brought this land under cultivation of cash crops such as tea and cotton. These free lands were leased out or sold to zamindars. In

10 Rachel J. Tolen: '-Colonizing and Transforming the Criminal Tribesman: the Salvation Army in British India", American Ethnologist, Vol.18, No.l, 1991, pp.106-125. " B. G. Halbar: Lamani Economy and Society in Change, Mittal Publications, Delhi, 1986. 12 Robert Gabriel Varady: "North Indian Banjaras: Their Evolution as Transporters", South Asia. Vol.1 l,Nos. 1 &2, 1979, pp.1-18. 13 Meena Radhakrishna: "Colonial Construction of a 'Criminal Tribe': Yerukulas of Madras Presidency", Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.35, No.28/29, July, 15-20, 2000, pp. 2553-2563.

5 this process, land used by hunters, foragers and pastoral nomads was regarded as free land or vacant. The government exiled these indigenous people from their land and expropriated their right to land. Chenchu, a foraging community of the south also lost its subsistence and turned towards less legal means of subsistence. As the British administration leased out the forest lands to zamindars, the Lodhas, a sedentary foragers become redundant.14

The following paragraph from the letter written by W.F. Fergusson to Lord Stanely sheds light on the approach towards the nomadic communities' land right. Fergusson was Secretary in Calcutta, of the Landholders and Commercial Association of British India. He wrote a letter on behalf of the Landholders' and Commercial Association of British India. He writes:

'The forest and jungles in the slopes of the mountain ranges, in eastern Bengal and in Central India, which have never been occupied by any but the most thinly scattered wandering and savage tribes, are properly speaking, the waste lands for which Government invite purchasers."I5

In short, the government as well as capitalist class in Britain was not willing to recognize either the nomadic communities' occupations or their right to land. The 'cultivation test' or 'agricultural argument' was the functioning ideology behind the encroachment over the lands of nomadic communities. The 'agricultural argument' considers only cultivation as the appropriate occupation of land. Under the influence of this ideology neither the nomadic lifestyle nor their right to land was recognized. In this regard we have to take note of Gilbert's •agricultural argument' coupled with the concept of 'terra nullius'. 'The Roman law principle of terra nullius means that any uninhabited territory is open to conquest and be occupied by states.' This tenet was used

14 Michael J.Casimir and Aparna Rao: "The Historical Framework of Nomadism in South Asia", in Aparna Rao and Michael J. Casimir, Nomadism in South Asia. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2003, p.67. 15 W. F. Fergusson: Letter to Lord Stanely, on the dearth of cotton and the capacity of India to supply the quantity required, Knowsley Pamphlet Collection, 1863, p.37.

6 against the nomadic peoples' land, which was regarded as vacant and open to occupy. 16The government's forest policies coincided with developments in transportation also. The unquenchable demand for timber for the development of the railways forced the government to control the forest resources.

In addition to the above reasons, natural calamities also severally affected the occupations of nomadic communities. Radhakrishna notes that the 1877 famine destroyed the salt trade of the Koravas. They lost their cattle which was itself an object of trade and used for salt trade. While famine destroyed their livelihood, government's policy to permit bigger grain merchants to accumulate grain to manage famine severely encroached upon the grain trade of the Koravas.18 The Donga Dasaris, wandering mendicants of Madras presidency, were affected by the 1877 famine. Formerly, they survived through selling beads and trinkets. They also practiced tattooing and sheep rearing. Before the famine, they belonged to the landed class. The famine of 1877 ruined their means of livelihood. They resorted to begging for their survival. The arrival of new classes of merchants and the railways drastically affected their occupational structure and forced them towards criminality.19

Whatever is the nature of criminal activities of nomadic people, it is caused by their \ poor economic condition rather than their natural tendency. The failure or success of j crops, poor rain and heavy floods resulted in higher prices of grain and increase in cost of living. Such conditions indirectly caused the increase in criminal activities. In the Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, the degree of dacoity depended upon the economic conditions. The failure of crops and high prices of grain resulted in increased dacoity.20 In Bengal, in 1918, the partial failure of crops and unemployment caused increased robbery; whereas in Bihar and Orissa, in 1920, a decline in robberies was the

16 Jeremie Gilbert : "Nomadic Territories: 'A Human Rights Approach to Nomadic Peoples' Land Rights", Human Rights Law Review, Vol. 7, No. 4. 2007, pp.681-716. 1 Michael J. Casimir and Aparna Rao: op.cit. p.64. 18 Meena Radhakrishna: 2000, op.cit. 19 C. Ramachandran and R. K. Maya: "Colonial Labour Conditions in the Plantation Industry: the Case of Criminal Tribes on the Tea Estates of Annamalai hills", The Indian Journal of Social Work, Vol. 58, No. 4, Oct. 1997, pp.507- 522. :o S.M. Edwardes: Crime in India, Printwell Publishers, Jaipur. 1988, p.46.

7 direct outcome of fair harvest, development of the lac industry and successful police work against dacoits.21 Mukul Kumar also noticed that in the first half of the nineteenth century, France and England passed through economic depression and harvest failure which caused disorder and increased attacks against property.22 The economic condition was not considered while treating nomadic communities as 'criminal tribes'.

The peasants and particularly wandering people encumbered with tax burden. Saville Marriott, a civil service officer of the Bombay presidency, elucidated their indigent condition. He writes: 'In elucidation of the position that this country (India) is verging to the lowest ebb of pauperism, I would adduce a fact pregnant with considerations of the most serious importance; namely, that of late years a large portion of the public revenue has been paid by encroachment upon the capital of the country, small though that capital is in itself. I allude to the property of the peasantry, which consists of personal ornaments of the precious metals, and jewels, convertible, as occasions require, to profitable purposes and accommodation in agricultural pursuits, most frequently in the shape of pawn till the object has been obtained ... In addition to this lamentable evidence of property, is another of equal force, to be seen in all parts of the country, in the numerous individuals of the above class of community wandering about in search of the employment of hirelings, which they are glad to obtain even for the most scanty pittance. In short, almost everything forces to the conviction that we have before us a narrowing progress to utter pauperism.'

The British economic policies and technological developments brought darkness in the life of indigenous nomadic communities. They were displaced in the process of development. Loss of traditional occupation, no fixed abode and usurpation of the natural rights made nomadic communities destitute. Some of the members of nomadic communities resorted to committing crimes for their survival. In reality, it was not the

21 ibid, p.49. 22 Mukul Kumar: "Relationship of Caste and Crime in Colonial India", Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.39, No.10, March 6,2004. pp. 1078-1087. 23 India Reform: The Government of India Since 1834, Source Knowsley Pamphlet Collection, 1853, p.14.

8 case of each and every member of nomadic communities. There were several instances of nomadic peoples who successfully shifted towards other occupations. For instance, the Banjaras of North India were teamsters and transporters in the Mughal period. In the British period, technological improvements in transportation affected their trade of transportation. The metalled roads, the railway system devastated their traditional occupation. In the nineteenth century, Banjaras were confronted with extinction and evolved as cattle traders. Some Banjaras had taken up fanning and cattle-raising to ensure their survival and had permanently settled.24 The traditional occupation of the Sugalis of Andhra Pradesh was transportation of supplies or merchandise for the armies in the 17n century. Under the British rule, the Sugalis gave up their traditional occupation of transporting goods due to the introduction of mechanized transport, metalled roads and rail lines by the then government. After the loss of their traditional occupation, they shifted towards pastoralism and cultivation.25 Despite these facts, the British government notified/labelled nomadic communities as 'criminal'.

The issuance of notification of nomadic communities as 'criminal' was not caused merely by their sporadic criminal activities. There were several conceptions of the construction of criminal tribes and the CTA. The perception of crime and criminality in Europe, particularly in Britain and power relations, was at the root of the foundation of CTA.

B. Western Notions on the Criminal Class CT is an imported ideology, i.e. colonial construction shaped by the elites in colonial India. The construction of CTA in India is intertwined with the ideology of crime and criminality in England. In nineteenth century England, the industrial revolution divided/classified society into the bourgeoisie and the working class. The contradiction between wealthy upper class and the poor working class increased. It was assumed that the working class would be threatening capital investment in shops, factories, ports and

24 Robert Gabriel Varady: "North Indian Banjaras: Their Evolution as Transporters", South Asia, VoI.ll.Nos. 1 &2, 1979, pp.18. :> B. Krishna Reddy: Livelihood Strategies of the Sugal Tribal Community in Andhra Pradesh, http://www.sasnet.lu.se/tribalreddy.pdf.

9 warehouses. The bourgeoisie used the term 'dangerous class' to refer the people who were at the margins of society. "The 'dangerous classes' represented an amalgam of bourgeois apprehensions - vagrancy, poverty, crime and political revolution*.26The bourgeois anxieties concerning the protection of property and political order led to the enactment of the Vagrancy Act in Britain in 1824. The vagrants were considered most vulnerable to criminal activities. As the nomads lacked any means of regular livelihood and any private property, the sedentary society was always suspicious about their assimilation into mainstream society.

By 1860s, instead of 'dangerous class', the notion of "criminal class" was used to refer to vagrants. A clear division was made between the criminals and industrial workers of the working class. To label the criminal section, specific terms were used such as 'the unskilled and the degraded among the unskilled', 'the unemployed and the degraded among the unemployed'. Thus, in England the 'Habitual Criminal Act' was enacted in the year 1869. The Act created the criminal class which was already identified as dangerous under the Vagrancy Act of 1824. In France, nomads, barbarians, savages were always seen as alien and belonging to the criminal classes.29The attitude towards nomadic communities remained despicable. The sedentary section of society always perceived them as outsiders. These communities were forever stigmatised all over the world. Particularly in Europe, they have been exposed to penalizing laws for many centuries. The contemporary host society has a negative approach towards the settlement of nomadic communities. Their stigmatised identity becomes an obstruction in their development and assimilation. Whether it may be the government welfare/rehabilitation programme or the enrolment of their children in schools, they receive negative reactions.30 They have been seen as a social problem and have been alienated from mainstream society.

26 Sanjay Nigam: "Disciplining and Policing the -Criminals by birth'. Part I : The making of a colonial stereotype- The criminal tribes and caste of North India", The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 27, No. 2, 1990, p. 156. 27 Mukul Kumar: op.cit. p.1081. "8 Sanjay Nigam: op.cit. p. 157. 29 Mukul Kumar: op.cit. p.1081. 30 Bhon Gmelch Sharon: "Groups that don't want in: Gypsies and other artisan, trader, and entertainer

10 This skewed approach towards nomadic communities in Europe, and particularly in England remained crucial to the stigmatization of nomadic communities in India and to construction of the CTA. The construction of the CTA is an amalgamation of the understanding of nomadic communities in Indian society by the British and a prejudice of upper castes against them. And, the orientation towards crime and nomadic communities in Europe has become a prelude in this process.

In the construction of the CTA, a second major aspect is the knowledge of Indian society possessed by the British. British scholars and administrators tried to understand many sections of Indian society and its economy in the context of the caste system. They interpreted the criminal activities of some of the members of nomadic communities through Lhe lens of caste. It was argued that every caste has its occupation, and crime was seen as the professional occupation of certain communities, who were then labelled as criminal tribes. For instance, Nembhard, the Commissioner of East Berar argued that: "The tribes (the Banjarees, the Kolatees, Buddhuks, the Kunjars and the Nuths) saving the Banjarees are professional criminals . . . crime is their trade and they are born to it and must commit it. We all know that traders go by castes in India; a family of carpenters now will be a family of carpenters a century or five centuries ... a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial who are themselves destined by the usage of caste to commit crime and whose dependents will be offenders against the law

The argument of Nembhard becomes the introductory part of the Bill of 1871. While introducing the Bill, T.V. Stephens, a member of Law and Order said as follows: 'The special feature of India is the caste system. As it is, traders go by castes . . . when a man tells you that he is an offender against law, he has been so from the beginning, and will

minorities", Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol.15, 1986. pp.307-330. SanjayNigam: op.cit. p.135.

11 1 be so to the end, reform is impossible, for it is his trade, his caste, I may almost say his religion to commit crime.'32

This meant that the caste of any person was determinant of his/her occupation and it would never changes. The caste system was static, constant and occupations directed by the caste remained forever, including criminal activity of any person or community who then became irreclaimable and incorrigible. These notions about crime and Indian society were concomitant with racial or hereditary theories of criminality. According to Meena Radhakrishna, in the nineteenth century, the concept of a 'hereditary criminal class' was appealing for attributing a reason for the crimes.33 A crime was supposed to be a genetic trait transmitted over generations in a family. Meanwhile, the concept of Eugene (good genes) coined by Francis Galton was sought as an answer to the problem of criminal classes. Under the influence of eugenicists, the social policies were envisaged against persistent criminal offenders. 'Eugenics societies targeted criminals in prisons by forcibly sterilising them, so as to avoid passing on the gene for crime to the next generation.'3 On the same lines, in India, heredity was seen as a cause for justification of criminality, but, it was seen as a profession passed from one generation to another.

Besides the above causes, we have to look into the other aspects of history. The Criminal Tribes Act was the consequence of colonial policies of political control over armed rebels. The 1857 rebellion is not the first armed mutiny against the British. Between 18th and 19th century, several nomadic communities rebelled against the British rule. The series of rebellions started with the Sanyasi rebellion (1763-1800) and continued even after the 1857 rebellion. The Birsa Munda community rebelled against the British between 1890 and 1900.35 In this period, those who opposed the British rule, particularly nomadic communities, were perceived as criminals. For instance, the

32 Y. C. Simhadri: The Ex-Criminal Tribes of India, National Publishing House, New Delhi, 1979, pp. 28-29. 33 Meena Radhakrishna: 2001, op.cit. pp. 2-3. 34 ibid. 35 B.T. Ranadive: "India's Freedom Struggle", Social Scientist, Vol.14, Nos. 8/9, 1986, pp.81-126.

12 Kallars, a community in the Madras presidency served as a kavalkaran or watchman in the local kaval system. Kaval was a system of village protection where villagers paid collectively to a watchman. Some of the communities involved in kaval came into conflict with British forces during the early days of the East India Company. The tribe Kallar, therefore, was notified as a criminal tribe as they represented a challenging force of power in the region."6 In Eastern India, the Sanyasis, peripatetic traders and merchants, were victim of the political strategy of British rulers. Their participation against the British in the decisive battle of Buxar in 1764 might have caused efforts to control and regulate them. Interestingly, in the same period, the British used them for military intelligence purposes and many early European travellers narrated their legitimising image.37 From the above incidents it is revealed that whoever opposed the British rule was notified as a criminal. Specifically, the attempts of armed struggle to oppose the colonial government were seen as a criminal activity. The Bhils' rebellion against the British rule in Khandesh and on the banks of Narmada caused them to be classed as a criminal tribe." The Gujar. semi-nomadic community of cattle-keepers, were categorized as a criminal tribe because of their likely involvement in the 1857 rebellion.39 The Harnis and the Sansis were engaged in the rebellion of 1857 and were later officially classified as criminal tribes.40 The Berads or Ramoshis participated in several anned confrontations against the British. Between 1820 and 1831, the Ramoshis participated in several revolts held against the British and in Maharashtra were led by Umaji Naik and Bhulaji Pandu Naik belonged to the Ramoshi community. In the rebellion led by Vasudev Balwant Phadke in 1870, many Ramoshis participated. In this conflict. Daulati Naik died fighting against Capt. Daniel in Tisubai hills and Hari Ramoshi was hanged at Jejuri by the British government. During the 1857 revolt, the British government asked the people to surrender their arms. The Berads from Halgali village in Mudhol (Karnataka) declined to surrender themselves. After two days, the

36Rachel J. Tolen: op.cit. pp.109-110. 37 Nitin Sinha: op.cit. pp. 15-18. 18 Ganesh Devy: A Nomad Called Thief, Orient Longman, 2006, p.21. 39 Aparna Rao and Michael J. Casimir: op.cit. p.66. 40 Andrew J. Major: "State and Criminal Tribes in Colonial Punjab: Surveillance, Control and Reclamation of the 'dangerous classes", Modem Asian Studies, Vol. 33, No.3, 1999, pp.657-688. 41 K. Jamanadas: Criminal Tribes of India, www.Ambedkar.org., May 1, 2003.

13 Berads fought against the British army. In this conflict, 19 of them were detained by the British and were killed. Later, the Berad community was notified as a criminal tribe.42

C. Dominant Castes' Notions of Nomadic Communities While collecting the information on criminal tribes, British officers consulted 'reliable informers', mostly those who were in power and administration, i.e. the landlords, high caste Hindus in administration and police departments who were amenable to festering the prevailing prejudice against nomadic communities. 'The portrayals of "criminal castes" appeared to rely on hearsay and innuendo, undoubtedly filtered through the particular prejudices of the chosen informants.'44 Modes of apparel, conduct, disposition, diet and mannerisms were a measure of social gradation and status. The prejudices against the nomadic communities were: they wander aimlessly, not keen on hard work, absence of articulated norms of morality. Their easy divorce, widow marriage, absence of marrying girls before puberty and dieting of inferior types of food and drinking of liquor were supposed to be the signs of criminality.45

Provisions and Recommendations in the CTA Before the institution of CTA, the nomadic communities such as Banjara, Gosain, Fakir and Sanyasi were treated as criminal tribes by the colonial state.46 In 1871, the CTA was instituted and first came into force in Punjab, North Western Provinces and Awadh. The Act gave considerable authority to local government to bring any person or community under the force of the Act. Notification of criminals, registration in government office, forcible settlement of criminals with unjust punishment and sentences were made compulsory. The local government had the authority to declare a tribe, a gang, or a class of persons addicted to the systematic commission of non- bailable offence as a criminal tribe. The Court of Justice would not question the validity of any notification. The local government had authority to place a criminal tribe in a

42 Dnyanesh Jathar: "Villains to Heroes", The Week, February 16, 2003. 43 M. Kennedy: Notes on Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency, Bombay, 1908, p.V. 44 Rachel J.Tolen: op.cit. p. 110. 43 Meena Radhakrishna: 2001. op.cit. pp.10-14. 46 Nitin Sinha: op.cit. p.l.

14 reformatory settlement or at any place. The local government was given authority to make rules regarding the residence, registration, conditions to holding passes and regarding the nature of work, working hours and wages in reformatory settlements.47 The CTA was first amended in 1897 with the provision of reformatory settlement for children of criminal tribes. With this provision, children between ages 4 and 8 years were separated from their parents.48 In 1908, the first Criminal Tribes Settlement Act was passed. It authorized provincial governments of India to place the convicted members of criminal tribes in settlements.49 In 1911, the Act was applied to all provinces of British controlled India. The 1911 Act gave considerable power to the local government to restrict movements of criminal tribes. The Act made provision of settlements and schools. The Act authorized local government or the Governor General in Council to establish industrial, agricultural or reformatory settlements for criminal tribes and to establish industrial, agricultural or reformatory schools for their children.

The Act was mercilessly misused by the police and local officials. The Criminal Tribes Act resulted in the discrimination, abuse and socio-economic marginalization of nomadic communities. After the institution of Criminal Tribes Act, they were forcibly confined in the settlement colony. Economic insecurity was the basic cause of criminality, which was not considered in the practice of settlements. Although there are some incidents of successful settlements it is only the half truth of about these settlements. The settlements which employed economic self-sufficiency programmes were successful in weaning the inmates away from criminal activities. But deeper investigation in the practice of settlements reveals that settlements operated to fulfil the capital interest of colonial states. Many of the settlements served as free force of labour. The first half of the twentieth century saw the breaking down of traditional hierarchies and epidemics such as plague, cholera, which resulted in the shortage of labour. The

4 CTA, 1871. Source: Report of Technical Advisory Group. National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, New Delhi, 2006. 48 CTA, 1897. Source: Report of Technical Advisory Group. National Commission for Denotified. Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, New Delhi, 2006. 49 Y.C. Simhadri: Denotified Tribes, Classical Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1991, p.25. 50 CTA, 1911. 51 K. M. Kapadia: "The Criminal Tribes of India", Sociological Bulletin, vol.1, No.2, 1952, pp.99-125.

15 jajmani system caused a shortage of free labour in the agriculture sector. At the time, the criminal tribe's settlement stood as a solution to the problem. In this period, a number of free/low-priced labour was provided to industrial and agricultural sectors by several such settlements in India. The settlements served to solve the problem of the shortage of labour. In Punjab, the Lahore Railway Workshop, the Cotton Spinning and Weaving Mills, the New Egerton Wollen Mills survived by the utilisation of free labour of these settlements. In several industrial settlements of Punjab, the labourers worked on very low wages. As a consequence of poor living conditions at the settlements, the mortality rate increased.5 'The Salvation Army tried to send criminal tribe members to Mesopotamia for military service or to Assam as plantation workers'.53 The Sholapur Cotton Textile Industry successfully devised on the problem of the shortage of labour with the support of the British government. The plague epidemics in 1916 caused labour shortage in the mills. The mill owners resorted to the Sholapur settlement for labour recruitment. Sholapur was the largest settlement in India which was started in 1912. While supporting the mill owners, the government claimed that it was reformative programme which provided honest means of livelihood. The government saved its expenditure on maintenance of settlements. The criminal tribesmen were restricted to^- particular mills. Even the wages paid to settlement workers were the lowest compared to other mills in the Bombay presidency. In this period, Sholapur mills gained huge profit compared to other mills in the Bombay presidency. Communities such as Chhaparband, Kaikadi, Ghantichoor, Haranshikari and Manggamdi served the growth of the Sholapur cotton industry.54 In Madras presidency, the plantation industry always faced the problem of shortage of labour. The tea planters of the Annamalai Hills met their need of labour with the recruitment of workers from the 'criminal tribes'. Due to inhospitable climate, the planters of Annamalai Hills always faced the problem of insufficient labour. On the other hand, the colonial state was under the burden of expensive maintenance of criminal tribe's settlements. The interest of government and planters coincided. The planters recruited workers from the then criminal tribes such as

5" Andrew J. Major: op.cit. p. 677. 53 Meena Radhakrishna: 2001, op.cit. p.75. 34 Manjiri N. Kamat: "The War Years and the Sholapur Cotton Textile Industry", Social Scientist, Vol. 28,Nos.ll-12, 1998, pp.67-82.

16 Yerukula, Donga, Pachapa and Dasari communities. The workers were ill treated and not provided the basic requirements of life, i.e. food, shelter, clothing, medical facilities. They were not paid proper wages which resulted in mass desertions by the workers in September 1916.55

The settlements were like a vicious cycle where discharge was mostly difficult for the settlers. The rigid discharge rules framed by the local government prevented the discharge of settlers. According to one of the provision of the rules, a settler may be discharged if he had no disciplinary punishment for violation of rules of the settlement within the previous three years. In this matter, the CTA enquiry committee of Bombay government noted that disciplinary punishments and rules of conduct imposed on settlers were rigorous and very wide ranging. Mere quarrelling was sufficient for punishment and lacking of truthfulness or the quarrelsome wife caused the rejection of discharge.56 Thus, from above cases of exploitation of "criminal tribes* it is revealed that the intention to form a settlement of forced labour was to fulfil the capital needs and to reduce the expenses on jails rather than reclamation. Settlement was never a pertinent solution to the problem, because 'criminals' were not accepted as dutiful workers by the sedentary peoples in the colonial and post-colonial period. "Some of the members of the 'criminal tribes' who were eking out an honest living by working in factories and mills were turned out by the management on a discovery that they were members of 'criminal tribes'."5 Not only were the convicted members of 'criminal tribes' despised by sedentary society but their children were also looked down upon as victim of the vicious. In this way, they were denied their assimilation into sedentary society. Schoolmasters denied admissions to the children of members of criminal tribes.58 The settlements propagated negative approach towards notified tribes, which isolated them from mainstream society.

33 C. Ramachandran and R. K. Maya: op.cit. pp.507-522. 36 Govind N. Harshe: "A Study of the Mang Garudies under Settlement conditions at Mundwa (Poona)," Indian Journal of Social Work, Vol. 1, No.4, 1941, pp.541-522. 57 K. M. Kapadia: op.cit. p.225. 58 S. M. Edwardes: op.cit. pp. 102-103.

17 The above discussion on CTA reveals that the nomadic communities in India are derogated in the name of 'criminal'. We saw who were notified as 'criminal' - The people who provided various types of services to sedentary people as traders, artisans and entertainers and marshal groups. One similarity between CTA and the Habitual Offenders Act of England is that it insulated one section of society. In England of the seventeenth century, vagrants were treated as criminals. This British prejudicial approach towards nomads filtered through the eyes of the local elites in India.

In brief, the colonial state huddled together nomadic communities under the provision of CTA. Interestingly, the then judicial authority was also reluctant to notify particular groups as criminal tribes and to operate surveillance measures. According to the Judicial Courts in North Western Provinces, the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code provided adequate measures for the restraint of professional criminals, and surveillance procedures had given extreme power to the police.59 Judges Boulnois and Simpson of the Punjab High Court repeated the view in the case of the Sansis, Harnis and Bauriahs. The then Madras Inspector General of Police also denied declaring trading communities as criminal tribes. He was unsure about their criminality because the proportion of crime was much less in the districts where they had regular contact compared to other districts.61 It means power relations and prejudicial approach were more crucial than criminality in the constitution of the CTA. The CTA, thus, converted these communities into the new criminal castes.

Repealing the CTA After a long time, political leaders in India noticed the problem of criminal tribes. While delivering a speech at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh in October 1936 Jawaharlal Nehru declared: T am aware of this monstrous provision of the CTA which constitutes a negation of civil liberty ... and attempt made to have the Act removed from the statute book*.62 The Criminal Tribes Act Enquiry Committee (1949-50) appointed by the

59 Sanjay Nigarn: op.cit. p.139. 60 ibid., p.144. 61 Meena Radhakrishna: 2001, op.cit. p.29. 62 Y.C. Simhadn: 1991, op.cit. p.28.

18 Central Government criticized the CTA as being against the spirit of the Constitution and made a recommendation for the repeal of the Act. After independence, the CTA was repealed on 30 August, 1952. The criminal tribes were denotified by repealing the CTA. Therefore, these communities came to be known as Denotified Tribes (DTs). But this repeal has not changed the conditions of DTs. Repealing of the CTA has not been successful in wiping out or removing the "social stigma' of criminality. However, considering the problem, several steps were taken for their rehabilitation.

Repealing of the CTA became a mirage because the Bombay Government enacted the Bombay Habitual Offenders Act, 1959 and the same was adapted by the State of Maharashtra in 1960. This act includes several provisions of the CTA. The act made for training of habitual offenders, mostly used against 'criminal tribes'. According to this act, a district magistrate could register and take finger and palm impressions, foot-prints and photographs of the habitual offenders. It was mandatory for registered offenders to inform any change or intended change of his ordinary residence to the authorities. The registration of habitual offenders ceased to be in force for five years. The govt, could, in the interest of general public, restrict movement of any registered offender for a period of three years. The state govt, could approve any privately managed institution as a corrective settlement. The most important provision of this act was that the court could not question the validity of any direction or order issued under this act and no suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings could stand against the state govt or its authority for anything which is done under this act.63 In brief, the repeal of the CTA was futile. The Bombay Habitual Offenders Act is nothing but the same act with a new label but in the old spirit. Later, the stigmatisation and deprivation of denotified communities continued.

The Bombay Habitual Offenders Act, 1959. Source: Report of Technical Advisory Group, National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, New Delhi. 2006.

19 After independence, the central and state governments have adopted a policy for enlistment of backward classes to bring about some change in the life of backward communities. As compared to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Schedule Tribes (ST), the denotified communities were considered late by the central government. In the Constitution of India, there is no specific mention for the development and social security of denotified communities. But, under Article 46 of the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution of India, the state governments are empowered to promote the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Accordingly, state governments have prepared lists of SCs, STs and DTs by identifying communities for granting certain benefits of educational facilities, reservation of seats in educational courses and in public sector employment, and welfare programmes. However, there is no uniform policy. This is why every state has adopted a different approach regarding the inclusion of weaker sections for categorizing as SC, ST and DT. For instance, the Kaikadi community is listed as an SC in Andhra Pradesh, Kamataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and as a DT in entire Maharashtra, excluding the Vidarbha region. In the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the Kaikadi community is categorised as SC and as ST in West Bengal. The Waddar community has SC status in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, while it is categorised as ST in West Bengal, Bihar and Gujarat. In Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu the community is listed as DT. In Uttar Pradesh, the Waddar community is categorised as Other Backward Class. Hence, in some states the denotified communities are included in the list of SCs, while in some states they are STs.64

Emergence of the Process of Social Mobility in Contemporary India The traditional social structure of Indian society was closed and hierarchical. Its occupational structure was based on caste, a hereditary identity. Occupation was not only a source of livelihood but it was also a measure of social status of both the

64 Motiraj Rathod: "Denotified and Nomadic Tribes in Maharashtra", The Denotified and Nomadic Tribes Rights Action Group Newsletter, April-June and July-September, 2000.

20 community and the person. Under the system of caste hierarchy, the social status of a person in the community was fixed. Each community was associated with a particular occupation, which linked in a hierarchical relationship with other communities. It was a stratification system based on ascription. In the old stratification system, there was no scope for occupational mobility..

With the advent of the British, the traditional social structure started changing. The introduction of western education, urbanization, industrialization, rational bureaucratic systems of administration and judiciary, etc. has led to occupational changes in modem India. In the post-independence period, the state-directed process of social change has led towards a secular, democratic and egalitarian society. The Constitution of India has granted adult franchise to all citizens. It sought to abolish the system of social inequality and exploitation which had continued from ancient times. Since independence, the planning in India was initiated not only to achieve economic growth but also to reduce economic inequality and to give social justice to the peoples of all strata. It was envisioned an all-inclusive process. The adult franchise, land reforms and secular tenets brought about changes in the individual status and inter-caste relations. Technological modernization has broken the closed system of stratification at a considerable level. It led to the opening up of opportunities to the disadvantaged communities, classes and castes towards social mobility. Urbanization and industrialization have a critical role to play in the changing structure of the Indian economy and the social system. With the growth of industrial activities, the process of urbanization has become rapid. Cities have become the centres of modernization. With the concentration of industries, educational institutions and physical amenities, cities have also become the centres of social change. In contemporary India, the processes of urbanization and industrialization has generated occupational opportunities. The traditional relation between caste and occupation has started disassociating. Education created awareness among the people of disadvantaged sections about individual and community development. It has led to the mobilization of peoples' aspirations for achievement.

21 To bring about equality and social justice, the Government of India implemented the policy of protective discrimination enshrined in the Constitution, i.e., reservation of jobs in government administration, in public undertakings and in state-funded educational institutions, which created opportunities for social mobility of deprived sections of Indian society. It introduced a number of welfare measures for the upliftment of weaker/deprived sections. All these modem processes resulted in the social mobility of persons belonging to the deprived/disadvantaged sections. New entrepreneurial businesses and trades emerged. Also, people belonging to the lower strata began to occupy places in the social, economic and political spheres. The emergence of these new classes in Indian society has helped break the traditional stratification system and occupational structure. For economic improvement of the members of weaker sections, under the Five year plans, a number of schemes have been evolved. Loans have been made available for poultry fanning, animal husbandry, etc. Land for agriculture and housing construction has been granted. Attempts were made to set up industrial co­ operatives and co-operative farming societies. For educational motivation among the children of denotified communities several programmes such as Ashram (residential) schools, scholarships, etc. are in action.

Over the last sixty years, some planned economic development and government sponsored programmes brought about some changes in the traditional occupational structure. Nomadic communities are moving towards the process of modernization. These communities are experiencing occupational changes at lower levels. Changing forest and wildlife policies also forced them to settle in cities, small towns and nearby villages of the places of their wandering and to adopt new occupations for their survival.

Nomadic communities were never a part of the caste stratification system. When these communities started to settle at a place and came into contact with the village organization, they became part of that village settlement. They interacted with local castes in cultural, economic and socio-religious spheres. They have achieved a

22 i considerable degree of L cultural approximation' and have joined the socio-religious life of local groups. They are treated by the Hindu society as a caste group.66 There has been a policy of rehabilitation and a programme of socio-economic upliftment of nomadic communities and their families have settled in towns and cities, and so the members have come in regular contact with the members of caste society. Their settlement has brought about some changes in their socio-economic status.

In the post-independence period, these communities have settled in different parts of India. For instance, the Bharvad, a pastoral community, settled in the city of Surat in Gujarat as buffalo breeding dairypersons. The Hakkipikki, a foraging community of southern India, is now settled in several regions of Karnataka. They do the occupation of selling combs and safety pins, also work as unskilled labourers. The Challa Yanadi of Tamil Nadu are now settled in some parts of the state and work as pauperized wage- labourers. The Killelyatha, peripatetic, traditionally perform leather-picture-shows presently work as agricultural labourers and repair metal pots in northern Mysore. The Banjaras, nomadic traders of Rajasthan, who worked as transporters in the eighteenth century now settled in Karnataka as farm labourers, coolies and construction labourers. The Dommaras, the itinerant trading people, now settled as agricultural labourers and earn by selling mats, combs, and baskets in Nellore district of Karnataka. The Yandis, hunter-gathers, now settled in Nellore, Chittoor and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh, earn their livelihood by doing cultivation, coolie work, cattle grazing and domestic work.68

63 Ram P. Srivastava used the concept 'cultural approximation' to explain the process of transition of a tribe from a tribal status to a caste status within the limit of Hinduism. The transition takes place in the form of acculturation of customs and traditions and a tribal group achieves hierarchical position in the society. According to him, the process of 'cultural approximation' is a channel of hierarchical setting however not a caste making process (see Ram P. Srivastava: "Tribe-caste Mobility in India and the Case of Kumaon Bhotias", in Christoph Von Furer-Haimendor (ed.), Caste and Kin in Nepal, India and Ceylon, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1966, pp.161-212). 66 Y. C. Simhadri: 1979, op.cit. pp.91-92. 67 Aparna Rao and Michael J. Casimir: "Movements of Peoples Nomads in India", in Veena Das (ed.), The Oxford India Companion to Sociology and Social Anthropology, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2003, pp. 219-261. 68 Malli Gandhi: Denotified Tribes: Dimensions of Change, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi. 2008.

23 In the state of Maharashtra, several nomadic communities have settled in cities and towns. The Kanjarbhat and Koravi (Kaikadi) - both peripatetic communities settled in Ichalkaranji town. The Koravi engaged in textile weaving and established power loom weavers' cooperative society. The Kanjarbhats are engaged in illicit brewing, beggary, waste picking and seeking alms of paddy. The Kunchi Koravi is also known as Makadwale, a peripatetic community, settled in Sangli, which survives through piggery, waste picking, manual labour and illicit brewing. The members of the Phanse Paradhi (noose-hunter) community have settled in Uchagon. Now they work as textile workers, municipal sweepers and construction workers.69 Laxman Mane did a state level survey of denotified communities in 1997.70 The survey reported some significant settlements of denotified communities. The Waddars, stone workers, have settled in Shrirampur, Dhule and Pandharpur. They are occupied with the job of road construction and stone- mine digging. The Kanjarbhats have settled in Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Dhule and Hatkangale. Some of them were doing jobs in railwas and police department, while others were engaged in scrap collection and piggery. The Takari Bhamtas are settled in Latur and Sholapur as spinning mill labourers and masons. The Kaikadis are settled in Barshi, Ichalkaranji, Beed, Pandharpur and Sholapur. They survive through cultivation, agriculture labour, power loom work and mason work. The Kunchi Koravis are settled in Gadhinglaj, Kolhapur and Sangli and do the jobs of auto-rickshaw driving, tailoring, coolie, piggery and scrap collection. In another survey, Ramanath Chavan reported that the Kunchi Koravis (Makadwale) have settled in Hadpasar, a suburb of Pune, mobilized towards petty occupations and education. Women were working as haberdasher accompanying their men in economic activities.

Review of Literature The above mentioned phenomenon of occupational mobility has been made the subject matter of study by sociologists and social anthropologists. Since the settlement of the

B. S. Ghatage: Nomadic Tribes and Social Work in India, Shruti Publications, Jaipur, 2006, pp.51- 54. 1 Laxman Mane: Vimuktayan (Marathi), Yashavantrao Chavan Pratisthan, Mumbai, 1997. ' Ramanath Chavan: Bahtakya-Vimuktanche Antarang (Marathi), Manovikas Prakashan, Mumbai, 2003, pp. 90-95.

24 nomadic communities and their movement towards the adoption of new jobs, several studies on occupational mobility have examined the changing occupational pattern among nomadic communities in the process of modernization. Taking into consideration the nomadic life of the Kaikadis, some studies on ex-criminal and nomadic communities are with regard to their occupational changes, its impact on the lives of those families and contributing factors to certain changes in their social status. The following is the survey of studies, which exhibits some trends of mobility patterns.

Malli Gandhi (2007) has studied the settlement of ex-criminal communities in Andhra Pradesh.72 The study reveals that the Criminal Tribes Act and the colonial settlement ruined the culture of civility and sociability. However, the reformative institutes such as the Salvation Army, the London Mission and the American Baptist Mission have played major roles in the settlement of ex-criminals. These reformatory institutes provided employment opportunities to the adults and education to their children. The government supported these institutes. The agricultural and industrial settlements established by the government and run by the reformatory institutes contributed to the socio-economic settlement of these people. In the post-independence period, for ex-criminal communities, the Indian government has implemented several welfare schemes of offering agricultural loans, loans for pastoral activities and school education. These programmes helped the ex-criminals with schooling of children, taking up of agricultural activities, manual labour for building and road construction, doing government jobs as teachers and police, etc. Also, they have become conscious of their development and political rights. Besides, community organization and co-operative participation have created awareness among the ex-criminals and helped their upliftment.

M.S. Mahendrakumar (2006) has studied social and cultural change among the Yadava, a pastoral nomadic community of Kerala.73 Cattle's rearing was the traditional

12 Malli Gandhi: Progress made in the Settlements ofDenotified Tribes: A Case Study of Andhra Pradesh. This paper was presented in National Seminar on Denotified Nomadic Tribes: issues and Perspective organized by Department of Sociology, University of Pune, 4 & 5 January 2007. 73 M. S. Mahendrakumar: "Yadava- A Pastoral Caste of Kerala", Anthropologist, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2006,

25 occupation of the Yadavas. The Yadavas migrated from Andhra before independence and settled in some towns, suburbs and townships. The decline of pastureland in the periphery of the townships forced them towards occupational mobility. The growth of urbanization and industrialization had brought various opportunities and promoted diversified economic activities. Educational institutions and industries have created new opportunities of employment for them. The cotton mill, wood industries, workshops, hotels, milk co-operative societies, transport generated several employment opportunities. The Yadavas were motivated to occupational mobility. Some of them were employed as head-loaders in shops, sellers of cattle feed, also in ration shops and general merchant shops. The development of the township created several opportunities for self-employment. Some of them started small business of petty shop, general merchant shop, hotels, etc. Some of them took up coolie work. Another consequence of industrialization and urbanization was that the occupational status of Yadava women changed. They were engaged as housemaid, employed in factory and in other shops such as tailoring.

B. Krishna Reddy (2005) observed occupational mobility among the Sugalis and its impact on their social life.74 The Sugali is an ex-criminal community in Andhra Pradesh. The Sugali is the regional term used for Lamani or Banjara community. Their traditional occupation was transportation of supplies or merchandise for the armies in the 17th century. The introduction of mechanized transport, metalled roads and rail lines by the British government forced them to give up their traditional occupation of transporting goods. After the loss of their traditional occupation, the Sugalis took up pastroralism and cultivation. The scholar has studied two settlements, namely, Alayabad Tanda and Lakshaiahkunta Tanda. The Sugalis (66.67%) of Alayabad adopted pastoralism as the primary occupation because of the prevailing ecological constraints, i.e., highly hilly nature of the surrounding area and limited cultivable land. The Sugalis of Lakshaiahkunta had adopted agriculture as a primary source of livelihood. Their pastoral economy was destroyed by the gradual decline in the population of cattle, lack

pp.83-87. 4 B. Krishna Reddy: op.cit.

26 of sufficient fodder, and deterioration of fodder. Limited soil and water resources compelled them to seek cultivation as a means of livelihood. The remaining families of both settlements depended on casual labour, attached agricultural labour, and firewood selling. Their family structure was also affected by their occupation. The pastoralist had nuclear families, while the cultivators had extended families. Thus, their family organization was influenced by the type of occupation.

B. G. Halbar (1986) has tried to trace the economic changes among the Lamanis of Savana and Havana settlement of the Dharwad district of Kamataka.75 The Lamanis are also known as Banjara. They were engaged as petty traders and transporters of supplies to the Moghuls. The study is based on the research conducted between 1967 and 1971, followed by occasional visits till the summer of 1983. The Lamanis lost their traditional calling of transporting merchandise on the back of pack-bullocks. After the introduction of mechanized transport and opening of railways and roads by the British Government, the process of peasantization took place among the Lamanis. For them, agriculture became the main occupation and agricultural wages became a secondary source of income. The high economic and social values attached to the possession of land motivated the Lamanis to accept agriculture as an occupation. Since they were working as annual servants in the house of non-Lamani agriculturists, it enabled some to accumulate savings to become tenant-cultivators or owner-cultivators. These annual servants not only learnt agricultural operations but also imbibed the ways of life of the dominant communities in the mode of food preparation, speech and thought-patterns, values and beliefs. The role of reformers is also important in desisting the Lamanis from stealing habits, availing themselves of the school and college education facilities, joining government services, adopting a simple dress for women and discontinuance of levirate and polygamous marriages. The low literacy level among the Lamanis is because of the lack of educational facilities in the locality above primary education. The Lamanis have not made much progress in agriculture because of the lack of capital for inputs, partly ignorance and partly red tapism in administration. Contact with cities and towns resulted in 'degenerative changes* such as the weakening of their traditional

75 B. G. Halbar: op.cit.

27 social control agencies and values, thus creating new social problems such as illicit distillation and the sale of liquor.

Robert Gabriel Varady (1979) has studied occupational changes among the Banjaras of North India. Banjara was nomadic, a gypsy community. They were teamsters and transporters. By the Mughal period, they were renowned as skilled transport workers and grain sellers. They used oxen for trade puiposes. In the British period, technological improvements in transportation adversely affected their trade. Metalled roads, the railway system and the commissariat of British rule eclipsed the activities of the Banjaras as a large-scale transporter. In the nineteenth century, the Banjaras had taken up farming and cattle raising to ensure their survival and hence permanently settled. Varady observed that the development of the cattle trade helped many Banjaras to eke out their living. The animals they possessed became objects of trade. The Banjaras adopted the occupation of the purchase and sale of cattle used for agriculture purposes. Their business experience helped their occupational mobility.

Ajay Kumar (2004) examined the development and social mobility among the Lahulis of Himachal Pradesh.77 The Lahuli was an unstable nomadic community. Due to drastic ecological conditions, the Lahulis had to move out of their region every year to earn a livelihood. The absence of regular income was a problem for most of the people. After independence, the process of development started. Kumar observed that development and upward social mobility occurred primarily due to their peculiar community structure, committed leadership and co-operative participation in development. Dedicated community leadership played a significant role in improving the tribal status of the Lahulis. Reservation of seats under the protective discrimination policy facilitated their education and occupational mobility. Transportation facilities in their region resulted in progressive farming. The joint family and kinship network has also played a constructive role in the mobility and development of the members of the Lahuli

6 Robert Gabriel Varady: op.cit. 77 Ajay Kumar: "Development and Social Mobility among the Lahulis of Himachal Pradesh", Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 53, No. 2, 2004, pp.222-237.

28 community. Because of the process of development, the Lahulis moved from traditional occupations of trading, mule keeping for transportation and manual labour to the modern occupations such as horticulture, services in public sector, tourism based occupations, business and hotel industry. A significant number of Lahulis (44.66%) became class I/II and class III government servants. And, some have become orchardists. Thus, both inter-generational and intra-generational upward mobility is observed as having taken place in the community.

G. Eswariadh (2002) has studied social mobility among the Bahurupias, a nomadic community of Andhra Pradesh.78 The traditional occupation of Bahurupias is begging, singing and street playing with oral folk plays, oral epic plays and local historical plays. They are nomadic entertainers. Due to their occupation, they move with families through villages. The study reveals that the community occupation could not provide sufficient income as the electronic media encroached upon their plays. At present, most of the Bahurupias are of semi-nomadic nature and practice non-community jobs. The migration from villages to Hyderabad city is an important factor for their occupational mobility. The author observed that 61.7% respondents moved towards non-traditional occupations. A majority of them had unskilled jobs (self-employment) and non­ government semi-skilled jobs. The unskilled jobs included construction labour; selling utensils or old clothes, vegetables, fruits and flowers; rearing pigs, repairing umbrellas and plastic goods; working as cook; catching and selling crabs. The non-government semi-skilled jobs include civil contract, factory work, auto-driving, painting and cycle repairing, etc. A few persons (7.14%) were in government jobs. The study observed that inter-generational occupational mobility was rapid across generations. The rate of occupational mobility was 74.7% among the respondent generation compared to 9.1% in the fathers* generation. In the sons' generation, it was highest, i.e.95.3%. However, due to illiteracy and less education, a majority of them were engaged in manual, unskilled and semi-skilled tiresome jobs.

8 G. Eswariah: "Social Mobility of Nomadic: Bahurupias in the Hyderabad Twin Cities", Man in India, Vol. 82, Nos.l&2, 2006, pp.231-241.

29 V. Lalita (1995) has studied the process of transition and change among the Yerukalas of Kapparallatippa and Sitanagaram villages in Andhra Pradesh. Due to the introduction of railways, their traditional occupation of salt trading received a setback. Some of them were inclined towards criminal activities. Both in pre-independence and post- independence period, the government introduced a number of rehabilitative measures to wean them away from crime. Government programmes such as land for cultivation and better irrigation facilities resulted in a positive change in the lives of ex-criminals. The role of administrators, teachers, social workers and social reformatory institutions was found to have become crucial in the settlement of ex-criminal tribes. Effective implementation of welfare schemes could be possible due to the responsible role of administrators and social activists. Reformatory institutions provided education and employment to these people. As a result, the Yerukulas took up the job of coolie, watchman, lorry driver and rickshaw puller. Some of them shifted towards agricultural • • • 79 activities.

Meena Radhakrishna (1989) has focused on the changes in the position of women according to the changing socio-economic status of the Yerukulas in the Madras Presidency in the colonial period. Yerukula was a criminal community. The Yerukulas were earning their livelihood as small traders. Trading of grain and salt was the primary source of livelihood. As a supplementary activity, they were making mats and baskets. The community was intact as an economic unit. The Yerukula women participated in every trading operation and had high status. In the early 19l century, with the introduction of railways, metalled roads, salt policy and forest policy of the British government destroyed the traditional trade practices of the community. The Yerukula women were forced to work in the Indian Leaf Tobacco Development Company under the settlement programme. This new economic role created a new division of labour affecting women's honour and dignity. The Yerukula women lost their autonomy in the household.

79 V. Lalita: The Making of Criminal Tribes: Patterns and Transition, New Era Publication, Madras, 1995. 80 Meena Radhakrishna: "From Tribal Community to Working Class Consciousness", Economic and Political Weekly, April 29, 1989. pp.ws-2-5.

30 C. H. Rudolf and Rahul Srivastava (1994) have studied the identity issue concerning the case of the Kathakari nomads in Raigarh district of Maharashtra.81 The study explains that the factors such as industrialization, urbanization, education, government's need based action oriented plans, welfare programmes, the activities of the missionaries and non-government welfare agencies were instrumental in the economic upliftment of the Kathakari tribe. Scholars observed that the ethnic identity helped them to stand against their marginalization and achieve more equitable justice. In addition, they found that some members of the Kathakari tribe had adopted industrial jobs.

C. P. Vithal (1992) has studied the socio-economic conditions and the process of transformation of the Chenchus in Andhra Pradesh. Chenchu is a hunter-gatherer wandering tribe, which depends exclusively on nature for food. Due to the impact of the rehabilitation programme launched by the government, they have shifted to agriculture, cattle rearing and wage labour. The forest department employed a small number of them as plantation workers, guards, peons, watchmen, headmen, etc. The government has provided houses, arable lands and other infrastructural facilities such as roads, drinking water, electricity, primary school, irrigation wells under the IRDP programme. The rehabilitation programme has resulted in not only occupational mobility among the Chenchus but it has also created positive attitude towards small family structure/size and education. Thus, the adoption of the small family norm and schooling of children were the signs of positive changes among the Chenchus.82

D. N. Majumdar and B. Datta Ray (1984) have studied occupational mobility among the Khasi, Pnar and Garo tribes in the towns of Shillong, Jowai and Tura in Meghalaya.83 These agriculturist tribes have taken up white-collar jobs as well as other skilled and semi-skilled jobs such as those of the carpenter, smith, mechanic, welder, etc. Higher

r ?, ' Rudolf Heredia and Rahul Srivastav: Tribal Identity and Minority Status- The Kathakari Nomads in Transition, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1994. 8: C. P. Vithal: "Socio-economic Transformation of a Primitive Tribal Group: A Study of Chenchus in Andhra Pradesh", Man in India, Vol.72, No. 2, 1992, pp. 189-206. 83 D. N. Majumdar and B. Datta Ray: Tribal Occupational Mobility, Research India Publications, Calcutta, 1984.

31 education facilities, opportunities for more jobs, reservations in government jobs, growth of market centre, the administrative centre and the centre of traditional handicrafts were the stimulating factors for their occupational mobility. The study also recorded that the lowering of the mobility was due to the stiffness of the employment market.

Chandrashekhar Bhat (1984) has studied the Waddar community of Siddapur in Mysore district.84 The study is based on the research conducted between January 1968 and March 1971. The Waddars belong to a nomadic category of several sub-divisions such as Kullu Waddar (stone workers), Mannu Waddar (earth workers) and Uppu Waddar (salt trader). He has examined the whole process of their sedenterization, and its economic and social consequences. According to him, the Waddars in Karnataka emerged as an ethnic group in their effort to achieve upward social mobility through reform and protest led by school-teachers. Bhat shows that ethnicity and social mobility are interrelated. The Waddars have a legendary history of their origin claiming a Kshatriya status, the basis of their ethnic identity being shared by all sub-castes. Ethnic identity and sedenterization helped their political mobilization and the formation of caste association, which inspired the members to take the advantage of educational opportunities to diversify their occupations. Their association played an important role in bringing together the Waddars of diverse occupations and giving them an ethnic identity. Social activists propagated the life-style of twice-born castes and established a network of educational institutions and hostels for boys and girls. All these efforts have led to the upward occupational mobility of the Waddars and the emergence of elites. The Uppu Waddars had pursued the occupation of trade in salt, tamarind and ropes. By the turn of the 20 century, they found it difficult to make a living on their meagre income from a petty trade. They, therefore, had to search for other occupations because the demand for their trading commodities suffered a decline. Consequently, they were forced to move to towns and cities to seek their livelihood. With no special skill or

Chandrashekhar Bhat: Ethnicity and Mobility Emerging Ethnic Identity and Social Mobility among the Waddars of South India, Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1984.

32 experience, the Uppu Waddars had no choice except to seek the lower ranking occupation of sweeper, which resulted in their downward social mobility. The stable income and job security in the sweeping occupation was the reason for their job acceptance. On the other side, the Kullu Waddars and the Mannu Waddars diversified their interest by taking up agriculture. They shifted towards agriculture because it was a source of stable income and an occupation ranked higher than their traditional occupations of stonework and earthwork. In addition, having the background of the benefits of a setiled life, they developed close contacts with the agriculturist through constructing irrigation tanks, sinking wells and providing stones required for house building. They received the services of barbers and washer-men on various social and ritual occasions. Thus, they took up new jobs of sweeper, maistries, coolie, gare working (work concerned with plastering of walls and cementing), petty trade, agriculture, driving, teaching, etc.

P. K. Bhowmick (1981) has discussed the issue of rehabilitation of the Lodhas, an ex- criminal community in West Bengal. He has made a comparative analysis of rehabilitation project set up by the government and Action Anthropologist, a voluntary organization. He observed that the Government launched project failed and the project started by Action Anthropologists was successful. The Lodhas became self-employed. Action Anthropologist, an organization of social scientists, set up a colony for the Lodhas. To promote education among the children, a school building and a hostel were erected and educational facilities were provided. Special efforts were taken to encourage the Lodhas into agriculture. A model nursery to supply plants, improved seeds and other inputs were made available to them. Apart from these programmes, to make them self-supporting, cottage industries such as mat-making, tailoring, weaving and carpentry were started. The organization arranged dance, drama and many other social functions to keep their interest in education and their morale up. The Lodhas participated in radio, television programmes and other cultural activities, both at the state and the national levels. The author underlines the direct participation of social

85 P. K. Bhowmick: •'Rehabilitation of A 'Denotified Community' - The Ex-criminal Lodhas of West Bengal", Rain, No.44, Jun, 1981, pp.6-8.

33 scientists and voluntary organizations in the development programmes for the denotified communities.

Anosh Malekar and Radheshyam Jadhav (2007) reported a social transformation among the Masan Jogis of Shegaon in Maharashtra.86 Mason Jogi is a nomadic community which survives by performing rituals and begging in the name of gods. Traditionally, they have been living in crematoriums. They used to eat the offerings that come with the dead bodies and wear clothes made of shrouds. In Marathi language, masan means crematory. The Masanwada settlement was established with straw huts in 1962. The process of transformation has taken place in the last decade. Laxman Mane, a social- activist-writer, motivated the Masan Jogis to give up begging and earn money with dignity - while the old generation abides by tradition, the youth is engaged in petty jobs and ventures. Most of the Mason Jogi youths were engaged in scrap collection. They are inclined to the schooling of their children. Laxman Mane appealed to these people for mass conversion to Buddhism and they embraced it. With occupational transformation and embracing of Buddhism, they were seeking social acceptance. However, not a single person has benefited from welfare schemes and development programmes of the government since 1962.

V. A. Sangave (1967) has studied social change among the Paradhis of Kolhapur in Maharashtra. Paradhi is one of the ex-criminal communities. He observed the process of transition among the Paradhis in Kolhapur. The study reveals that in the pre- independence period, Shahu Chhatrapati, the Maharaja of Kolhapur, had taken the initiative for their development and settlement. His government had constructed houses to settle them. He had employed them in his state service. He admitted their children in boarding houses. Thus, the royal patronage of Shahu Maharaja played a crucial role in their settlement. After independence, both state and central governments launched several welfare schemes for their improvement. The government provided agriculture

86 Anosh Malekar and Radheshyam Jadhav: "Masan Jogis: Faulting on Faith", The Indian Express, 3 June 2007. 8 V. A. Sangave: "Phanse Paradhis of Kolhapur: A Tribe in Transition", Sociological Bulletin, Vol.16, No.l, 1967, pp. 81-81 & Vol. No. 2, 1967, pp.67-76.

34 land, housing, education and cottage industries. The author pointed out that the agricultural settlement failed but the Paradhis moved towards lower rungs of occupations such as dairying, poultry-keeping, connecting steel pipes, fine-metal breaking and employment in textile mills or engineering workshops. The author also noted the role of voluntary agencies in the settlement of Phanse-Paradhis. Besides, social workers and social work associations contributed to the upliftment of Phanse- Paradhis. They have founded educational institutions such as a balwadi and a primary school and set up a labour contract co-operative society.

Girish Prabhune (2006), a social activist in Maharashtra, has narrated his experience with the Paradhis. Prabhune has worked for the rehabilitation of Paradhis for the last 20 years at Yamagarwadi and Magar-sangavi located in Tulajapur, a taluka in Osmanabad district. Prabhune and his colleagues formed the 'Bhatake-Vimukta Vikas Parishad' for rehabilitation and development of the Paradhis. Prabhune maintains that the intervention of social activists and the positive role of administrative officers and police officials was most important in the settlement of Paradhis. The permanent shelter, sustainable livelihood, Ashram schools for education of their children and acceptance by civil society were crucial components in their settlement. Through the establishment of'Swami Vivekanand Udhyoga Sanstha' they launched several training programmes such as bakery products manufacturing, tailoring, weaving, crust and condiment making, etc. For training programme and marketing of manufactured articles, they channelized their programmes with the consumer stores in Pune and Khadi Gramodhyoga Corporation of the state government. As a result, many members of the community were weaned away from criminal activities and became self employed. They engaged in manufacturing and selling of bakery products. Their women engaged in weaving, tailoring and manufacturing of crust and condiment etc. Their children had education in Ashram shala and some of them were admitted to higher education in colleges in Pune. Considering their mobile life, the parishad started 'Palawarachi Anubhav Shala'^9 in 2002 with the help of Industrial Technical Institutes. These

88 Girish Prabhune: Paradhi (Marathi), Rajahans Prakashan, Pune, 2006. 89 Pal is a tentative shelter of nomadic communities. These are the mobile technical and vocational

35 attempts were successful at some level to motivate the Paradhis to take up modern jobs. Taking into account their stigma, non-acceptance by caste society and tortuous approach of police officials, Prabhune underlines the active, participatory and engaged intervention by activists for rehabilitation and development of Paradhis. The above reviewed studies have been presented below in the tabular form. Table 1.1 Occupational Mobility At A Glance

Community Determinant Nature of Change Dommarar Role of Reformative institutions Mobilized towards manual Dasaries Government welfare programmes labour and semi skilled Koracha Role of community organization & government jobs participation in cooperatives

Yadava Decline of pastureland Took up unskilled self- employment and service jobs Sugali Lost the traditional petty trading due to the Became peasant and wage Lamani development of modern transportation earners Banjara Took up farming, cattle raising and its trade Lahuli Protective discrimination policy & Became orchardist and taken up committed leadership professional government jobs Bahurupis Loss of traditional jobs forced to migrate Mobilized towards unskilled to city (self-employment) and non government semi-skilled jobs

Kathakari Role of missionaries and non-government Shifted towards jobs in local welfare organizations industries Chenchu Government welfare programmes Became fanner and wage Yerukula labourer Khasi, Pnar, Reservation policy & Marketing Took up government and skilled Garo handicrafts jobs

training Schools {Shah), which gives practical knowledge to students at their tentative shelter (Pal).

36 Waddar Role of Community organisation Accepted casual jobs Lodha Initiative of social scientists Took up education and semi­ skilled self-employment

Masan-Jogi Role of social activist helped giving up Took up unskilled manual work begging Inclined to schooling of children Paradhi Reformer King"s role for settlement & Took up semi-skilled jobs, giving jobs, unskilled and semi-skilled self- Social activist's initiative employment

From the above survey of studies, one may come to the conclusion that the state welfare programmes and protective discrimination policy have played a significant role in the occupational mobility of the nomadic communities. The studies on Lahuli, Khasi, Pnar, Garo, Chenchu, Domar, Dasaries, Koracha, Yerukula and Paradhi communities suggest that government policy is important in the settlement of nomadic communities. Lahuli and Khasi, Pnar and Garo communities have achieved higher level of mobility through education for government jobs and acquiring skill to become orchardist. Most of the studies show lower level of mobility towards wage labour, manual labour, unskilled and semi-skilled self employment. Some have become clerk, teacher and police which indicates the mobility to middle level jobs.

The role of community activists, social workers, community organizations and voluntary social organizations also proved to be a prime factor in the motivation of nomadic people towards social mobility. Social activists inspired the people of Lodha and Masan-Jogi communities to educate their children for service jobs.

In the process of modernization, the communities who suffered moved towards farming as peasant, pastoralist, wage labour, and self-employment of unskilled nature. The communities such as Yadava, Bahurupis. Yerukula women and Banjara (Sugali and

37 Lamani) have been negatively affected by the process of modernization. Thus, the mobility of all these communities exhibits only at the lower level.

Although education is a significant determinant of occupational mobility in modern times, it had a limited role in the occupational mobility among nomadic communities. Only well-settled agriculturists and relatively economically better off, obtained service jobs through education. Lack of education or low level of education, absence of skill and experience are some of the limitations in their occupational mobility. As a result, for a large number of people belonging to nomadic communities the lower level of mobility demonstrates a trend.

The Subject Matter of Inquiry In this study, the topic of inquiry is occupational mobility among the individuals of the Kaikadi community. The community was notified as a criminal tribe in the colonial period was stigmatized. Afterwards, their assimilation and integration in caste society became complicated. They faced several problems concerning their survival and settlement. In this background, the universe of the study is Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. It has a historical background of the social reform movement. It is known by the activities of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaja (1874-1922). He was revolutionary. He had taken the initiative for educational, industrial, agricultural development. He had taken special efforts for the inclusion of backward classes in the process of development. He raised the aspirations of the backward classes by introducing social legislations. His policies were not confined merely to caste people - he patronized the nomadic communities too. While the nomadic communities were ostracized as criminal tribe all over India, Chh. Shahu began to assimilate and settle them permanently. After Shahu, the social movement in Kolhapur has been led by Marxist, Phule-Ambedkarite and Lohiaite activists.

After independence, the government of Maharashtra has launched several welfare schemes for the development of denotified-nomadic communities. The process of planned rehabilitation and assimilation of denotified-nomadic communities was started

38 in 1960. Along with the reservation of seats in government services and educational courses, the government provides financial assistance and organizes vocational training to encourage them for self-employment. The industrial growth of Kolhapur district directly or indirectly resulted in the growth of workers' population and self- employment. In the light of this historical background of Kolhapur district, the study has been undertaken to understand the occupational mobility of Kaikadis.

Since the researcher has conducted an investigation into the occupational changes of the Kaikadis in Kolhapur district, the next chapter dwells upon the occupational history of the Kaikadi community, Kolhapur city as a locale and the outline of research study.

39