Report of the Study on the Claims of Nayakas/ Naikpodu Community Residing in West Godavari and Krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam District of Telangana state for Continuation of ST Status to them By Prof. A.B.S.V. Ranga Rao Department of Social Work Andhra University, Visakhapatnam Report Submitted to Tribal Cultural Research & Training Institute (TCR&TI) Department of Tribal Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh Page | 1 Report of the Study on the Claims of Nayakas/ Naikpodu Community Residing in West Godavari and Krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam District of Telangana state for Continuation of ST Status to them By Prof. A.B.S.V. Ranga Rao Department of Social Work Andhra University, Visakhapatnam Research Team Dr. Mutluri Abraham Ms. Varudu Kamala Mr. Dakarapu Saroja Babu Mr. Lakkoju Simhachalam Page | 2 Acknowledgements I place it on record my deep sense of gratitude to the former Director of Tribal Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. M. Padma I.A.S., for assigning me this project. I am also grateful to the present Director Sri. Gandham Chandrudu I.A.S., for his cooperation. My sincere thanks are to Smt. Mandha Rani, Deputy Director (TCR&TI) who is instrumental in assigning the study to me. I thank Andhra Pradesh Adivasi Naikpodu Seva Sangham representatvies, Sri. Kasina Lakshmi Narayana, Sri. Appireddi Nagu and Sri. Ravula Satyanarayana for their continuous support to me in the collection of data in West Godavari, Krishna and Khammam Districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. I profusely thank Prof. P.D.Satya Paul Kumar for providing me lot of insights and suggestions which helped me to complete ethnographical study of the Nayak Community. I also thank Prof. G. Subhramanayam for his cooperation and guidance during the course of the study. I am thankful to Dakarapu Saroja Babu, Allamaraju Sree Rama Chandra Murthy for helping me in the collection of data for this study. I also thank Varudu Kamala and Dr. Mutluri Abraham in organizing the data and preparation of the report for this study. I am also thankful to Dr. Pentakota Kishore Kumar for helping me in all the studies. I undertook. This study would have not been possible without the cooperation and support of Naikpodu community people. I am grateful and thankful to all of them. Prof. A.B.S.V. RANGA RAO Department of Social Work Andhra University Visakhapatnam Page | 3 Contents Executive summary Chapter 1 Research Methodology Chapter 2 Ethnographic Profile of the Nayakas Chapter 3 Socio-economic profile of the Nayakas Chapter 4 Findings of the Focus Group Discussions Chapter 5 Scheduling a Community as a Tribe and the Case of Nayaks West Godavari and Krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh Annexure Marital Relations of Naikpodu Community Photos of Naikpodu Community Page | 4 Executive Summary of the findings of the study: First ever notification of the Scheduled Tribes was issued during the year 1950 by the Hon’ble President of India under article 342 (1). In this notification Nayakpodu was listed as serial no: 4 and this was appilicable to the state of Hyderabad. In 1956 Nayaks in the agency tracts was listed in ST list category through amendement to the SCs and STs orders (Amendament) Act, 1956 (25th Sept. 1956) with area restriction. In the same amendement Nayakpodu was included [S.No.3 (3)] in the districts of (Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Adilabad, Nijamabad, Medak, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda) along with Gond (including Naikpod and Rajgond) in 29th October 1956 with area restriction. In 1976 the list of STs was amended through SC, ST (Amendament act 1976) (18th September 1976) and by this amendament area restriction of Andhra and Telangana districts was removed for the Nayakpod communities. Thus Gond, Nayakpod, Rajagond communities were declared as Scheduled Tribes throughout the state of Andhra Pradesh. The Government of Andhra Pradesh in the G.O 245 dated 30th June 1977 issued guidelines and clarifications with regard to the any doubt arising out of confusion in the names of communities which are very similar. In annexure II serial number 19 it has been mentioned that Nayakapodu has synonyms castes like Nayak, Pandava Nayakulu, and Padma Nayakulu. They are one and the same. Based on the G.O 245 Nayaks residing in non-Agency areas have also been getting ST status based on the guidelines mentioned in serial number 19 of the guidelines of the G.O No. 245 and they continued enjoying ST status till 2014. In 2014 Joint Collector Dr. T.Baburaonaidu of West Godavari District sought clarification with regard to the status of Nayakpodu community people living in the agency areas of West Godavari district and the tribal welfare department conducted an ethnographic study on the claims of Nayak community for being considered as ST status. The study found that they do not belong to Nayakpodu tribe but Nayak community and they being the residents of plain areas they are not entitled to get ST community certificates. In pursuance of the study the compitant authorities stopped issuance of ST certificates to the people of Nayakulu or Nayaks claiming as Nayakpodu from Chintalapudi and T.Narsapuram mandal Vissannapeta and Chatarai mandal of Krishna District. Page | 5 Nayaks/ Naikpodu community of West Godavari and Krishna Districts have submitted a number of representations to the authorities to restore the ST status to them. Against this background the study has been given to Andhra University to conduct an ethnographic study of the Nayakulu or Nayakpodu community living in the West Godavari and Krishna Districts. The study was undertaken in the months of July 2017 and report was submitted to the Tribal Welfare Department in January, 2018 and the Department requested the University to restudy taking into consideration the land records, Birth and death records and school admisions records. The Documentary evidence like school admission records, Revenue records show that the community is written as “Nayak/Nayakulu” before 1976. After 1976 in the school admission records and revenue records they have been mentioned as Nayak with ST in the brackets and in some records they have been written as Naikpod. As per the SCs and STs (Modification) order 1956 the Nayak tribe was restricted to agency areas only. The community under study being the residents of non-agency area they are not tribes. The findings of ethnographic and socio-economic study (Which have been mentioned in second and third chapter) show that the Nayak community satisfies the criteria specified by the Lokur committee to be eligible for inclusion in ST list. The study recommends removal of area restriction for Nayak communities as it was done in the case of Gond, Naikpod and Rajgond in 1976 through SCs and STs Amendement Act 1976. The case of Nayak community living in West Godavari and Krishna Districts for the status of ST was examined based on the ethnographic profile of Nayaks of plain area living adjacent to the agency areas and Nayaks of agency areas and Nayakpod community in Khammam district. All these three communities have similarities in their culture, political organization, Social organization, practice of tribe/caste endogamy and religious practices. The fact that the three communities are similar and synonyms have been endorsed or acknowledged by the guidelines issued in annecure II of the G.O.No:245 of 1977 and in item no. 19 it has been clearly mentioned that Naikpod, Nayak, Pandava Nayakulu and Padma Nayakulu are one and the same. Based on these guidelines the present community is eligible to enjoy the benefits of ST status. Page | 6 Chapter I Research Methodology Context of the study The present ethnographic study on Nayak/Naikpodu community living in West Godavari, Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam District of Telangana has been undertaken in the background of discontinuance of ST status to the Nayak community. Available literature on Nayak/Naikpodu in the form of books, research articles, reports and representations have been reviewed. Some of the important references that formed the basis of the study are castes and tribes of southern India by Thurston (1909) and published articles on Nayak/Naikpodu by Dr. K. Mohanrao and Dr. Pratap. These provide insights into the cultural aspects of the community. Representations of Nayaks community resisting the discontinuance of ST status to them have been studied. With this backdrop a holistic ethnographic study has been conducted encompassing the following aspects. The cultural aspects of Nayaks, the social organization and the social institutions like family, marriage, economic and political organization and religion with an emphasis on non-material aspects of culture such as their myths of origin, social norms, values, life cycle rituals and symbols were studied. The position of Nayakas in multi-caste villages, social hierarchy, and nature of their integration and assessment of socio-economic conditions of the community were analyzed. Page | 7 Objectives of the study The following are the objectives of the study: i) To study the ethnographic aspects of Nayak/ Naikpodu community of West Godavari and Krishna Districts and the adjoining district of Khammam in Telangana state ii) To analyze present socio-economic situations based on the findings of Focus Group Discussions iii) To assess their claims for ST status in terms of Lokur Committee criteria. Methodology The study has been conducted in 18 villages of West Godavari, Krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam District of Telangana state. Qualitative methods of data collection like Focus Group Discussions with the community were employed to collect data for the study. The data was collected in the month of July. For conducting Focus Group Discussion a check list has been prepared covering different themes related to culture, socio-economic, political and religious organizations of the community.