Exploitation of tribal women: a reminiscence of british rule in india

Marriage in India, though a social institution, its dynamics are not restricted to just social only as economic and political dimensions are also involved. To the extent that in earlier days, marriage used to be for political alliances and gains, for example, the matrimonial alliances between Rajputs and Mughals are testimony to this statement. Further, the exchange of gifts in marriage depicted the economic value of marriage which took on the ugly form of dowry and made it as a social evil. Today, girls are traded off in Perna community, one of the De-notified and Nomadic tribes (DNTs) in exchange of money. The age is no consideration as in the young age of 12- 13 years, this trade off happens for the sake of money. Immediately, after the birth of the first child, the women are thrown into prostitution. The DNT is a new nomenclature to tribes once, termed as “criminals” under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871 of the British, they were termed as criminals due to their engagement in criminal activities like stealing, smuggling, robbery etc.

Perna tribes are well aware of their fate and this is a kind of recovery of their bride price paid to the parents of girls. The household burden gets supplemented by burden of economics and they become the bead earners of family too. Shame on the male chivalry who claim themselves as protectors of women as they mercilessly thrive on the income of their women. These women are subjected to unprotected sex everyday and become victims of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Spread into the regions of Delhi and Haryana, Indian government must look into the pathetic conditions of Perna and other tribes who face the same plight. The British rule is over but their efforts of strengthening the colonial empire had left these women suffering as a economic compulsion had become an age-old practice for them, to which there is no turning back.

The Criminal Tribes Act no. XXVII of 1871 elaborated, “if the local out has reason to believe that any tribe gang or class of persons is addicted to the systematic commission of non variable offices, it may report the case of someone or general in council , and may request his permission to declare such gang or class to be a criminal tribes”. At the outset, it may be emphasized that cult devoted to the worship of Kali has been operating with impurity in the Indian region even before arrival of British. To bring law and order in colonial administration, such as act was passed. The sociologists and historians like Meena Radha Krishna , David Arold and Ramnarayan Rawat have done extensive and in-depth analysis and review of these tribes. These tribes majorly belonged to the lower strata of society. In the year 1952, the Act was repealed and the criminal tribes were de-criminalized. According to Subir Rana, author on the subject mentions in his article Nomadism, Ambulation and the 'Empire'(Transience 2011, Volume 2, Issue 2) that the act was applied to Northwest Provinces, Oudh and Punjab and later in 1911, a revised version was applied to whole of India which included the Bombay and Madras Presidencies.

As reported in outlookindia.com, the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in the year 2007 asked Indian government to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act. The following year, the National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNSNT) recommended reservations to around 11 crore people falling under the De-notified, Nomadic or Semi-nomadic tribe categories, as available to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The commission also pointed out that the government should be facilitating the settlement of such tribes. The listing of Perna tribes for providing educational facilities by website of Haryana government may come as a sigh of relief http://haryanascbc.gov.in/. But the journey is to be yet completed. I, as a sociologist, propose the following recommendations for the welfare of the Perna and other tribes who are in clutches of age-old exploitative social practices in the name of community traditions:

1. A listing of all criminal tribes who are engaging their women in prostitution before and after marriage

2. Creating a portal for registration of such women so that we can have their exact statistics for planning research and welfare initiatives

3. A social-economic profiling of such tribes after listing to understand their present conditions

4. Creating alternative means of livelihood for these tribes in order to rehabilitate them economically which in turn will result in their political and social empowerment.

5. Dealing the age- old practice as strictly illegal and unlawful to put a stoppage on the same.

6. Review of their physical and mental health to be carried out in order to assess their overall health status

It is high time we must come out of the shambles of legacies of British rule and go for detailed review and amendments in our Constitution. The acts and legislations which were enacted by British and became the root cause of exploitation for tribal women must be eradicated or at least be amended as the very purpose and rationale for bringing such legislations have changed. We owe this change for betterment of the women of our nation.

(This article is written by Dr. Priyanka Jain, Assistant Professor (Sociology), Noida International University).