• by IPS Correspondents (new delhi)
• Saturday, November 26, 1994
• Inter Press Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 26 (IPS) - The death of more than 100 men, women and children belonging to one of India's indigenous communities in a stampede this week is just another instance of state apathy toward the country's millions of tribal people, say activists.

Non-government organisations (NGOs) representing tribal interests say indigenous communities have got a raw deal from the government that has not done much to improve the lives of tribal people.

"Today, tribals are being integrated into mainstream society as suppliers of raw materials and cheap labour," says well-known social scientist Walter Fernandes, a member of the Indian Council of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (ICITP).

'We are demanding indigenous status for all tribal groups not just because of chronological reasons but because of survival reasons," he adds.

Indeed, the more than 40,000 Gowaris -- many of them women and children who had gathered Thursday in Nagpur, winter capital of the western state of Maharashtra, were pressing for their inclusion in the official list of tribes.

But disaster struck after police fired in the air and charged into the crowd that had grown restive during a four-hour wait to be allowed to present a note to the state chief minister.

"Our community will teach this government a lesson. Instead of making adequate arrangements, the police pounced on children and women," tribal leader Sudhakar Gajbe, who lost three family members in the stampede, has been quoted saying by reports from Nagpur.

Several civil rights groups and NGOs now want the Maharashtra government to own responsibility for it and resign.

The 1.5 million Gowari tribe, like most other indigenous people who comprise almost a tenth of the nearly 900 million Indians, are among the most marginalised groups in the country.

Mainly cow herders who do not even own livestock but tend cattle belonging others, the Gowaris have been demanding tribal status for more than 20 years. This would entitle them to quotas in government jobs and educational institutions.

Very few Gowaris are educated and their leader Gajbe is one of just 200 members of the tribe with government jobs.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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