The prospect of non-tribal people outnumbering Adivasis in the Agency areas of Adilabad district seems to be more real now than ever. The complete success of the October 13 bandh called by a non-tribal forum in the tribal belt is a pointer towards the population dynamics in the tribal mandals as it laid bare the fact that not even a single business outlet is owned by an Adivasi.
The event, organised by the Agency SC, ST, BC and Minority Aikya Vedika, to demand relaxation of the stringent AP Scheduled Areas Land Transfer Regulation 1959 and its Amendment 1 of 1970, made all concerned sit up and take note. They had their hackles raised because the large turnout for the event only meant that non-tribal people have grown in numbers in the agency tracts over the last few decades.
From a handful of ‘outsiders’ in the middle of last century, the population of non-tribal people and tribal people in the five fully scheduled mandals of Indervelli, Utnoor, Jainoor, Sirpur (U) and Narnoor, grew at 83,525 and 1,34,235 respectively (including the population of Lambada tribe living in plains) in 2011. In 2001, the number of non-tribal people was 68,095 against the tribal population of 1,10,181.
In Utnoor mandal, which is the centre of all tribal activity, non tribal people had outnumbered the tribal people in 2001, their respective population being 28,164 and 25,594 while the figures for 2011 Census has the populations at 30,467 and 32,988 (including Lambadas).
The decadal growth of population of the tribals at 24,054 in the area as against the 15,430 of non-tribal people indicated that the problem had decreased a bit, however, the proportion of the problem had seemingly gone out of the hand.
It may be mentioned here that the infamous Indervelli police firing of 1981 which left many tribal people from Gond community, dead was a failed effort by Adivasis to reclaim their lands occupied by non-tribal people in their area.
The problem however, had exercised even the likes of the famous anthropologist, Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf much before the Indervelli incident jolted the conscience of the world.
Among other things, Prof. Haimendorf noted that Gond village headmen leasing out their lands to non-tribal settlers in his book ‘Tribes of India -The Struggle For Survival’ Giving a specific example of Netnur village in Sirpur (U) mandal , the legendary anthropologist said in 1942, it was a habitation of 20 Gond homesteads, but became a compact village of 44 Gond and Pardhan houses by 1977.
He wrote to throw light on influx of non tribals.
“There were, moreover, two shops run by Muslims and a quarter inhabited by Banjaras (Banjaras were not included as STs at that time).”
Human Rights Forum secretary Atram Bhujang Rao says that the increase in non-tribal population in the agency area will be detrimental to the cause of Adivasis. “It is on numerical strength that non-tribal people can influence governments to amend laws,” he said.
