Demand for Tribal Status: Hattee Community of Himachal Pradesh (India)
Demand for Tribal Status: Hattee Community of Himachal Pradesh (India)
Introduction: In India, socio-cultural diversity is a distinguished feature. The word hattee is based on local dialect ‘haat’ which means bazaar or market. The term is in vogue for the people of Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh in Trans-Giri area. They find their ancestry to Pandavas of Epic age. The people used to sale or barter the essential items in those areas. The hattees have age-old relations with people of Jaunsar-Bawar of Uttrakhand state, who are enjoying the tribal status. Cultural similarity is a strong base to demand the tribal status. Geographically, entire area is hilly with least transport and communication facilities. To improve the economic standard, these people demanded the tribal status from Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. The Government considered their demand but the implementation of status is still hanging fire for various reasons.
Goals and Method: Constitutional benefits available to scheduled tribe people include the reservation in Government services, admission in educational institutions and assistance by central or state schemes. Hattee people are eager to avail all these benefits. But the matter is pending in High Court. The paper reviews their efforts for tribal status with related issues and hindrances. The research is based on Historical Method with primary and secondary sources of information.
Conclusions: The hattees adopted constitutional and peaceful ways to achieve the goal of the tribal status. They formed ‘Kendriya Hattee Smiti’ for the purpose. Their sincere efforts brought the positive results. Press played an effective role for awakening the people. The media highlighted the genuine demands of these people with ground reports. But the ‘Gujjars Social Welfare Council’ and ‘Trans-Giri Scheduled Caste’s Rights Committee’ have challenged the grant of Tribal status to hattee people.
Keywords: Sirmaur, Hattees, Trans-Giri, Tribal status.