STs warn of stir if Dhangars included in their category

Pune: Groups covered under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category have warned of agitations if Dhangars are included in their category. Leaders of these tribes said that Dhangars belong to a nomadic tribe and they shouldn’t be included in the ST category. All earlier reports by the tribal development department have said that Dhangars belong to the Nomadic Tribes (NT) category.

They also demanded that the state should make public the report of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) about the status of Dhangars.

The state government had recently announced that Dhangars would be added to the ST category and this proposal would be sent to the Central government. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also announced that the state would file an application in the high court, saying that the Dhangads — the 36th tribe in the ST list of the state  — are the same as the Dhangars.

 Associate professor of DY Patil College, Pune, Dr Sanjay Dabhade said, “The Tribal Research and Training Institute (TRTI) had done a study on the status of the Dhangar community in 2016. The study clearly says that Dhangars are a nomadic tribe and Dhangads are an ST. But the state doesn’t have Dhangads. Dhangars shouldn’t be given reservation in the ST category. The TRTI had submitted a report with the same findings earlier as well.”

He added, “The state government wanted Dhangars to be included in the ST category and hence Tata Institute of Social Sciences was asked to study the Dhangars to favour the community. As per a 1988 Government Resolution, the state shouldn’t assign a private organisation to find out the status of a community.”