Food favour

For 78 people from the Wanamare tribe, living in obscurity along the border of Bethora-Niranchal panchayat, the receipt of ration cards is a blessing. It should have happened earlier, but bureaucrats in the Civil Supplies Department who are sticklers for rules, ran into problems – the tribals did not have birth certificates of proof of residence. Forest dwellers rarely have proof of residence and the government ought to be a more lenient with them. However, all that is water down the Zuari river, now that these people have been brought under the National Food Security Act. The department had apparently received a request to inspect the area and this led to the discovery of 78 people who had been residing in the area for the last 25 to 30 years. It is surprising to learn that people without any identification papers still exist in Goa. The Wanamare tribe are forest dwellers who eke out a living by working in sugarcane fields. The next step would be to give them Aadhar cards so that they are brought into the mainstream and enjoy the benefits of every other scheme.

If the Wanamare tribe has remained backward and out of the system it is because they do not have political power. Their numbers are too small to interest political parties and caste politics keeps them on the fringe of the development process. The larger tribes – Gavvdas, Kunbis and Velips have enjoyed a certain measure of political power, but not enough to make a huge difference in their well-being. Although the tribal community comprises over 10 per cent of the population, political parties are reluctant to recognize this and reserve four seats in the State Assembly for them. If the large tribes have to fight for recognition, imagine what the Wanamare tribe has to do to get their due.

Goa’s tribal community, considered the original settlers of the State, have over the centuries lost control of the land to the upper castes and this was achieved through connivance with the erstwhile Portuguese rulers. The tribal community invented and followed the gaunkari system which was based on collective ownership of the land. This system was usurped by the Portuguese who converted it into communidades with a written code. Many see this as a good development, but for the tribal community it resulted in the loss of collective ownership of the land.

In return for the loss of land and the inequalities heaped on them, the tribal community should have been adequately compensated. Although states make allocations under the tribal sub plan in their annual budgets, the money does not always reach the intended beneficiary and is often siphoned off for other purposes. In February this year, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Modi government’s first budget, in which allocation under the tribal sub plan was brought down from Rs 26,715 crore in the previous year to Rs 19,980 crore. And the only explanation given was severe budgetary constraints. Is this inclusive growth?

The larger problem lies with implementation of schemes, accountability and diversion of funds. The Wanamare tribe might be grateful to the civil supplies department for including them in the public distribution system, but more has to be done and for this to happen the tribes must be sufficiently empowered, perhaps through reservation of seats in the Assembly and strict allocation of funds under the tribal sub plan.