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Gujjars move high-power panel

Special Correspondent

‘Demand justified as community fulfills the criteria for Scheduled Tribe status’

JAIPUR: The Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, spearheading an agitation for getting Scheduled Tribe status for Gujjars in Rajasthan, on Monday submitted a voluminous petition to the State Government’s high-powered committee looking into the demand. The three-member committee is headed by Justice Jasraj Chopra, a retired Judge of the Rajasthan High Court.

The petition, making out a case for treating Gujjars as a tribe rather than an Other Backward Class, was accompanied by a large number of affidavits and supporting documents.

It said the Gujjars’ demand was justified as the community fulfilled the five criteria laid down for providing quota as an ST.

Samiti convenor Kirori Singh Bainsla said Gujjars expected justice from the committee after their “prolonged battle for a rightful share in jobs and education”: “There is a strong case for shifting Gujjars from OBC to ST category. We expect the committee to examine the issue in its entirety,” he said.

The Samiti has compiled a report covering 40 Gujjar-dominated villages across the State, providing details about residential status, occupation, ownership of land and the way of life of the community.

Gujjar leaders said the report had been prepared on the basis of a comprehensive questionnaire sent to the community members. Those responding were asked whether they had fertile land or wasteland, whether they lived in forests, whether they resolved their disputes through caste panchayats or sought the help of the judicial system, and did they go to doctors or depended on the traditional systems of medicine?

The documents appended to the petition tried to establish that Gujjars’ lifestyle, such as having cattle rearing as the source of livelihood instead of agriculture, made them fit to be officially recognised as a tribe needing reservation for joining the national mainstream.

However, the establishment of the committee has since been challenged in the Rajasthan High Court with the contention that the State Government, having no authority to appoint it, could only consult the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes on the policy matter. The High Court issued notices on the writ petition this past week.

The committee was appointed on June 4 this year, when the State Government reached an agreement with the representatives of Gujjars after a violent weeklong agitation. The two sides had agreed that further action on the demand would be taken after the panel gives its opinion.

The committee, comprising renowned sociologist Yogesh Atal as its Member and a senior IAS officer, T. Srinivasan, as its Member-Secretary, was asked to submit its report within three months. The committee had recently asked the citizens at large to submit their memoranda and representations.

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