To highlight the plight of the Katkari Tribe, the Shramjeevi Organisation will hold a two-day protest featuring silent fasts and symbolic lamps, demanding land rights, unpaid wages, and dignity for the marginalised community.
About Katkari Tribe:
It is a primitive tribe found in Maharashtra (Pune, Raigad, and Thane districts) and parts of Gujarat.
It is one of the 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India.
They were historically forest dwellers.
Katkaris are also known as Kathodis because of their old occupation of making Katha (Catechu), the thickened sap from wood of Khair (Acacia catechu).
The Katkaris were also one of the few tribal communities of India that consumed rodents.
Many of them still live in their traditional huts made of bamboo and anything they can find in the forest.
Despite having a patriarchal system, it does not follow the joint family structure, preferring the nuclear family model.
Language:
They are bilingual, speaking the Katkari language amongst themselves and Marathi with others.
A few of them speak Hindi as well.
Occupation:
They serve as agricultural labourers and sell firewood and some jungle fruits.
They also take up fishing for domestic consumption, coal making, and brick manufacturing.
They have tremendous knowledge about uncultivated foods like fish, crabs, animals, birds, tubers/rhizomes, wild vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc.
A majority of the Katkari families are landless. The landless rate of 87% among the Katkari is much higher than 48% for rural households in India as a whole.
As a result of landlessness, migration is rampant, and livelihoods are seasonal.
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