LAMBADAS

Nov. 10, 2018

From the last one year, there is a continuous conflict between the Adivasi tribes in Telangana and the Lambadas primarily over share of government benefits.

About the tribes:

Gonds

· The Gond people are Adivasis, originally believed to have spread from central India, to parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

· They have a sizable population and a long history of settlement in Telangana and are listed as Scheduled Tribes (ST).

· The Gond people primarily speak Dravidian languages.

Lambadas

· Lambadas are also known as Lambadis; Banjaras; Banjara Lambadas.

· Banjara Lambadas are a community that settled across the Indian subcontinent, from the state of Rajasthan.

· While they are listed as Backward Class (BC) or Other Backward Class (OBC) in some states, they are listed as Scheduled Caste (SC) or ST in other states.

Conflict:

The conflict started last year when Telangana government began recruiting through the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC), in which Lambadas were recruited in large numbers.
The Gonds, have been demanding that the state and Central government must remove Lambadas from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. Their arguments are:
- Outsider tag: The Lambada Banjaras come from Maharashtra and settle in Telangana district and are availing all the government benefits although they are not locals.
- No uniformity in reservation status: In Maharashtra, Lambadas are in BC category but in Telangana they are in ST category.
- Backdoor entry: The Lambadas were included in the ST list only in 1976 in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh through an ordinance and thus it has been dubbed as a 'backdoor entry'.