Vulnerable Communities

Kalpana Kannabiran, professor and director at the Council for Social Development, Hyderabad, writes:

Results from a recent survey have highlighted again thespecific and continuing vulnerabilities of “denotified,” nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes—especially in relation to the persistent disparities in access to education and employment and the ever-looming fear of stigma and criminalisation faced by these communities. In the past, these issues have been highlighted by the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (Renke Commission 2008), the Report of the National Advisory Council Working Group on Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (2011), and the Report of the High Level Committee on Socio-economic, Health and Educational Status of Tribal Communities of India (Xaxa Committee 2014), among others. Given the paucity of reliable data on socio-economic and educational status of these communities, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) sponsored a study covering nine states to examine the socio-economic status and educational attainment of these communities.