A section of adivasis in northern Telangana districts has boycotted teachers from the Lambada community (Scheduled Tribes).
It reveals a conflict between the two groups for the past few months and poses a complex political challenge.
What is the conflict about?
Some Adivasi groups have been demanding the exclusion of the Lambada community from the Schedule Tribe (ST) list.
They claim that the Lambadas are “cornering” their opportunities in jobs and education.
Adding to the tension, the creation of Telangana has offered the Lambadas an advantage and benefits when compared to other tribes.
The protests have hit tribal schools hard since majority of teachers are from the Lambada community.
What is the reason behind the conflict?
Telangana has a total of 32 tribal communities comprising 9.08% of the state’s population.
Lambadas comprise majority (20 lakh out of 30 lakh) of the tribal population.
The remaining tribal population are from communities such as Gonds, Guthikoyas, Pardhans, Nayakpods, Kolams, Gotis and several others, which are relatively low in number.
The Gond people are Adivasis, originally believed to have spread from central India to parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The Lambadas have come from different states in the north like Maharashtra, Rajasthan and others.
They are listed under BC,OBC and SC in other states.
Despite not being tribals they have managed to get listed under the ST category in Telangana.
Gond tribals point out that the Lambadas were included in the ST list only in 1976, during the Emergency.
Thus, Gonds termed this as unfair through a “backdoor entry".
What are the implications of the conflict?
The boycott in northern Telangana lays bare the political and policy challenge for the state.
The absence of teachers has led to poor results and raised the prospect of students dropping out.
The boycott deprives tribal children of education which is considered as the most important tool for social and economic mobility.
It shows that the claims of relative inequality and discrimination within the Scheduled Caste and Tribe categories have been largely ignored by the government.
