Koli community’s wait for ST status still goes on

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 31

The socially, educationally and economically backward Koli community is being deprived of constitutional rights for the last over two decades due to the apathetic approach of successive state governments.

The Koli community is included in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category in the Central list. The sub-castes of this community — Gaddi and Sappi — are already included in the Scheduled Tribe list of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1991, when some communities of J&K were granted ST status, the Koli caste was left out due to some trivial clerical mistake. Till date, no serious attempt has been made to rectify the mistake to give justice to his poor community.

Comprising over 10,000 persons, the Koli community inhabits far-flung areas of Kathua, Udhampur, Ramban and Doda districts of Jammu province. Successive regimes in J&K have never give an ear to the genuine grievances of this backward community.

As members of this community are educationally backward, they cannot effectively raise their voice. A majority of members of this community are involved in rearing sheep and goats in the higher reaches.

Panthers Party leader Harsh Dev Singh has alleged that denying ST status to the Koli community is discriminatory treatment to the Jammu region as the coalition government has promised to include Koli caste in the Scheduled Tribe list.

In the Agenda of Alliance, the document for governance in J&K, it is clearly mentioned in sub-section F of point 27 that the government will recommend ST status for Koli, Pahari and Chopan castes. The Cabinet, in its meeting on July 29, recommended ST status for Paharis, but left Kolis out.

“The Cabinet has not made any mention of Kolis in deliberations as they are inhabitants of the Jammu region,” alleged Harsh Dev. He regretted that communiques of the Centre and the PMO on the subject were disregarded by the state government.

He rued that members of the Koli community, who qualified for ST status in view of cultural distinctiveness and vulnerable socio-economic conditions, were made to suffer due to callous approach of the authorities concerned.

The Deputy Commissioners of Kathua, Udhampur, Doda and Ramban had separately recommended the grant of ST status to Kolis and appealed for early action, but nothing had been done in this regard so far.

The working group headed by Justice (retd) Sagheer had recommended the Central and state governments to consider granting ST status to Pahari, Argon and Koli communities of Jammu and Kashmir.