ST status to Hattees: Decision to benefit 1.60L in Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur

Tribune News Service

Solan, September 14

The grant of tribal status to Hattees will pave the way for the community residing in the Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur to be declared a Scheduled Tribe (ST).

In a major relief to them, Schedule Castes (SC) community has been excluded from the amendment Bill. The Hattees had resented their inclusion in the ST list.

Benefits they will get

• Hattees will be entitled to reservation in services and admission to educational institutions
• They can also avail of benefits of Central schemes like Post- Matric Scholarship, National Overseas Scholarship, National Fellowship

The Hattee community had been demanding the ST status since 1967. The grant of the status will benefit a population of about 1.60 lakh spread across 144 panchayats in the Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur.

The state government, after receiving several representations from the community, had recommended its case in 2016 to the Central government on the basis of a study conducted by the Institute of Tribal Studies, Shimla. The study had highlighted that the Hattees residing in the Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur district shared the same tribal traits, culture, geographical isolation, etc. It also highlighted their economic backwardness.

Their demand of the Scheduled Tribe status and declaring their area tribal was rejected in 2021 on technical grounds, a fresh proposal, after fulfilling the requisite parameters, was again put up this year.

This community is demographically spread in Sirmaur district with borders with Uttarakhand. Four of the five Assembly segments of Sirmaur, namely Renuka ji, Pachhad, Shillai and Paonta Sahib, are dominated by the community.

It is slated to be a major game changer for the BJP in four of the five Assembly seats in Sirmaur district. The BJP has merely two MLAs in the four Hattee dominated seats.

The Trans-Giri area was part of the erstwhile Jaunsar-Bawar area of Uttarakhand where the Hattee community was granted the ST status way back in 1967. Both areas were part of the erstwhile royal Sirmaur state though the Jaunsar Bawar area got separated in 1815. The people have been vociferously raising their demand which stems from a report of the SC/ST Commission of 1980.

Ami Chand, president, Kendriya Hattee Samiti, which vigorously pursued this issue since 2016, thanked the BJP for the decision.

Now, the beneficiaries will be entitled to reservation in services and admission to educational institutions besides availing benefits of various Central schemes like Post Matric Scholarship, National Overseas Scholarship, National Fellowship, top class education, etc.

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