Gujjars oppose ST status for Hattees of trans-Giri area of Sirmaur

Solan, October 24

The Gujjar community has once again raised objection to the grant of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Hattee community of the trans-Giri area of Sirmaur on the plea that it would weaken their reservation rights.

The Bill for granting the ST status to the Hattees was passed in both Houses of Parliament and it became an Act after receiving the President’s consent in August this year.

The Gujjar community has been raising objections against this move since last year. Their leaders said a population of 4 lakh of Kinnaur, Chamba, Mandi and Sirmaur were listed as STs in the state, who were getting 7.5 per cent reservation in jobs. An estimated 1.6 lakh Hattees in Sirmaur have now been added to the ST list in the district.

The community leaders told mediapersons at Nahan that it was unfair to include 1.60 lakh more people to the existing quota of STs in the district as it would deny them a fair chance to seek jobs and other benefits from the government. They resented that the government had neither increased the quota, nor ensured to safeguard their rights before taking the decision.

Since the Gujjars lead a nomadic life and are more backward, they were in dire need of reservation for their economic uplift vis-à-vis the Hattee community, which comprises the people from the upper status social communities like the Khash-Khanet (Rajput) and Bhat (Brahmin) castes.

Gujjar Kalyan Parishad’s state president Anil Gujjar, vice-president Hemraj Chawdhary and general secretary Somnath Bhatia said it was unfair to keep influential castes on a par with nomadic Gujjars. This was not only unconstitutional, but would also hit opportunities available to the Gujjars, they added.

Various benefits available to the STs include reservation in service, admission to educational institutions besides availing benefits of various Central schemes like post-matric scholarship, national overseas scholarship, national fellowship, top-class education, etc.

Their presence

• The Hattee community is demographically spread in Sirmaur district
• Four of the five Assembly segments of Sirmaur, namely Renuka ji, Pachhad, Shillai and Paonta Sahib, are dominated by the community