IIM-Ahmedabad students working to uplift de-notified Chhara tribe

Even as we celebrate 76th year of Independence, these tribes continue to carry the stigma of being de-notified tribes (DNT), a tag which was given to them by the Britishers, over their head. Falling under DNT category, they are sans constitutional guarantees and political representation.

A group of students from IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is working towards uplifting the students of the Chhara community in Ahmedabad. Chhara is one of the several de-notified tribes of India.

These tribes were dubbed as criminals by birth under the British Raj and, to this day, are at the receiving end of a multitude of atrocities and discrimination years after independence. These tribes have been demanding de-criminalization and official recognition for decades, which has been led by activists like Dakxin Bajrange, who have been involved in spreading awareness and fighting for their rights for decades via means like nukkad nataks, short films, formal petitions, and protests.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Dakxin Bajrange, said: “Denotified Tribes are remarkably forgotten while writing the constitution, and that is the reason they are the most marginalised communities in the country.”

We are still struggling for constitutional guarantees and political representation. Colonial stigma is still haunting us, and we are still at the periphery socially, economically and politically. Budhan Theatre is the voice of people living on the margins. It’s a cultural movement of DNTs in the country and committed to fighting for the well-being of DNT, he said.

The group of IIM-A students was exposed to the plight of this tribe during one of the courses undertaken by Prof Sandeep Pandey at IIM Ahmedabad. Motivated to create a positive impact for this tribe, they undertook a project to understand their challenges and help the community via various methods. One of the issues they came across via conversations with the activists and people of the community was a lack of educational awareness. To tackle this issue, they organized a career counselling session for the community students of 9-12 grades residing in Kubernagar in Ahmedabad with the goal of creating awareness of the multitude of options that students have after graduating, what are the pros and cons of each option, what are the academic requirements and how can one go about starting on that career path.

Ishita Singh, an IIM-A student, says, “After listening to Dakxin Sir’s talk about the atrocities faced by Denotified tribes, of the systematic discrimination against them, I was moved to tears. I have always wanted to use my privilege to help the underserved, not as beneficiaries, but as equals. And hence, we started working with the community to help uplift them through education.”

In addition to the one-off session, they also collaborated with a US-based career consultant to provide continuous mentorship and counselling for a select few students. Leveraging the IIM Ahmedabad network, they were able to allot other IIM-A students who have cracked some of the toughest exams as mentors for continuous mentorship and support for exams like JEE, NEET and CA. To address another issue of limited educational resources, the IIM-A students undertook an awareness campaign inside their campus, followed by a fund-raiser to raise funds for educational resources like stationary and books for the students of the Chhara community. The students plan on continuing their work with the students from the community even after their graduation.