Kolkata
Historically speaking, T. V. Stephens, the chief architect of the 1871 law, which denotified the Sabars as a criminal tribe, once said as the caste system in India entailed the children following their parental professions the “tribes whose ancestors were criminal from time immemorial, who are themselves destined by the usage of caste to commit crime and whose descendants will be offenders against law until the whole tribe is exterminated or accounted for in the manner of the thugs”.
Justifying his draconian law, Stephens said, “When a man tells you that he is an offender against law, he has been so from the beginning, and will be so to the end, reform is impossible, for it is his trade, his caste, I may almost say his religion to commit crime.”
Following in his footsteps, James Fitzames Stephen too said, “When we speak of professional criminals, we…(mean) a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial, who are themselves destined by the usage of caste to commit crime, and whose descendants will be offenders against the law, until the whole tribe is exterminated or accounted for in manner of thugs.”
In 1908, special “settlements” much in the line of detention camps were constructed for the de-notified tribes like Sabars, also known as Saora, who even find mention in Mahabharata, were where they had to perform hard labour. With subsequent amendments to the Act, punitive penalties were increased, and fingerprinting of all members of the criminal tribe was made compulsory apparently in the name of disciplining the Queen’s subjects.
The comparatively lenient Habitual Offenders Act of 1952 too could not salvage the social honour of the Sabars and they continued to lead a stigmatic life like other 198 de-notified tribes.
“Today, the situation is that when we send our children to the schools they are looked down upon by the other students … they are hated and often are forced to remain in isolation from the general students,” says social activist, Meghnad Sabar.
“Most of the children leave schools before ending the primary classes because of this social stigma,” he laments.
A weak and timid movement of the opening decade of this century to relieve them of this stigma has died down and even the activists like Meghnad or Jaladhar Sabar do not have much idea of where their community stands or their movement stands vis a vis the draconian colonial Acts.
Unaware of the implication of such laws, Meghnad says, “Many of our people do not have Scheduled Tribe certificates though some of them are getting from the district office. Generally, they don’t get because they are so illiterate that don’t understand its value and prefer to live in the fringes of the mainstream society often stigmatized.”
Even the movements of the comparatively richer and more enlightened Kurmi community for a tribal status have failed to stir up the Sabars. The Kurmis last year jammed railway lines for several days in support of their demand for tribal status whereas the rival Santhal tribe objected to their demands saying this was a politically motivated move provoked by some opposition parties as a part of their vote bank politics.
The Santhals said that though the Kurmis were Bhumi Putras or sons of the soils they originally belonged to the Kshatriya community and were by standard non-tribals. The movement at present has subsided.
Speaking for his community, Madan Sabar says, “What can the Sabars do? They are so poor and they suffer from perennial malnourishment and are continuously ailing. They cannot even manage two meals a day and you are talking of movements.”
However, there is some faint streak of light that shafts into the dark tunnel as Meghnad informs that this year 18 Sabar students have appeared for Madhyamik (Class X) exams and 6 have written their Higher Secondary (Class XII) papers.
“It is through our Kheria Sabar Kalian Samity that we are trying to instill confidence in the community,” he points out adding how last year Ramanita Sabar, a local girl, tore apart the social stigma to register for post-doctoral courses at Ranchi University and following in her footsteps Samba Sabar took admission in Geography Honours course.
He hopes the instance of Ramanita and Samba would one day pull out the Sabars from the stigma of an ostracized de-notified tribal status.
But Ramanita and Samba are exceptions and not the rules. This is why Munai Paramanik and Dr. Gouri Sankar Nag, Research Scholar and Supervisor Assistant Professor and Professor at Balarampur College and Sidho-Kanho-Birsa University conclude that the tribals of Purulia and neighbouring districts are going through a crisis period in post-colonial period.
According to them, “Imperialistic intervention in the life of the tribals has brought about drastic changes in the social, cultural, ecological and economical spheres. Capitalist intervention in this area in the name of development, industrialization and urbanization is breaking down the subsistent economic system of the tribals resulting in alienation of tribals from land and forcing them to live under the vicious cycle of poverty.”
But for all this to happen, a social process is required. Paramanik and Dr. Nag say, “The development of the Sabar tribal people is not mere implementation of the work programme. It involves social processes to be set in motion.”
