The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a reminder and sought additional information after seeking an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Chief Secretary of Odisha over violation of basic human rights of the poor, illiterate and starving people belonging to Putiya(Dulia) community as they have been denied the status of Scheduled Tribe.
Acting on two separate petitions filed by Supreme Court lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy, the NHRC besides seeking ATR from the Chief Secretary also asked the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to look into the case.
Especially in undivided KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region, the community people are forced to end their lives in malnutrition, starvation, illiteracy and bonded labour, Tripathy contended.
Putiya community, basically hill cultivators, who practice settled and shifting cultivation in addition to forest collection, animals husbandry, bamboo basketry, rope making, khali stitching and wage earning possess characteristic features of a tribe to be eligible for ST status.
The Putiya (Dulia) community had been recommended for inclusion under ST category as per the Final Report on the Major Settlement Operation in Koraput District 1938-64. The community was sub-caste of Kotia (ST). The interesting part is Putiyas (dulia) are identified as Primitive Tribe (ST) in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhatishgarh and have been accorded ST status. In Odisha, however, they figure neither in the tribal list nor in the SC, OBC or SEBC category, Tripathy pointed out.
Denial of basic rights such as right to safe drinking water, shelter, education, health to these people poses serious question of human rights violation. Failure of the Government in treating them as ST amounts to serious violation of human rights. Consequential benefits are also denied to this vulnerable group for decades, Tripathy alleged.
The petitioner requested the NHRC to investigate the case of these vulnerable people who are dying day by day with the negligence of Department of Tribal Affairs and the Chief Secretary of the State.