TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE,

TULJAPUR

MASWRD- Second Year

Name: Tekumal Santhosh

Roll No: 55

Research Proposal (Primary Draft)

Topic:

A study on Education in the Waddera community, a Denotified tribe

in Mahabubnagar district of Andhra pradesh.

Submitted under the guidance of

Dr. Niladri Sekhar Dhar

Introduction:

Education is the process by which the social groups

maintain their continuous existence- John Dewey
India is a stratified society in terms of caste and class. After 66 years of Independence still
ascribed discrimination exist in the Indian society. Opportunities of a child are determined by
his/her birth in that particular social group. Indian constitution which was adopted in the year
1950 provided provinces for the upliftment of Backward classes, Schedule Castes and Schedule
tribes, Denotified tribes and Nomadic tribes and minorities. So, government programs were
targeted at these particular groups. Due to ascribed criminality to Denotifed tribes and nomadic
lifestyle of the tribes government programs were unable to reach them 1. In 1871 British
provisional government notified some communities as criminal tribes under Criminal Tribes
Act. This act led to stigmatizing particular communities as criminals and their movements were
restricted. Due to this people of the notifed tribes were oppressed economically, socially and
politically. Another similar criminal tribes act came in the year 1911. Criminal Act in 1871 was
only applied to certain provinces in Northern India but 1911 criminal tribes act applied whole
British India. For the first time criminal tribes act was applied to the Madras state. 1911 act was
preventive but not corrective hence British government made amendments in the years
1923,1924 to the acts and took corrective steps like settlements of the tribes in particular areas
and providing them the basic education. These steps were unable to stop the oppression of these
communities and thus this draconian act was repelled after Independence by Government of
India in the year 1952. There are 198 denotified tribes in India. In 1952 around sixty six entries
were Denotified in madras State and 3 were denotifed in Hyderabad state. 3 (Before formation of
Andhra Pradesh state Seemandhra Region was in Madras state while Telangana was in
Hyderabad state). Though the act was repelled state wise Habitual offenders act came into the
existence and oppression continued on these communities. In the same line Andhra Pradesh
Habitual Offenders Act 1962 came into existence which had similar provisions to The Criminal
Tribal act. Various committees like kaka kelkar commission(1955), Andhra Pradesh Tribes
enquiry committee(1963), Anantha raman commission(1968), Balkrishna Renake
commission(2004) and Technical Advisory Group(2006) studied the deprivations of these
communities. There is no authentic information about the population of DNTS in Various
states/UTS. A rough estimate based on the 1931 census and the other relevant information put
population between10-12 crores.3
Due to the various forms of oppressions on these
communities Education is alienated from Dentoifed tribes. Not being educated is a tremendous
deprivation and this will lead to extreme case of insecurity and the absence of any chance
avoiding the fate.4 Hence the researcher is interested in studying the current status of education
and perception about education in Denotified tribes in Andhra Pradesh.

Motivation:
The directive principles of Indian constitution and Article 21-A ensures the free and compulsory
education for Age 6-14 years shows us the Government priority for education. In the Twelfth five
year plan (2007-2012) emphasis been placed on Education as central instrument for achieving
rapid and inclusive growth.5 This helped India moving towards universalization of education but
due to the different cultural, economic, social conditions of the people we can see the difference
in accessing the educational opportunities. To quote Dreze in this context Education disparities,
which contribute a great deal to persistence of massive inequalities in Indian society, also largely
derive from fundamental inequalities such as those of class, caste and gender. 6 This disparities
effects can be seen in Higher dropout rates of Schedule Tribes, Schedule castes and lower
attendance of students from these sections. After denotification of communities in the year 1952
they were listed in Backward classes or Schedule tribes by the respective state commissions.
Anantha raman Commission in Andhra Pradesh listed all the denotified tribes in Backward
ClassA.7 Major studies were directed at Schedule catses and Schedule Tribes but due to the
inclusion of denotifed tribes in backward classes very less study was done on them. Hence
Researcher wanted to study on the deprived class, denotifed tribe which has been ignored from a
long time. Also, one denotified community waddera in Andhra Pradesh has been struggling for
the Schedule tribe status for many years in order to get more benefits. 8 This has compelled the
Researcher to choose the waddera community so that he could study their education attainment
level and perception about education.

Literature Review:
Book On Education by Bertrand Russel talks about aims of Education says, A community of
men and women possessing vitality, courage, sensitiveness and intelligence, in the highest degree
that education can produce, would be very different from anything that hitherto existed.
Education can give a person both instrument values and intrinsic values. In the book Value
Education by Dr.Kurba chrales and V.Arul selvi talks about instrument values which can take
the society towards progress and development. In the book Education in the emerging Indian
society by Dr. G. Singaravelu says Education is purposive, deliberate, preplanned, influence
exerted balanced-development. This book also gives the information about various the
government steps and polices towards the universalization of education and educational structure
in India. The world bank report in the year 2004 said It has been proven that education is a
powerful tool for reducing poverty, unemployment and inequality, improving health and nutrition
and promoting sustained human development led growth. In the book An Uncertain Glory by
Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen talks about important role of basic education in the process of
development and social progress. In the book Democracy and Education by John Dewy a
stress on the point that Education is the necessity of life has been made. A report by Azim Premji
Foundation, The social context of Elementary Education in Rural India gives the empirical
evidence on how educational opportunities depend on the social group to which individual
belongs to. The Maharashtra Human development report for the year 2012 also talks about
exclusion of deprived classes from the education especially in the context of Kathkari tribes.
Also, a survey for Assessment of Dropout rates at elementary level in elementary education in 21

states by SSA shows that at all states recorded highest dropout rates for Schedule castes at
primary stage and Schedule tribes at Upper Primary stage for the year 2009-2010. A book
Denotified tribes: Dimensions of change by Dr. Malli Gandhi talks about denotified tribes in
Andhra Pradesh. It describes the culture, life style and traditional occupations of the denotified
tribes. The book talks about Waddera community who are migratory in nature and the
community derives it livelihood by stone crushing. Hence Waddera community constructs
temporary encampments at places wherever they obtain work. Waddera had number of subcastes of which eleven are known today. They are as follows: Mannu waddars, Kallu waddars,
Uppu Waddars, Bandi waddars, Girini waddars, Raja waddars , Aragu waddars , Tudugu waddars
, Uru waddars , Takku Waddars and Ghatti waddars. Waddera were nomadic but majority were
settled in the Andhra Pradesh districts. Same book carries an interview of a sommana who
belong to Waddera community in which he complains how the criminal stigma still exists in the
society. Quoting sommana We are harassed by the police and forest officers. Still we are
suffering with stigma as criminals. Nobody passes in our life without suffering and we even
dont get the loans from the banks, We only get empty promises of house loans and other loans.
In the book The criminal classes in India by Kennedy who was a Deputy inspector of police
Railways and criminal investigation , Bombay Presidency in the year 1907 describes waddars as
class which participate in the House Dacoity, Highway Dacoity. Kennedy wrote this book in
order to make police officers aware about this particular community. One can then judge the
mindset of the police officers. In the book Subjugated Nomads: The Lambadas under the rule of
Nizams Bhangya Bhukya argues that Dacoity was neither an in born trait nor a hereditary
practice in Lambada(Another denotified community in Andhra Pradesh) society. Lambadas took
to dacoity due the colonial interventions which destroyed the long-standing livelihood practices.
To curb this dacoity colonial state not only deployed regular police but also through village
authorites, the dominant castes and landlords. This lead to stigmatizing the communities and also
communities were oppressed by dominant castes in the villages. The book Understanding
Denotified and Nomadic tribes through Resolutions, Recommendations and Representation by
M.subba Rao explains the status of Denotified tribes in Andhra Pradesh.

Objectives:
(1) To study the current status of primary education particularly on factors related to enrollment
and drop outs of children in the Waddera Community in Andhra Pradesh
(2) To study perception of waddera community people on Education
(3) To carry out sample survey of the Educational provinces which are provided in the RTE act
2009 in the schools in research area.

Research area:
Research will be conducted in three villages in one particular block* in Mahabubnagar district of
Andhra Pradesh. According to Educational Statistics 2011-2012 report by Commissioner and
Director of School Education, Andhra Pradesh Mahabubnagar district has highest dropout rate in
Schedule castes and Schedule Tribes in the state.

*Block not yet decided

Methodology:
Both quantitative and qualitative research methods will be used in the study. Systematic Random
Sampling will be used. To study the current status of education in the Waddera community tools
Gross Enrolment ratio, Drop out ratio, and Attendance percentage of students belong Waddera
community are calculated in that Particular block. Education depends on the Socio economic
conditions of the people. Hence Researcher will conduct basic survey of with the help of
questionnaire. Qualitative tools like Semi structured interview, Focus group discussions with all
the stake holders are conducted to study perception of waddera community on Education.
Reseracher will be active participant in the discussions in order to understand the issues in depth
manner.

Data sources and Data collection instruments:

Primary Data sources:
Data collection in the particular block of Mahabubnagar District will be done for Primary data
Sources. Required Date to Calculate the Gross Enrolment Ratio, Drop out ratio and Attendance
percentage of students will be taken from the School Staff and District Educational officers.
Data collection instruments:
(1) A Questionnaire to understand the socio- economic condition of
people
(2) A semi structured interviews with the Parents of Waddera community,
Children and Teachers
(3) A Questionnaire to check whether all the provisions in the Right to
Education 2009, are implemented in the Government schools in the
three villages
(4) Focused group discussions with Parents, children and Teachers and
Educational officers separately.
Secondary Data sources:
Documents from the department of Education and training under state of Andhra Pradesh will be
used. National Sample survey, National Achievement Survey, District Education system and
Annual status Education Reports will be used for the analysis.

References:
1. Vinyak S. Lashkar. Denotifed Tribes and Nomadic tribes in
Maharastra Third concept, An International Journal of Ideas,
Vol.26, No. 309, 2012.
a. Gandhi, Malli. Denotified Tribes: Dimensions of Change.
Kanishka Publishers, 2008.
2. Technical Advisory Report on Nomadic, Semi-nomadic and
Denotidied tribes constituted by Government of India in the Year
2006.
3. Amartya Sen speech on The Importance of Basic Education to
Common wealth education conference , Edinburgh. 2003
4. Governemnt of Maharastra. Maharashtra Human Development
Report, 2012. Sage publications,2014.
5. Dreze, Jean. Patterns of literacy and their social context. The
Oxford India Companion of Sociology and Social Anthropology 2
(2003): 974-997.
6. Subba Rao.M. Understanding Denotified and Nomadic Tribes
through Resolutions, Recommendations and Representations.
Action Aid, 2013.
7. Various News paper articles and website.
http://vadderasangam.com/