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"In order to succeed, we tribals need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life. We should always remember that striving and struggle precede success, even in the dictionary."

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Is Scheduled Caste = Scheduled Tribe?

By Samir Bhagat

We all know that the answer is big NO. However people from mainstream do not think so. For them both SCs and STs are same.

After India achieved independence and formal constitution was adopted, they(ruling class) inadverdently clubbed both SCs and STs toghether. This has generally led to dilution of our (STs) identities as well as giving rise to lots of misconceptions among the mainstream society. Foremost among these are/were untouchability, STs belonging to the lowest strata of the society, general feeling of despise etc.

Somewhere down the line we, as a homogeneous groUp, could not assert our identities. We could not carve out our separate identities. Maybe we failed to understand our own culture. Therefore we could not popularize our indegenious culture, which is infact separate from the towering image of SCs.

We need to assert ourselves and tell the mainstream media that SCs and STs are two separate group. Why don't we ask mainstream newspapers to have a separate matrimonial column for TRIBALS and not to club them with SCHEDULED CASTES??

This could be the starting point and only a very small step towards a long journey for regaining our own identities.

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