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Hatti Community

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Polity & Governance
  • Published
    29th Oct, 2022

Context

The central government decision to bring the Hatti community under the Scheduled Tribes list in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district is spreading resentment among some sections.

About

  • The Hattis are a close-knit community who take their name from their traditional occupation of selling home-grown crops, vegetables, meat, and wool at small-town markets known as ‘haats’.
  • Hatti men traditionally don a distinctive white headgear on ceremonial occasions.
  • The Hatti homeland straddles the Himachal-Uttarakhand border in the basin of the Giri and Tons rivers, both tributaries of the Yamuna.
  • The Tons marks the border between the two states, and the Hattis living in the Trans-Giri area in today’s Himachal Pradesh and JaunsarBawar in Uttarakhand were once part of the royal estate of Sirmaur. JaunsarBawar was conquered by the British in 1814.
  • Parts of the Trans-Giri region, where most of the Hatti community lives, also come under the Assembly Constituencies of Renukaji, Shillai, and Pachhad.
  • The two Hatti clans, in Trans-Giri and JaunsarBawar, have similar traditions, and inter-marriages are common.

What are their Demands?

  • Tribal Status: They have been demanding Schedule Tribe status since 1967 when tribal status was accorded to people living in JaunsarBawar in Uttarakhand, which shares a border with the Sirmaur district.
  • Issue: Due to topographical disadvantages, the Hattis living in the Kamrau, Sangrah, and Shilliai areas of Himachal Pradesh have lagged behind in both education and employment.

SC & ST Population of Himachal Pradesh

  • As per the most recent Census (2011), 5.71% of the State’s population is ST and 25.19% of the population is classified as SC.

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