An international web conference of nomadic peoples is going to be held on 17 November 2024. The conference has been organized by the World Roma Congress (WRC) and the DNT People Front (DPF). On the agenda will be lobbying the UN to declare an Asian Nomads Decade in association with Roma (Gypsy) organizations in Europe; participating in the Democratic Transition System to enlist UN support for Constitutional Rights of DNTs in India; creating a base for understanding Nomads (Gypsies) of Asia and collating data and collecting contacts for political activism. The idea behind the conference is to bring Denotified Tribes (DNT) activists from all over India face to face and have them share their commonalities and differences and for political parties, social action groups from among the DNTs to create a platform to explore a national-level action plan for the liberation of the DNTs.
Among the speakers at the conference will be Grattan Puxon of the World Roma Congress; Dr B.K. Lodhi, director (research), National Commission for DNTs, Government of India; Adnan Mustaq, Asian Roma Union, Punjab, Pakistan; Mrs Lethikala Kailash, All India DNT Development Council; Kemal Vural Tarlan, Kir Kayak Kultur, Turkey; and Zameer Anwar, Centre for Roma Studies and Cultural Relations, India.
There are two organizations that claim to be world bodies for nomadic peoples – Germany-based World Roma Congress and Brazil-based World Roma Federation. Both have done tremendous work among the Roma of Europe. Their interventions brought the issues of the Roma to the forefront and helped find solutions, along with spreading awareness among the general public, the community and policymakers. They were able to lobby the UN to declare a Roma Decade (2005 to 2015), which in turn made way for European governments allocating funds for the welfare and development of the Roma. They successfully threw the spotlight on the Roma victims of the Holocaust and negotiated with Germany to increase compensation. The World Roma Congress evolved a system called Democratic Transition, so that the diaspora participates in elections for political representation, as well as in deciding on issues and strategies – through electronic voting – such as pushing for recognition of the non-territorial Roma nation at the UN or lobbying any state or country missions of the Roma/Gypsy/Nomad.
The Asian continent boasts a huge diversity of gypsies/nomads, such as pastoral, peripatetic, forest and sea nomads spread across many countries. Yet the two global organizations of nomadic peoples have yet to connect with the region due to their limitations in establishing working relations with committed activists or organizations at the grassroots. Activists involved in the social and/or political movements have yet to be identified.
In India, all Denotified Tribes (DNTs) that were tortured under the colonial Criminal Tribes Act are not nomadic and all nomadic peoples are not DNTs. But the DNT nomenclature represents both Denotified and Nomadic Tribes. Commendable work is being done by the activists and social organizations in India in spite of their social, ideological or political differences. On the other hand, emerging researchers, legal experts and activists are not recognized by the communities due to their limitations in forging working relations with the DNT masses.
Some of our advocates have filed court cases against the government, too, whenever that was needed. One recent case concerns the failure of the government to implement the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified/Nomadic (SEED). The department concerned has been asked by the court to file an affidavit. However, a lack of political maturity keeps ragtag political or social entities from coming together for a common cause. Activists crave to be in the good books of the “godje” (upper-caste) power centres and are involved in implementation of superficial programmes, while power centres manipulate the DNT people to ensure their own permanence.
A national-level intervention to consolidate efforts of the DNTs is yet to be evolved. Even at the Asian level, collating data and collecting contacts of activists and leaders of movements, while strengthening working relations with European Roma organizations, is yet to start. This web conference is an attempt to address the above issues by evolving international and national strategies.
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