Gothikoyas name is not on the scheduled tribe list but is a popular name among the government, activists, and journalists. Tribes called “Gothikoyas” settled in 300 hamlets in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after fleeing the Bastar Region. The majority of them are from the Muriya community, and a small percentage of them are from the Dorla community, one of the scheduled tribes of Chhattisgarh. No government has an exact population of these migrated communities. As per various NGO’s studies and reports, the total population is around 50,000 to 60,000.
Chhattisgarh has been facing Maoist rebellion movements since the 1980s when it was part of united Madhya Pradesh. Salwa Judum was a counter-terrorism movement initiated by the local people and supported by the government and administration. Salwa Judum in the Gondi Language meant “Purification hunt” which started in the year 2005 and tribals from Chhattisgarh faced a situation wherein they either had to move to Salwa Judum camps or flee the villages due to violence and harassment from Maoists as well as Salwa Judum teams. As an effect, thousands of tribals from the Bastar region migrated due to the conflict-like situation to the neighboring states of Dandhakaranya such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Odisha. Even though the migration was there from the early eighties the majority displaced between 2005 to 2011 during the Selwa Judum period. The formation of Telangana states was in 2014, and the highest population of settlements are there in Telangana and Andra. A few thousand are in Odisha and a few hundred are in Maharashtra.
As such these Muriya & Dorla communities are sub-tribes of Gond tribes. The displaced Muriya and Dorla communities are misspelled as Gothikoyas at Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Gothi means Hill/ High altitude in the local language, and the Koyas are a sub-tribe of Gond. The origin of Internally displaced peoples from the Dandhakaranya region of Bijapur, Sukma & Dandewada were from high-altitude areas compared to its Telangana and Andhra areas. The Koyas at Telangana and Andra are on the scheduled tribe list but the displaced communities spelled as Gothikoyas are not recognised as scheduled tribes in both the states. Hence they are kept away from all the benefits assured by the constitution of India to a scheduled tribe.
Most of the fundamental rights are denied or unapproachable to these communities even after a struggle of 2 decades. Education is a dream for most of the children of these internally displaced tribes. Earlier some NGOs initiated bridge schools for the kids. However, after primary education, most girls discontinue their education and engage in caring for their younger ones in the family. Most of the boys are 10th dropouts and doing some small work such as Koolis or farming. Higher education is unapproachable since they could not obtain the ST certificate to secure a seat in college and ST hostel accommodation.
Healthcare in the village is negligible, with sporadic visits from a Government nurse who guides on health matters, attends to pregnant women, and accompanies them to the nearby health center. Gothikoyas are not entitled to claim land titles as they are not notified as Scheduled Tribes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In the year 2008, in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh RoFR Act, 2006 was implemented and local tribes were given land titles. Since these tribes are displaced on or after 1980 due to various reasons they do not satisfy section 2 of the Recognition of Forest Rights Act, 2006 as ‘Other traditional forest dweller’.
In most of the hamlets, irrespective of the status and age, the persons must report periodically to the police station. It is an open secret that they have to perform some type of work there. The Police also harass these tribes while charging fake cases against them to keep them in a dissuasion. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana revenue authorities did not recognize IDP hamlets as revenue or forest villages. As per the Government records, their settlements do not exist. They are always under the threat of eviction from their settlements by forest officials.
The new generation says that they are Gothikoyas, they have even forgotten their original identities as Muriya or Dorla. We need to note that the IDPs from Chhattisgarh who have been fighting for their identity for the last 2 decades are the community protected or privileged by our constitution in multiple articles by multiple layers. Recently Central Government solved decades-old burning issues of ethnically persecuted IDPs of Rayang Bru Mizo tribes in Tripura. A similar settlement solution for the Gothikoyas IDPs at Red Corridor should not be further delayed to provide justice to the next generations.
