Country: India

Group: Khyrwar/Kharwar

Date Finalized: October 28, 2023

Team: Ashley Thompson (lead), AmarHammad, Ash Pessaran, Laura Pruett, Christina Saenz

Content Warning: violence, assault, forced displacement, homelessness, police brutality

Approximate Time Period: 1900-2020

            The Khyrwar/Kharwar people live in communities throughout northern India. They may have originated from the Sone Valley or Palamu region in Jharkhand (Pandey, et al., 2011). The Khyrwar/Kharwar people speak both Sadri and Hindi. They are classified as a Scheduled Tribe in Bihar but classified as a Scheduled Caste in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, which they have protested (Dr. Ramdayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute, n.d.). The Khyrwar/Kharwar community are mainly agricultural workers and subsist through a mixture of agriculture and hunting/gathering in forested areas (Dr. Ramdayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute, n.d.).

            In the early 20th century, members of the upper castes forced the Khyrwar/Kharwar, and other Adivasi communities from their land in the Chotanagpur region. The upper castes sought to begin mining and commercial operations in the area (Bandyopadhyay, 1999). One study showed that of the tribal people surveyed, including Khyrwar/Kharwar people, 20-25% reported that dominant caste members had evicted them from their land (Mohd, et al., in 2016). In Kaimur district, Bihar, on January 14, 2019, local forest officials bulldozed 70 homes of the Khyrwar/Kharwar people (Rajalakshmi, 2019). Additionally, in March 2020, the forest department began evicting the Khyrwar/Kharwar and other tribal communities from several villages in the Kaimur District (Delhi Solidarity Group). As a result, in September 2020, the Khyrwar/Kharwar protested their eviction. Men hired by the forest department, along with local police, assaulted protestors by shooting and injuring one (Delhi Solidarity Group, 2020). Forest officials have designated the forest areas near Kaimur as a wildlife preserve and tiger sanctuary, subverting protections from evictions of tribal people provisioned by the Forest Rights Act of 2006 (Delhi Solidarity Group). This is a case of forced displacement because the upper castes and government officials have displaced the Khyrwar/Kharwar people, despite laws established to protect the land rights of tribal people.

Data Quality: 3/3 The data quality is rated 3/3 for containing detailed information from peer-reviewed articles, scholarly text, and newspaper articles.

Sources

  1. Bandyopadhyay, Madhumita. (1999). Demographic consequences of non-tribal incursion in Chotanagpur region during colonial period (1850-1950). Social Change, 29(3-4), 36-39. Retrieved: October 22, 2023. https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1177/004908579902900403
  1. Delhi Solidarity Group (October 23, 2020). Fact-finding report – police firing on Adivasis in Adhaura, Kaimur, Bihar. https://delhisolidaritygroup.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/fact-finding-report-police-firing-on-adivasis-in-adhaura-kaimur-bihar/
  2. Dr. Ramdayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute. (n.d.) Kharwar. https://www.trijharkhand.in/en/kharwar
  3. Mohd, Ali Faraz, et al. (2016). The extent and nature of individual tribal land alienation in fifth schedule states in India. Centre for Equity Studies. Retrieved: October 23, 2023.https://archive.nyu.edu/bitstream/2451/42252/2/Extent%20and%20Nature%20of%20Individual%20Tribal%20Land%20Alienation.pdf
  4. Pandey, Amitagh, et.al. (2011). Rethinking villages. Concept Publishing Company Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved: October 22, 2023. https://books.google.com/books?id=uwS53sZZZDkC&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q&f=false
  5. Rajalakshmi, T.J. (July 19, 2019). Amendments to the forest act: forests over rights. The Hindu. Retrieved: October 22, 2023. https://frontline.thehindu.com/environment/article28537157.ece