Tiars of Odisha: A Narrative of Social Exclusion and Deprivation

Abstract

From the dawn of civilization, might be on the basis of adherence to a particular profession, segregation of the society started giving rise to different caste groups/ communities. Traditional occupations like hunting and gathering, pastoralism, fishing and cultivation usually depends on the physical environment which have determined the ways of life of the communities involved in the profession as primary occupation. On the other hand, in the modern era of social transformation, through the sanskritization process many lower caste community are practicing/ adopting the culture of upper caste people as well as occupation is no more found attached to the caste. Now it has been a challenge for the planners to determine ethnic identity of a particular caste/ community in terms of their profession. The present piece of work on Tiars is an is an exploratory and descriptive one. For the purpose data was collected from different groups through focus group discussion including both male and female members of the community and outside the community covering 10 villages from 5 districts. Here attempt has been made to understand the social status of the community after exclusion from the SC list of Odisha and their livelihood options and opportunities in the current scenario as well as explore the probability of upliftment of the members of the caste through positive discrimination constitutionally guaranteed and commonly known as “reservation”.

Keywords: Caste System, Sanskritization, Ethnic Identity, Untouchability

JEL Classification: Z13, I31