Denotified & Nomadic Tribes Rights Action Group
DNT-RAG is acronym for Denotified and Nomadic Tribes Rights Action Group. It was founded in June 1998 by Mahasweta Devi, Ganesh N. Devy and Laxman Gaikwad, co-signers on a petition to investigate the death of Budhan Sabar, a tribal belonging to Kheria Sabar community of West Bengal, who was brutally murdered in police custody.
From the late eighteenth century through independence, the British colonial administration in India classified certain communities as criminal, giving such classification a legal sanction through their Regulations and Acts of 1793, 1836, 1910 and 1920. It was not until 1952, after the All India Criminal Tribes Enquiry Committee was constituted, that these statutory criminal communities were 'denotified.' There are anywhere from 27 million to 60 million such people in India who, despite the 'denotification', continue to face social ostracism and victimization at the hands of police.
DNT-RAG was formed to work for the constitutional guarantees for the protection of the human rights of these Denotified and Nomadic communities. The organization publishes a newsletter, Budhan, named after the 1998 tribal victim of police violence.
For more information about DNT-RAG and its activities, visit their website at bhasharesearch.
To support the work of DNT-RAG send your tax-deductible donation to India Relief and Education Fund and we will forward it, in its entirety, to DNT-RAG in India.
To subscribe to Budhan, quarterly newsletter of DNT-RAG dealing with the issues affecting Denotified Tribes, write to
DNT Rights Action Group
6 United Avenue
Near Dinesh Mills
Vadodara - 390 007
INDIA
A video film Mahasweta Devi: Witness, Advocate, Writer, providing an intimate view of the co-founder of DNT-RAG in the context of her tireless pursuit of justice for India's tribal poor, is available from the Executive Producer of the film.
Henry Schwarz
4215 NE 85th Street
Seattle, WA 98115
schwarzh@georgetown.edu
The film is 30 minutes long. For more information on films about DNT-RAG click here.
