Violence and the marginalized. The Lodhas of West Bengal

Adivasi or tribal communities in contemporary India are nostrangers to violence. The incidence of violence within the tribal world requires a multifaceted analysis. While much of the contemporary violence arises out of contestations over resources, it may also arise from other factors like social prejudice. This paper proposes a typology of violence encountered in the world of Adivasis through the history of the Lodha community in the Indian state of West Bengal. Categorized as Criminal Tribe in 1916 during British colonial rule, Lodhas were vilified and victimized both by the colonial government and by the rural society at large. After Independence, the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed in 1952, and Lodhas were denominated as the Denotified Tribes or vimukta jāti. This did not, however, ameliorate their social marginalization or their material status and Lodhas continued to live a life of abject poverty even under progressive governments. Finally, the paper looks at the steps taken by the Lodha community to combat such stigmatization in recent years.