Report of the Study on the Claims of Nayakas/ Naikpodu Community Residing in West Godavari and Krishna Districts of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam District of Telangana state for Continuation of ST Status to them

Abstract

First ever notification of the Scheduled Tribes was issued during the year 1950 by the Honble President of India under article 342 (1)In this notification Nayakpodu was listed as serial no: 4 and this was applicable to the state of Hyderabad. In 1956 Nayaks in the agency tracts was listed in ST list category through amendment to the SCs and STs orders (Amendment) Act, 1956 (25th Sept. 1956) with area restriction. In the same amendment Nayakpodu was included [S.No.3 (3)] in the districts of (Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Adilabad, Nijamabad, Medak, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda) along with Gond (including Naikpod and Rajgond) in 29th October 1956 with area restriction. In 1976 the list of STs was amended through SC, ST (Amendment act 1976) (18th September 1976) and by this amendment area restriction of Andhra and Telangana districts was removed for the Nayakpodu communities. Thus Gond, Nayakpod, Rajagond communities were declared as Scheduled Tribes throughout the state of Andhra Pradesh. The Government of Andhra Pradesh in the G.O 245 dated 30th June 1977 issued guidelines and clarifications with regard to the any doubt arising out of confusion in the names of communities which are very similar. In annexure II serial number 19 it has been mentioned that Nayakapodu has synonyms castes like Nayak, Pandava Nayakulu, and Padma Nayakulu. They are one and the same. In pursuance of the study the compitant authorities stopped issuance of ST certificates to the people of Nayakulu or Nayaks claiming as Nayakpodu from Chintalapudi and T.Narsapuram mandal Vissannapeta and Chatarai mandal of Krishna District. Nayaks/ Naikpodu community of West Godavari and Krishna Districts have submitted a number of representations to the authorities to restore the ST status to them. Against this background the study has been given to Andhra University to conduct an ethnographic study of the Nayakulu or Nayakpodu community living in the West Godavari and Krishna Districts. The study was undertaken in the months of July 2017 and report was submitted to the Tribal Welfare Department in January, 2018 and the Department requested the University to restudy taking into consideration the land records, Birth and death records and school admission records. The Documentary evidence like school admission records, Revenue records show that the community is written as Nayak/Nayakul before 1976. After 1976 in the school admission records and revenue records they have been mentioned as Nayak with ST in the brackets and in some records they have been written as Naikpod. As per the SCs and STs (Modification) order 1956 the Nayak tribe was restricted to agency areas only. The community under study being the residents of non-agency area they are not tribes. The findings of ethnographic and socio-economic study (Which have been mentioned in second and third chapter) show that the Nayak community satisfies the criteria specified by the Lokur committee to be eligible for inclusion in ST list.