Mental justice: Addressing the mental health of de-notified tribes

De-notified tribes face discrimination and injustice and lack access to welfare schemes. Their mental well-being cannot be seen in isolation from these struggles.

I have been working in the social sector for more than two decades. My time at various nonprofits led me to realise that the social sector in India is yet to truly engage with the issues that confront communities such as mine—the Ghisadi Gadia Lohar community, a de-notified tribe (DNT). Nomadic and de-notified tribes (NT-DNTs) were falsely labelled as ‘criminal’ tribes by the colonial British rulers when they passed the Criminal Tribes Act in 1871. Ever since, these communities have been stigmatised and discriminated against, even after the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed in 1952.

Read the full article here: Mental justice: Addressing the mental health of denotified tribes | IDR (idronline.org)