Bankura (Bengal): Bengal needs a Special Intensive Revision – this demand arose repeatedly in the state’s Jangal Mahal district on Tuesday, November 18, where around 10,000 Adivasis had gathered for a rally in Bankura town. But the SIR they were demanding was not of the electoral rolls, but especially to verify the Schedule Tribe certificates given out by the state government over the last over one decade.

The rally, attended by members of the Santhal, Bhumij, Kora and Munda tribes, held at the Bankura Sammilani College, gathered on the call of the Adivasi Kalyan Samiti (AKS) for the Jangal Mahal region. According to the AKS, there has been widespread corruption in handing out tribal status certificates in the state for 12 years, in the four tribal-dominated districts, Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur and beyond.

As a result, the tribal body says, many non-tribals have acquired Schedule Tribe status, which has let them secure admissions in educational institutions and jobs, including in the coveted medical and engineering fields. This has deprived the eligible tribal people of their constitutional right to access both jobs and education.

The indigenous people who had gathered at Bankura on November 18 asserted these constitutional rights, saying being deprived of caste certificates is not their only issue – much more is at stake, including their dignity and right to live as per their traditions and culture.

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Some attendees pledged a “continuous movement” to protect their rights against official neglect and outright denial of privileges they are entitled to. “We have survived after enduring much injustice and suffering. No more…” said, Biplab Saren, a resident of Raipur, who attended the rally. He said the tribals’ constitutional rights must be protected by the state government as well as the Union government.

“In the past twelve years, a large number of non-tribals have been illicitly issued Scheduled Tribe certificates. Corruption and political allegiance have played a major role in this,” accused Parshal Kishku, state secretary of the AKS.

Until 2011, around 52 lakh Schedule Tribe certificates had been issued in West Bengal. The government now says that between 2012 and 2024, an additional 27 lakh Scheduled Tribe certificates were issued. The question the tribals are raising is: does Bengal have nearly 80 lakh tribal residents?

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According to the last census, conducted in 2011, the tribal population in West Bengal was 52,96,963 – and, apart from additions to the population due to new births, there would have been deaths, too – so how could the population have expanded to this extent in such a short period of time, they ask. This expansion of the population on paper, according to several members of the gathering, reflects the corruption that has occurred in giving out tribal status certificates.

Some even alleged that Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders have misused tribal status certificates to contest in various elections. Earlier this year, a fourth-year medical student, enrolled at the Bankura Sammilani Medical College, was accused of illegally owning a Scheduled Tribe certificate in her name. Her admission was cancelled after tribal bodies raised an alarm.

Similarly, in January 2024, the Central Bureau of Investigation launched a probe into an alleged tribal-certificate scam in medical colleges on the complaint of a tribal student, which appears to have expanded in scope. And, in September 2025, another such series of instances came to light in the state.

However, according to Rajeswar Tudu, state leader of AKS and Purulia resident, the problem is far more widespread than a few instances. “Fake Scheduled Tribe certificates are circulating across the state, in Medinipur, Jhargram and Alipurduar as well. As a result, genuine tribals are being deprived of their rightful opportunities. Therefore, a statewide SIR should be conducted, looking into these certificates,” Tudu said.

Not recognising tribal religion

The indigenous tribes of Bengal, including the Santhal, Bhumij, Kora, Munda and Shabar/Lodha communities, have been living in the Jangal Mahal region for many generations. Yet, the BJP-led Union government is reluctant to recognise their religion as different from the Hindu religion. “We are treated as forest-dwelling Hindus in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) eyes. But we are not Hindus. We are worshipers of nature and we follow the Sari and Sarna religions. But the Union government does not want to acknowledge this,” Nibaran Kishku, a resident of Hooghly told The Wire.

Also read: How a Pro-BJP Village in Bengal's Jangalmahal Mounted a Cultural Resistance to Hindutva

Durgadas Mandi from Barikul in the Ranibandh block of Bankura echoed Kishku’s concerns. He said the BJP has been promoting the idea across Jangal Mahal that tribal communities are “forest-dwellers”. He claimed that some tribals were made to study the Gita and Ramayana, revered texts of the Hindus, in an alleged attempt to Hinduise them. In schools run by the RSS across Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur districts, Hindu deities are installed, aiming to instil Hindu values among indigenous groups from an early age.

Mandi also said that the RSS faces no opposition from the ruling TMC’s activists either. “The Union government refused to acknowledge out identity. It is from this mindset that the rights of indigenous people are being undermined and they are belittled and disregarded,” said Kishku.

Dire state of education in Jangal Mahal

Students of Jangal Mahal must travel long distances through hilly terrain and dense forest to reach a school. Numerous Madhyamik Shiksha Kendras or middle schools were established when Left front governments were in power, and teachers were also regularly recruited. Today, people said, most of these schools have closed because no new employees were appointed to replace those who retired. “As a result, many students have dropped out and migrated out as labourers,” said Mamani Hasda, a housewife from the Raotora village in Ranibandh.

Furthermore, schools established in 2006 to teach the Santali language in the Alchiki script are struggling due to a shortage of teachers. “Teachers posted in the Jangal Mahal region are moving to cities under the state government’s ‘Utsashree’ initiative. So, the student-teacher ratio in primary and secondary schools is rapidly deteriorating,” said Mahadeb Sardar, a resident of Hirbandh, Bankura.

The Utsashree project is a web portal launched by the West Bengal Education Department to manage the transfers and postings of teachers in government schools.

There were around 1,000 hostels for tribal students in the four districts of Jangal Mahal, where they could study, free of cost. Today, people at the Bankura event alleged, most of these hostels are closed due to official negligence. Currently, fewer than 300 hostels are functioning. “My son had to leave his studies and migrate to work as a labourer,” said Lakshmi Hansda from Lalikakuri village in the Saltora block. She came to Bankura on November 18 to demand these hostels reopen.

Also read: Schools For Tribal Students Asked to Debate How Modern Education is 'Diluting' Indigenous Knowledge

The primary source of livelihood in Jangal Mahal, primarily for the women, was the Large Multipurpose Co-operative Society (LAMPS), an organisation created under the Backward Classes Welfare and Tribal Development Department of the state government. Locals collected tendu leaves, a key ingredient in bidi production, and other forest produce, and sold them to the LAMPS centres. Today, most LAMPS are inactive and tribal women have lost their source of income.

Kisku also alleged that the state government is no longer allocating rights over forest land to indigenous people, as mandated by the 2006 Forest Rights Act. Applications submitted by tribals have been lying in the Block Office or the Backward Class Welfare Department offices for years, he said, but neither the Union nor state government have pursued the matter.

At the same public meeting, Rajeswar Tudu said that while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claims her government would not take away tribal land, a majority of the land earmarked for coal blocks in Deucha Pachami in Birbhum belongs to tribal communities. He said that in the Ayodhya Hills region of Purulia too, large stretches of tribal land have been given to corporate groups. “Why this double standard by the chief minister?” he asked, referring to the gap between promises and delivery.

Throughout the massive gathering in Bankura on Tuesday, one sentiment echoed through the crowd: “Stop depriving us. Restore to indigenous people the rights that rightfully belong to them.”

All photos by Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.

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