Speak, marry, rename: Tiwas without tribal status in Meghalaya

I am a researcher working on the Tiwa society, an indigenous group from the states of Assam and Meghalaya in Northeast India. The Tiwas reside in both the plains as well as the hilly areas of Assam, where they are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (ST). In Meghalaya, on the other hand, the Tiwas are yet to be granted ST status.

The Tiwa population in Meghalaya is concentrated in the Ri Bhoi district, where the absence of official recognition for the community has resulted in a unique set of negotiations and adaptive strategies. One such strategy is taking on Khasi surnames, aimed at gaining access to sociopolitical benefits tied to the ST status. During my fieldwork in Amjong, a village in Ri Bhoi, I came across a few families that, in addition to adopting Khasi surnames, are quite fluent in the Khasi language. One of the residents, Joseph M,* shared, “When you’re around people who can speak as many as five different languages, it’s hard to be critical of how they speak.” He was referring to how most people in Amjong are comfortable with both Khasi and Tiwa, along with knowing a bit of Assamese, English, and Hindi. Joseph and his wife have three daughters, and they speak Tiwa at home.

Intermarrying serves as another negotiation strategy. Joseph further added, “My younger brother, who now lives in Shillong, married a woman from Meghalaya’s Khasi tribe, and this has made it easier for his two children to acquire ST status.” Lineage is drawn from the mother’s side among the Khasis.

However, Amjong has other systemic issues that are difficult for the Tiwas to navigate. Locals complain of the dysfunction among lower primary and upper primary government schools in their area. A lack of legal administrative recognition for them creates barriers to securing scholarships, reserved seats, and other entitlements designed to uplift tribal students. I came across a few families that have migrated to nearer towns in Assam such as Jagiroad and Morigaon to enrol their children in schools.

I encountered civil society initiatives and activities, led by Tiwa students and women’s associations, that focus on the educational prosperity of their community. There have also been individual interventions, such as a retired government schoolteacher in Jagiroad—a Tiwa himself—who has fostered a few Tiwa children at his home and helped them finish their high school education. However, most community members believe that ST recognition would have made things simpler.

There has been a long-standing demand by Tiwa civil society groups for the Meghalaya government to accord ST status to the community. However, this demand is deeply entangled in the state’s complex ethnic politics. As Meghalaya was ‘carved out’ of Assam in 1972 to address the concerns of its indigenous tribal groups, the idea of inclusion of newer groups is still seen and met with a lot of caution.

*Name changed to maintain confidentiality.

Koumudi Mahanta is a researcher based in Guwahati.

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Know more: Learn how the Rathwas have to keep proving their tribal identity in Gujarat. 

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