Dhangars-Gouly treated like outsiders, says report

Literacy rate among this community is lowest  

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: Even as the country’s literacy rate is 74 per cent and that of the State on a high at 84 per cent, certain denizens of Goa like the nomadic Dhangars-Gouly have rates approximately half the State average ~ male literacy is 51.51 per cent and female literacy is 47 per cent in this community, a White Paper by the government recently placed in the Assembly shows.

The Dhangar-Gouly ~ the State’s only ancient pastoral community, even today have to cross streams and walk long distances to reach bus stops, shops and health centres and schools. As today Dhangar settlements found in reserve forests and wildlife sanctuaries lack basic amenities like water and electricity and tarred roads, the study commissioned by the government in April 2013 and conducted by Dr Bernadette Gomes says.

As per the 2011 census, 0.70 per cent of the State population has three Dhangar hamlets without water and electricity; five without piped water and 11 with no accessible roads.

In Goa under colonialism, the community shied away from the rest of society as they wanted to escape grazing tax and ban on Kumeri introduced by the Portuguese. Instead of integrating with the rest of the population, they retreated deeper into the hills where they were free to live their lifestyles. They were not part of the Comunidade anywhere in Goa.

Throughout the Portuguese rule they were so insulated that not a single Dhangar-Gouly got converted to Christianity. The liberation of Goa brought new set of problems for the

Dhangar-Gouly community. Their attempts to descend from the ghats were met with obstacles as all lands were either Comunidade, church, temples or forests. So from a community with a unique identity, self respect and pride, known for their martial prowess, they were relegated to the status of outsiders and encroachers.

Being nomadic they never possessed land. They just roamed the mountains. Now the once undisputed lords of the Westerns Ghats were left with no ground beneath their feet, the study says.