Date of Publication :21st August 2023

Abstract: The Morans are one of the primitive tribes found in the lap of Assam. They reside in the Eastern most part of Assam especially in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts. They have their enriched culture and language. But in the process assimilation, their culture and language are on the verge extinction. But it is found that with the passage of time, the Morans have attempted to revive their identity as a tribe and they are able to maintain their unique identity even today. Although enriched with all the characteristics of a tribe, the Morans have been struggling hard to achieve Scheduled Tribe status till date. It was due to the lack of leaders way back in 1935 when Simon Commission was set up for the purpose of including backward communities to the ST list, there were no educated persons among the Morans to represent them and they were even left out by Kaka Kalelkar Commission in 1953. Therefore, they were deprived of their rights and are still lagging behind in different spheres of life. Posted on 28th December, 2017 at 4:12PM by PIB Delhi, certain changes in criteria for inclusion in ST have been described by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. According to the new guidelines, specification of a community as a scheduled tribe are- indication of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness. In this paper an attempt has been made to analise their claim to be included as ST in the light of the above characteristics. This will be done with the help of interview schedule and case study.

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