HAKKI PIKKI TRIBAL COMMUNITY

Subject : Society

Context :Hakki-Pikki tribal from Karnataka wins battle against the virus

Concept :

The HakkiPikki are a semi-nomadic tribe of karnatakawho have travelled and lived in various parts of the country over the past few decades.
As part of a ‘rehabilitation drive’ by the Government of Karnataka in the 1950s and ’60s, they were forced out of their forest dwellings and brought into the edges of cities like Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hassan etc. The actual rehabilitation though, remained on paper only.
Also called the Shikaris or the hunters, they used to traditionally make a living through hunting and trapping birds in the forest and selling them along with lucky charms and trinkets in the villages and towns that they passed through.
Many made a living by begging which was to them a way of life, not a symbol of degradation and misery. However their ways of life and livelihoods revolving around hunting and begging was gradually criminalised.
The forests ceased to be a home they could walk into and out from and the cities failed to provide any secure alternatives.