Hatti Community

Why in news?

• Recently, the Central Government is considering granting ST status to the Haithi Community of the Tans-Giri region of Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district.

About Hattis:

• Hatti community is of the Trans-Giri region of Himachal Pradesh.
• They share social as well as cultural similarities with the Jaunsar community of the Jaunsar-Bawar area of Uttarakhand.
• This is because the Trans-Giri area and Jaunsar Bawar area, were part of the erstwhile Sirmaur princely state.
• It is cut off from Sirmaur by two rivers called Giri and Tons.
• The community is named after their age-old professional practice of selling their home grown crops at small markets called ‘Haat’ in nearby cities.
• The members of this community haven’t been mainstreamed and most are dependent on animal rearing and agriculture.

Khumbli (Governance):

• They even still follow the Khumbli - the traditional council despite the establishment of the panchayat system.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

The term ‘Khumbli’ was recently seen in news in association with Hattis community. It refers to

(a) Traditional water management technique

(b) Trapping pit with inverted funnel-shaped stone walls

(c) Traditional governance system

(d) Local coins

Answer