Lonia

Last updated

The Lonia are a Hindu other backward caste, found in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar adjoining areas, who were traditionally involved in salt-digging [1] and salt-making activities. [2] The Lonia are listed as extremely backward caste, along with the Mallaah, Bind and Beldar communities, by state governments. [3] [4] The community leaders have been seeking Scheduled Tribe status for the socially deprived community. [5] [6] It is also spelled as Lunia, or Nonia.

Contents

Noniya
Lonia
Nonia Chauhan.jpg
Total population
70 Lakhs
Regions with significant populations
Flag of India.svg  India
Bihar 2.0 percent of Bihar's population [7]
Languages
Religion
Om.svg Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Noniya   Lonia   Lonari   Beldar



Surnames

People of this cast have various surnames usually depending on which part of country they are from. They use 'Chauhan', 'Prasad', 'Mehto', 'Nuniya', 'Singh Chauhan', 'Jamedar', 'Loniya', 'Beldar'. Women usually have 'Devi' in their surname if they don't use their husbands surname.

Role in the Indian independence movement


Mukutdhari Prasad Chauhan, a member of the Noniya caste, played a key role in the Indian independence movement. He was involved in the Champaran Satyagraha, the 1930 Salt Satyagraha, and the 1942 Quit India Movement.

Origins and status

Their population is concentrated in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh such as Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Mau districts and some neighbouring areas. Lonia or Nonia like other communities, had been victim of colonial oppression, which resulted in rebellion and they contributed to the fight for independence.
In recent times, they have started writing Chauhan as their surname and calling themselves Rajput, which has no historical basis [8] [9] or evidence, as scholars have given examples of entire communities of Shudra [10] [11] origin "becoming" Rajput, termed as Rajputisation, even as late as the 20th century, under British Raj, for instance, William Rowe, in his "The new Chauhans : A caste mobility movement in North India", discusses an example of a large section of a Shudra caste - the Noniyas or Lonias- from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that had tried to "become" Rajputs over three generations in the Raj era to seek upper mobility in the social hierarchy by emulating their customs and traditions. [12]

Present circumstances

The Lonia or Nonia are one of the most socially, educationally and economically deprived communities, though recognised as OBCs by state governments, they have been seeking Scheduled Tribe status, for their upliftment. [13] [14]

Notable people

Related Research Articles

Parmar, also known as Panwar or Pawar, is a Rajput clan found in Northern and Central India, especially in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and North Maharashtra. The Panwar ruled in Ujjain and later in Dhar.

The Dhangars are caste of people found in the Indian states of Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh. They are referred to as Gavli Dhangars in northern Maharashtra and the forested hill tracts of India's Western Ghats, there are many distinct Gavli castes in Maharashtra and Dhangar Gavli is one of them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lohar</span> Caste or clan in India and Nepal

Lohar is considered to be a caste among. They form traditionally artisanal castes. Writers of the Raj period often used the term Lohar as a synonym for blacksmith, although there are other traditional smiting communities, such as the Ramgarhia and Sikligar, and numerous non-traditional communities, including the Kayastha, Rajput and Brahmin.

The Mallaah are the traditional boatmen and fishermen tribes or communities found in North India, East India, Northeastern India and Pakistan. A significant number of Mallaah are also found in Nepal and Bangladesh. In the Indian state of Bihar, the term Nishad includes the Mallaah and refers to communities whose traditional occupation centred on rivers. It is also spelled Mallah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nishad</span> Hindu caste

The Nishad are a Hindu caste, found in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agrahari</span>

Agrahari, Agraharee or Agarhari is an Indian Vaishya community, They are the descendants of legendary king Agrasena. Predominantly, they are found in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Terai region of Nepal.

Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara. In 1921, historian Ganga Prasad Gupta published a book claiming that the Kushwaha were of Kshatriya status or Varna.

The Dhanuk is an ethnic group found in India. In Bihar where they are significantly present, they have been categorised as the "lower backwards", along with several other castes constituting 32% of the state's population. In recent times they have been identifying themselves with the Kurmi caste along with the Mahto of Chhotanagpur. In Bihar, they are considered as a sub-caste of the Mandal caste and are often found using Mandal surname. In recent times, there has been attempt to forge a socio-political alliance between them and the twin castes of Koeri and the Kurmi, as a part of Luv-Kush equation.

Yadavs are a grouping of traditionally non-elite, peasant-pastoral communities or castes in India that since the 19th and 20th centuries have claimed descent from the legendary king Yadu as a part of a movement of social and political resurgence. The term Yadav now covers many traditional peasant-pastoral castes such as Ahirs of the Hindi belt and the Gavli of Maharashtra.

The Kahars or rawani is a shudra community according to varna system and they are palanquin bearers originating from the Gangatic region.

The Bind are a caste found in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Tripura. Bind are under the obc[Other backward caste] category of the central list. Bin/Bind is one of the Noniya communities. In Uttar Pradesh, they are known by the Noniya sub-caste. In Bihar Bind/Bin comes under EBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lodhi (caste)</span> Agricultural caste in India

The Lodhi is a community of agriculturalists, found in India. There are many in Madhya Pradesh, to where they had emigrated from Uttar Pradesh. The Lodhi are categorised as an Other Backward Class, but claim Rajput ties and prefer to be known as "Lodhi-Rajput", although they have no account of their Rajput origin or prevailing Rajput traditions.

Mansoori (Mansuri) is the community of an Indian Muslim, and this community belongs to Pathans and Rajputs. They are regionally known as Mansoori, Naddaf and Pinjara. They are found in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and North India.

The Bayar, or sometimes pronounced Biyar are a Hindu caste found in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in India.

The Bhuiyan or Bhuiya are an indigenous community found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They are not only geographically disparate but also have many cultural variations and subgroups.

The Koeri, also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional occupation was agriculture. According to Arvind Narayan Das they were horticulturists rather than agriculturists. They are also recorded as performing the work of Mahajan in credit market of rural parts of Bihar and Bengal in 1880s. Koeris have attempted Sanskritisation— as part of social resurgence. During the British rule in India, Koeris were described as "agriculturalists" along with Kurmis and other cultivating castes. They are described as a dominant caste in various opinions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vikassheel Insaan Party</span> Political party in India

Vikassheel Insaan Party is an Indian political party, formally launched on 4 November 2018, by a Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahani, who campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party during the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. They contested in three Lok Sabha constituencies in 2019 from Madhubani, Muzaffarpur and Khagaria but failed to win any seats. The support base for the party consists mainly of the Nishad, Nonia, Bind, Beldar community, which comprises 20 sub-castes of fisherman and boatmen.

The Backward Caste movement in Bihar can be traced back to the formation of Triveni Sangh, a caste coalition and political party, in the 1930s, which was revived after the introduction of land reforms in the 1950s aimed at removing intermediaries from agrarian society. But, this drive could not succeed in bringing long-lasting changes in the condition of lower strata of society, as they lacked political representation and economic power. The period since land reform included caste conflicts and the class struggle which eventually led to a transfer of absolute political power in the hands of Backward Castes, who had been kept away from it earlier. The class struggle succeeded the struggle of some of the Upper Backward Castes against the sacerdotal authorities for improvement in their ritual status. By the 1990s, the conflict between upper-castes and the lower-castes continued, with nearly 17 massacres taking place during this time period. But with the advent of politics of social justice and the Janata Dal in the 1990s, the lower caste became more active politically.

The Upper Backward Caste is a term used to describe the middle castes in Bihar, whose social and ritual status was not very low and which have traditionally been involved in the agricultural and animal husbandry related activities in the past. They have also been involved in low scale trade to some extent. The Koeri (Kushwaha), Kurmi, Yadav, and Bania are categorised as the upper-backwards amongst the Other Backward Class group; while the various other caste groups which constitute the OBC, a group comprising 51% of the population of state of Bihar, have been classified as lower backwards. The upper-backwards, also called upper OBC, represent approximately 20.3% of the population of Bihar. These agricultural caste were the biggest beneficiaries of the land reform drive which was undertaken in the 1950s in the state and they strengthened their economic position by gaining a significant portion of excess land under the ceiling laws, which prohibited the ownership of land above a certain ceiling.

References

  1. Russell, Robert Vane (28 September 2020). The Tribes and Castes of India By Robert Vane Russell. Library of Alexandria. ISBN   9781465582942 . Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  2. "A Lunia, salt-digger". Science Photo Library. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  3. "List of OBCs". National Commission for Backward Classes. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  4. "Extremely backward castes seek ST tag". The Economic Times. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  5. "Bihar seeks ST status for Noniya caste". The Times of India. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. Abhay Singh (18 March 2021). "Demand for ST status for Nonia, Mallaah communities". News18. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  7. Noniya, Chauhan. "https://m.thewire.in/article/caste/bihar-caste-survey-the-whos-who-in-the-data-noniya".{{cite news}}: External link in |title= (help)
  8. Russell, Robert Vane (28 September 2020). The Tribes and Castes of India By Robert Vane Russell. Library of Alexandria. ISBN   9781465582942 . Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  9. "The tribes and castes of central provinces of India". The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tribes and Castes by R.V. Russell. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  10. Russell, Robert Vane (28 September 2020). The Tribes and Castes of India By Robert Vane Russell. Library of Alexandria. ISBN   9781465582942 . Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  11. "The tribes and castes of central provinces of India". The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tribes and Castes by R.V. Russell. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  12. Lloyd Rudolph 1967, p. 127.
  13. Sanjay Singh (14 June 2018). "Nitish Kumar reiterates ST demand for Mallaah, Nishad and Nonia". The Economic Times. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  14. Ashok Mishra (18 March 2021). "As Nitish Tries to Nullify Hindutva through Caste-based Census, Modi Govt Walks a Tightrope". News18. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  15. "I'm proud to be a Bihari, says Mauritius president | India News - Times of India". The Times of India . 7 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 March 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  16. "Bihar governor attends BJP-backed 'caste meeting', Sushil Modi says it's for social harmony". The Print. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  17. "Jagdeo visits ancestral village, embraces grandfather's sister launches web site dedicated to tracing family roots" . Retrieved 31 August 2023.

Sources