Udit Vani Port Blair/Ranchi: Youths belonging to the Chota Nagpuri Adivasi community, popularly known as the Ranchi community, living in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands met AICC Adivasi Congress National Coordinator Dr. Venkatesh Chowhan on March 15 and raised their long-pending demand for reservation benefits for their community.
During the meeting, the youths highlighted that members of their community are recognised under Scheduled Tribe (ST) or Other Backward Class (OBC) categories in their native states such as Jharkhand, but they do not receive similar reservation benefits in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They urged that the same status be extended to them so that the community can access educational and employment opportunities.
The Chota Nagpuri Adivasi community, often referred to as the Ranchi community, is one of the significant settler communities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The community largely comprises tribal groups from the Chota Nagpur region, which today includes parts of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and West Bengal. Prominent tribes among them include Oraon, Munda, Kharia, Santhal, Baraik, Lohra, Gond and others.
They came to be known as “Ranchi people” in the islands because Ranchi was the main recruitment centre from where labourers were sent to the Andaman Islands during the British colonial period. At that time, the British administration recruited tribal labourers from the Chota Nagpur region for forest clearing, road construction and other development works in the islands.
Historical records indicate that around 400 Oraon and Munda labourers were transported to the islands in 1918, and migration continued in subsequent years. Many of them were recruited through missionary labour bureaus in Ranchi and were transported to the islands by ships via Kolkata.
Over the decades, the community has established a strong social and cultural presence in the islands. In a notable initiative, the Ranchi Association of Andaman and Nicobar Islands installed a statue of a revered tribal leader and freedom fighter at Mohanpura on November 15, 2025, as part of efforts to preserve and promote the community’s heritage.
Despite several tribes from this community being recognised as Scheduled Tribes in Jharkhand, the Ranchi community in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has long been demanding similar recognition there. Community members say that extending ST or OBC status would help ensure social justice and improve access to education, employment and government welfare schemes for the younger generation.
