‘Moutana’ is a practice of demanding cash compensation from Government on untimely death of a tribal villager, due to accidental or intentional killing. The practice is mostly prevalent in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan.

The practice is age old and has been inherited from tribal Gujarat. Sources mention that in order to demand immediate cash compensation the tribal villagers refuse to perform cremation of dead body and protest and sometimes get violent.

A two-day seminar had been organized in Udaipur with the goal of devising ways for eradication of ‘Moutana’. The seminar was conducted under the collaboration of the Administrative Wing and the Police Range.

Today, speaking on the closing ceremony of the seminar, District Collector, Vikas S. Bhale said, “We cannot simply discontinue the illegal practice of ‘Moutana’, as tribals may turn violent on subduing the practice, instead Police and Administrative Authorities must resolve problem wisely”.

Bhale assured that we will consider the suggestions that came during the seminar on the issue. During the seminar some of the suggestions came up were, eliminating ‘Moutana’ with the help of the Case Officer scheme and rehabilitating the victim’s family; people who help in abolition of this issue must be awarded, another measure could be to take help of the scientific reasons and to create elaborate data base of ‘Moutanas’.

In the program that concluded today, I. G. Range, T. C. Damor; S. P. (City) Hari Prasad Sharma; Additonal S. P. (Headquarter) Kaluram Rawat; Historian Dr. Sunder D. Soni and many other high level dignitaries were present.