CHAPTER-3

TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT
The development of the tribal population in India has been one of the major concerns
of the Government of our country since the attainment of independence. The tribes
constitute the weakest section of the Indian population from all angles. Although the
tribes are the ‘sons of the same soil’, yet they are deprived from all civic facilities and
amenities for centuries. The government of India have conceived and implemented
schemes after schemes but in most cases they have failed to yield the expected results.
Consequently the tribal life has worsened. The question that can be asked at this point
of time is that ‘What went wrong? Where did it go wrong? Is our definition of
development is erroneous or the perception of the problem is at fault? In order to
answer these questions, we need to investigate in this chapter the definition of tribes,
what are the policies and programmes which the government had adopted for their
upliftment, what are the problems they are facing in the fast changing world, and
finally an appraisal of the tribal development in India.

3.1 “TRIBE” – A CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING

The word ‘ tribe’ is derived from the Latin root, the Middle English Term ‘Tribuz’
meaning the three divisions into which the early Romans were grouped, which
ultimately evolved into the modern English term which stood for a political division.
The Greeks seem to have equated it sometimes with fraternities, while at others with
geographical divisions.111

In Irish History, however, the term meant families or communities of

persons having the same surname. In certain other areas of the western world and in
certain periods of history, it stood for division of territory allotted to a family or
community. Today with the anthropologists and sociologists of western origin the
term means, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “a race of people; now applied
especially to a primary aggregate of people in a primitive or barbarous condition

111
Niharranjan Ray, Introductory Address in Suresh Singh (ed) “Tribal Situation in
India”, Simla, Indian Institute of Advanced Study,1972 p 3-24.
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under a headman or chief.’112 In India, the origin of the term “tribe” is connected with
the rise of European colonialism.113 In 1885, the British in India first used the term
“tribe” to enumerate certain social groups in India and it continued till 1931 census.
Indeed, not until the British appeared on the stage of Indian History and consolidated
their position in the country, was any stir felt and experienced in tribal societies. Quite
early in the course of their colonial rule in India, British administrators felt the
necessity of labelling certain ethnic groups as ‘tribes’ on the basis of an
impressionistic characterisation of their physical and socio-cultural isolation from the
mainstream of caste bound Indian Society.114 The Government of India Act 1935 used
the term ‘Backward Tribe” and latter the Indian Constitution referred to the term
“Scheduled” instead of the term “Backward”. But the Constitution of India has
nowhere given the precise definition of the tribe. However, the term “adivasi”
meaning “original inhabitants” was first used in the Chhotanagpur region of Bihar in
1930s and was extended to other regions in the 1940s by AV Thakkar, who worked
among the tribals. The Gandhians popularised other polite equivalents such as
‘ranipaja’, ‘vanyajati’ and ‘girijan.’. The tribal people are differently known as
Vanyajati (forest caste), Vanvasi (forest-inhabitants), Pahariya (hill men), Adimjati
(primitive castes), Adivasi (origin settlers), Janajati (folk communities) and Anuschit
Janajati (scheduled tribes). With the passage of time, ‘ in various international forums
including those sponsored by UN, the word ‘tribe’ is being replaced by the word
‘indigeneous’. But the word indigeneous is used in two senses. First, in the sense of
autochthons of the land, and second in the normative sense, which combines two
features, namely inherent egalitarian convivial world-view and also non-dominance
and marginalisation in the context of state system’.115

112
L.M. Lewis, International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, The Free Press, 1968
p 146-150
113
Akhilesh Ranjan, ‘Review: Tribal Situation in India’, Social Scientist, Vol.
31(1/2), 2003, p 99
114
G.S.Ghurye, The Scheduled Tribes, Bombay The Popular Prakashan, 1963, p 1-24
115
B.K. Roy Burman, “Tribal Identity, Globalisation and Planned Development,
in Scheduled Tribes and Development (ed)by H.S.Sakena,New Delhi, Sterling
Publishers,p 65-66

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However, in the absence of any precise definition of tribes, various historians,

sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists had expressed their perception
from time to time in the following words:

Max Weber’s definition of the term ‘tribe’ includes these elements:

a) A fixed territory

b) Lack of occupational specialization

c) Lack of social ranking with special reference to a larger community

d) Presence of a political association

e) Presence of a exogamous sibs but no clear cut endogamy of the tribe as a

whole; and

f) Absence of commensality rules. 116

The renowned historian A. R. Desai opines that the tribes are:

a) those communities which are still confined to the original forest habitats and
follow an old pattern of life;

b) semi-tribal communities or those which have more or less settled down in

rural areas and have taken to agriculture and allied occupations;

c) those which have migrated to urban or semi-urban areas and are engaged in
modern industries and vocations and have adopted modern cultural traits;

d) those who have got totally assimilated in the Indian population.117

According to the anthropologist Ghurye, the common features possessed by all

the tribal groups are as follows:

116
Max Weber, ‘The Religion of India’ (The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism),
Illinois, 1958, p.31
117
A. R. Desai, Rural India in Transition, Bombay, Popular Book Depot,1961, p 48-
63

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1. They live away from the civilised world in the inaccessible parts in the forests
and hills.

2. They speak the same tribal dialect.

3. They belong either to one of the three stocks- Negritos, Austroloid or

Mongoloids.

4. They profess primitive religion known as animism in which worship of ghosts

and spirits is the most important element.

5. They follow primitive occupation such as gleaning, hunting and gathering of

forest products.

6. They are largely carnivorous.

7. They lived either naked or semi naked.

8. They have nomadic habits and love for drink and dance.118

According to T. K. Naik, seven criteria by which tribe can be recognized are:

1. functional interdependence within the community

2. economic backwardness.

3. geographical isolation.

4. common dialect

5. politically a unit under a common tribal authority

6. own traditional laws.

7. Members are averse to change. 119

118
G.S. Ghurye, The Scheduled Tribes, Bombay; The Popular Prakashan, 1963, p 37
119
T.B. Naik, (1968) “What is Tribe” Conflicting Definitions” in L.P.Vidyarthi(ed),
Applied Anthropology, Allahabad, 1968, p 84-97

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According to Vimal Chandra, primitiveness and backwardness are the tests

applied for specifying a “scheduled tribe”. The main characteristics common to
all the Scheduled Tribes are:

1. Tribal origin.

2. Primitive way of life.

3. Habitat in remote and less accessible areas.

4. General backwardness in all respects.120

F.G.Bailey opines that a tribal society consists in its

1. Direct command over resources.

2. Access to the products of economy by an independent status.

3. Its population strength in total region. 121

He further argues that if certain people have direct command over the resources
and their access to the products of economy is not deprived immediately through
a dependent status on others, and are a relatively large portion of the total
population in the area, they are termed as a tribe.

Suresh Chandra Rajora considers the following as the basic features of tribal
society:

1. Tribal society is a whole society.

2. Tribal oral system is a normative binding force.

3. Culture of silence.

4. Tribals have their own specific economic system.

120
Vimal Chandra, Handbook on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Office of
the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Government of
India, New Delhi, 1968, p 27-28
121
F.G. Bailey, Tribe, Caste and Nation, Bombay, Oxford University Press 1960, p
263-266

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5. Polygamy is an institution of prestige and glory.

6. Clan solidarity.

7. Liquor economy.122

Professor D. N. Mazumdar defined tribe as “a social group with territorial

affiliation, endogamous with no specialisation of functions, ruled by tribal officers,
hereditary or otherwise, united in language or dialect, recognising social distance
from tribes and castes. But without any stigma attached in the case of a caste
structure, following tribal traditions, beliefs and customs, illiberal of naturalisation of
ideas from alien sources, above all, conscious of a homogeneity of ethnic and
territorial integration. 123

Tribe is often defined as a social group usually with a definite area, dialect, cultural
homogeneity and unifying social organisation. Anthropologists have identified the
following characteristics of tribal communities, i.e.

a) Smallness.

b) Distinctiveness

c) Homogeneity

d) Isolation and self sufficiency

e) Sensitivity

f) Anxiety to retain their identity.

g) Fear of extinction etc.124

Thus, from the basket of definitions about the tribe which the social scientists,
historians and theorists have proposed from time to time, what we can deduce is that

122
, Suresh Chandra Rajora, “Tribal Society and Its Differential Profile”, Vanyajati,
Jan 1986, Vol XXXIV, No.1, pp 7-10.
123
D.N. Mazumdar, and T.N. Madan, An Introduction to Social Anthropology, Asia
Publishing House, 1980, p 24
124
Ashok Ranjan Basu,Tribal Development Programmes and Administration in India,
New Delhi, 1985, p 37-38

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the tribes are generally a homogeneous category who resides in a particular

geographical territory and indulges in a traditional mode of living. As they lack any
functional specialization they engage themselves in simple sustainable ways of
livelihood. However, such traditional economic structure is found to be changing.
While some semi-tribal communities are settled in rural areas and practice farming
and agriculture for earning their livelihood while a chunk of tribals are seen to migrate
to urban and semi-urban regions to work in factories and other modern places of
employment. This results in the cultural contact of the tribals with the non-tribals and
in most of the times it has been speculated that the latter imposes their ‘cultural
superiority’ over the former. Such hegemonism and imposition of the non-tribals over
the tribals makes them feeble, submissive, below-confident and ultimately results in
their assimilation with the former.

3.2 POLICIES FOR TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

Tribal development therefore is a complex issue which has different dimensions. In

India, three kinds of policies towards tribal development has been adopted which
demands a discussion.

Firstly, the Policy of Segregation which has been practised in India both in the pre
and post Independence period.

Secondly, the Policy of Assimilation which was a move in the post-independence era
for assimilating the tribals with rest of the populace of the country as they came in
contact with the latter.

Thirdly, the Policy of Integration which encouraged the accommodation of the tribals
in the national and regional framework of the country. A precise insight into the three
policies would help us in understanding the policies of the Government of India in
different point of time.

3.2.1 POLICY OF SEGREGATION IN PRE AND POST

INDEPENDENCE ERA

The policy of segregation was initiated by the British rulers by virtue of

which they isolated the tribals from the general populace of the country. They were

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rigidly compartmentalized under a different code of administration and separate sets

of rules and regulations were fixed for them.

The entry of the British into the tribal dominated area was resisted by
revolts and rebellions. The resistance spread like a wild fire in the length and breadth
of the country. The exasperation of the tribals found its expression in several revolts
like the Mal Pahariya uprising of 1772, the mutiny of the Hos of Singbhum in 1831,
the Kol insurrection of 1831-32, the Khond uprising in 1846, the Santal rebellion in
1855-57, the Birsa Munda uprising during 1874- 1901, to name a few. There were
altogether 70 major tribal revolts during the 200 years of British rule in India.125

The tribal masses were unaware of the intention of the British rulers and of
the implication of the policy of segregation. As a result they were cut off from the
mainstream of society and remained as a prey to the exploitation of the non-tribal
moneylenders, zaminders and forest contractors. These people collectively acted as
agents of exploitation and pushed the tribals to the wall. They were impoverished as
there forest land was slowly encroached by the forest contractors. As the tribals live in
inaccessible areas and without any advantage of the means of communication they
remain virtually secluded. In some tribal areas the British earmarked them under
Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas and gave them a separate political
representation. The Excluded areas consists of the islands of Laccadive group on the
West Coast of Madras, the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bengal and the Waziris of Spiti
and Lahoul in the Kangra District of Punjab. The Partially Excluded Areas consist of:

1. WESTERN PROVINCES

The Khandesh District

The Shahada, Nandubar and Taloda Taluks

The Navapur Petha

The Akrani Mahal.

The Satpura Hills reserved forest areas of the East Khandesh District.

125
Dipankar Gupta, ‘Tribal Development in a West Bengal District: Programmes,
Structure, and Process’ Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 21(1), 1986, p 36

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2. BENGAL

The Darjeeling District.

The Deewanganj, Sribardi, Nalitabori, Durgapur, Mymensingh District.

3. BIHAR

The Chota Nagpur Division.

The Santhal Parganas District.

4. ORISSA

The District of Angul.

The District of Sambalpur.

5. CENTRAL PROVINCES

The Chanda District.

The Mandla District.

The Baihar Tahsil of the Balaghat District.

The Melgat Taluk of the Amraoti District.

The Bhainsdehi Tehsil of the Betul District.

Although the exclusion or partial exclusion was in force for some time but not much
benefit was derived from this political arrangement. In the case of Excluded Area, the
responsibility of the entire region was enthrusted on the Governor. The Governor
made little or no attempt for the development of these excluded and partially excluded
areas and making any attempt to include them in the country’s mainstream. The
people of these areas had no experience of local self governing institution and hence
they were nominally represented in the legislature without any backing of special
financial provisions. These demarcations of the tribals from the non-tribals into
watertight compartments thus could bring little or practically no tangible result in the
field of social, economic and educational development of the primitive tribes.
Consequently, the Government of India Act 1870 was enacted by which few tracts

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were specified as Scheduled Tracts. In 1874, the British even enacted the Scheduled
District Act. Thereafter a number of acts were enacted from time to time till 1919
when the Scheduled areas and Scheduled tracts were collectively turned to Backward
Tracts. These were the result of the initiative taken by Montague and Chelmsford. The
political reformers assessed the deplorable conditions of the tribals who were still at
the primitive stage of development without any viable political institution. The British
administrators thus displayed considerable concern and demarcated the tribals in
specified area and brought them under special administration. The Government of
India Act 1935 too echoed concern for diminishing the plight of the tribal
communities. Under Sections 91 and 92 of the Act, two areas were created viz. the
Excluded areas and Partially Excluded Areas.

Against this backdrop, with the attainment of independence the

Government of Independent India too followed a policy of isolation for some time.
Although the Government tried to cure the malady of the tragedy of the tribals
through welfare measures but that could not prevent the separatist tendencies of the
tribals to demand for separate statehood. The demand for separate Naga State and
independent Jharkhand alarmed the higher echelons of the administration. In this
context, it is important to mention of Verrier Elwin, a English priest who dedicated
his life in writing for the most disadvantaged and neglected tribes of Orissa, Bihar,
Bastar and Central Provinces. He proposed for creating a National Park to protect the
tribe from the entry of non-aboriginals and recommended a National Park Policy for
the tribals by which he advocated for keeping the tribals as museum specimens. He
embodied his ideas in the book “The Baiga” where the tribals would have the right to
hunt, fish and enjoy to the fullest. However, when he was accused of confining the
tribals into a zoo, he defended by writing in March 1942,’ is that we want to keep the
aboriginal in a Zoo? You take it away from its home, you deprive it of its freedom,
and you rob it of its natural diet and normal existence. But my whole life has been
devoted to fighting for the freedom of the aboriginals, to restore to them their
ancestral jungle and mountain country which is their home and to enable them to live

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their own lives, to have their own diet, and to refresh themselves with their traditional
recreations. 126

Actually, Elwin wanted to protect the Indian aboriginals from the fate of
their counterparts in Africa, Australia and America where the indigenous tribal
culture, religion, social organisation, moral values have all been dismantled with the
inroad of civilization. However, after assessing the condition of the tribal
communities in the post-independence era, the Government of India introduced
certain constitutional safeguards and included them in the Fifth Schedule which
resulted in the constitutional gap between the tribal and general populace of the
country. The President of India specified certain tribes as Scheduled tribes which also
undergo many additions and alterations from time to time. Again, the policy of
segregation surfaced when different compensatory incentives were given to the tribal
communities. In addition to that for the welfare of the tribals funds were allocated
separately and no expenses could be incurred from the general fund. The tribals were
assisted in the form of protective discrimination which created a psychological gulf
between the tribals and the general counterpart in the country. “ One may ask why
populations who for millennia have persisted in a state almost complete self-
sufficiency, developing their own way of life and cultural individuality without any
need for outside assistance, have now to be protected and aided by the government.
The simple answer is that through no fault of their own many tribal groups had their
traditional style of life disrupted by alien populations who invaded their habitat and
introduced the paraphernalia of a technologically advanced civilisation incompatable
in many of its aspect with the basic orientation of the indigeneous culture.127

The framers of the Indian Constitution adopted a two way strategy for tribal
development;-providing protection against exploitation and simultaneously assisting
them through economic activities to rise above the level of poverty. In this regard,
Thakkar Bapa and Jaipal Singh put forward tribal interest to shape the Indian

126
Ramachandra Guha,‘ Savaging the Civilised: Verrier Elwin and the Tribal
Question in Late Colonial India’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 31 (35/37),
1996, p 2379
127
Furer-Haimendorf, C.Von, “The changing position of Tribal Populations in India”,
RAIN, Vol 22(2), 1977,

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Constitution. In the debate on the Objectives Resolution, Jaipal Singh rose to speak.
“As a jungli, as an Adivasi”, he said:

“I am not expected to understand the legal intricacies of the Resolution. But

my common sense tells me that every one of us should march in that road to freedom
and fight together. Sir, if there is any group of Indian people that has been shabbily
treated it is my people. They have been disgracely treated, neglected for the last 6,000
years. The history of the Indus Valley Civilisation, a child of which I am, shows quite
clearly that it is the newcomers-most of which I am, shows quite clearly that it is the
newcomers-most of you here are intruders as far as I am concerned- it is the
newcomers who have driven away my people from the Indus Valley to the jungle
fastness…The whole history of my people is one of the continuous exploitation and
dispossession by the non-aboriginals of India punctuated by rebellions and disorder,
and yet I take Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru at his word. I take you all at your word that
now we are going to start a new chapter, a new chapter of independent India where
there is equality of opportunity, where no one would be neglected. 128

The constitutional experts thereafter gave a different footing to both the

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe by providing them a safety net from certain
cultural derogation long been imposed on them and simultaneously favouring them
under positive discrimination. For the Scheduled Tribes, the basic thrust was to
maintain their command and access into the natural resources endowed to them and
assuring the tribal people to take advantage of the benefits of sponsored development.
The sufferings of the adivasis as a consequence of deliberate state policy have been
underlined in a series of official reports down the decades. A decade after
Independence, the home ministry constituted a committee headed by anthropologist
Verrier Elwin to enquire into the functioning of government schemes in tribal areas. It
is found that the officials in charge of these schemes ‘were lacking in any intimate
knowledge of their people [and] had very little idea of general policies for tribal
development.” Worse, there was “a tendency for officials to regard themselves as
superior, as heaven- born missionaries of a higher culture. They boss the people
about; their chaprasis abuse them; in order to ‘get things done’ they do not hesitate to
threaten and bully. Any failure is invariably placed at the tribal door.,..the Block

128
Constituent Assembly Debates, Volume I, pp 143-144

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officials blaming everything on the laziness, the improvidence, the suspiciousness, the
superstitions of the people”129

3.2.2 POLICY OF ASSIMILATION

The Government of our country took another initiative namely the assimilation of the
tribal people with the rest of the population of the country. In India, the different
tribal communities came in close contact with each other as well as other non-tribal
groups. The action and interaction of these culturally diverse groups resulted in a
unique cultural conglomeration. Some tribals have been influenced and fascinated by
any other dominant group and as a result the former circumscribe to the latter.
Instances are not rare when many tribal communities converted to Christanity and
accepted the Hindu way of life. Controversies concerning approaches to tribal
development centred on the issue whether they should remain in their ‘idyllic past’
and be left alone or should be incorporated or integrated into the national mainstream.
However, it is necessary to distinguish assimilation from integration. Assimilation
involves a total loss of cultural identity for the group that is being assimilated. It is
absorbed into the dominant group by adopting the norms, attitudes and values of the
latter. The minority community harbours the fear of losing its cultural identity and
develops a defence mechanism aimed at safeguarding their cultural identity.
Integration on the other hand implies the association with any other group or body
without any inhibition from within and prohibition from above. In the process of
Integration, the minority group who will get integrated with the majority group will
not lose its cultural identity or any other attributes which are the chief characteristics
of that particular group. Unlike assimilation, integration is of many types and forms.
However, many activists as well as political leaders had expressed their diverse
opinion regarding this. A.V.Thakkar rejected isolation and advocated a policy of
assimilation. He wrote; “The aborigines should form part of the civilised communities
of our country not for the purpose of swelling the figures of the followers of this
region or that, but to share with the advanced communities the privileges and duties
on equal terms in the general social and political life of the country. Separatism and
isolation seem to be dangerous theories and they strike at the root of national

129
Ramchandra Guha, ‘Adivasis, Naxalites and Indian Democracy’ Economic and
Political Weekly,2007, p 3306

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solidarity. We have already enough communal troubles, and should we add to them
instead of seeing that we are all one and. indivisible? Safety lies in union not in
isolation.130 The policy of assimilation however has its own dilemma. On the on hand
it protects the tribals from experiencing the pains of isolation but on the other hand
their assimilation with the majority groups sometimes reduce them to a
compromising, vulnerable situation as they found themselves awkward juxtaposition.

3.2.3 POLICY OF INTEGRATION

The third way of approaching the tribal development is the policy of integration. It is
the half way between the policy of segregation and the policy of assimilation. This
school of thought believed that the tribals should be integrated into the Indian society
but not necessarily assimilated so that they can preserve their ethnic identity. Myron
Weiner identifies five uses of the term ‘integration’, viz.

1) National integration or the integration of the diverse and discrete, cultural

loyalties and development of a sense of nationality,

2) Territorial integration,

3) Value Integration,

4) Elite-cum mass integration.

5) Integration of individuals into organisation for purposive activities.

In our context it would be useful to think of the problem of integration as basically

having two aspects:

1. Administrative/ Political, and

2. Emotional.

The first aspect involves the general acceptance by the majority of people of a country
of an administrative net-work covering every part of the country. Political integration
can be established and maintained by means of coercion as under colonial rule.

130
Ramachandra Guha, “Savaging the Civilised: Verrier Elwin and the Tribal
Question in Late Colonial India”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 31
(35/37), p2380

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Emotional integration involves the acceptance of a common and consistent set of

values, norms and attitudes by most, if not by all, sections of a country’s population.
The intensity of integration depends upon the extent of value concensus. 131

Considering the tribal situation in India, the administrators of the country

took a deep insight to the tribal problem and an integrated approach as its solution.
There were exchange of ideas and ideologies amongst the historians, social scientists,
political scientists and anthropologists. It was decided unanimously that the tribals
should not be left to lag behind and cut off completely from the mainstream.
Moreover the hub of natural resources was the tribal inhabited area which could not
be overlooked as well. Hence everyone reached at a point that the administration
should have a tribal bias and tribal touch. It was intended that the tribal way of life
should be honoured and their right to preserve their language, social custom, religious
practices should be respected. The tribes should not be ashamed of their existence and
antique outlook but should be helped to build their future on the premise of their
culture and civilization. There should not be any rapid break with the past but should
be grown with the natural process of evolution. It does not mean mere preservation or
stagnation but means continuous development and growth. The integration of the
tribals with the modern world means the opening the doors of tribal areas to
progressivism and enrichment with modern facilities. Hence the integration of the
tribals in phased manner was the only solution. Based on contemporary situation
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India envisaged five priniciples for tribal
development which is famously known as Paanch-Sheel. The principles are

People should develop along the lines of their own genius and we should
avoid imposing anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way
their own traditional arts and cultures.

Tribal rights to land and forests should be respected.

We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the work
of administration and development. Some technical personnel from outside

131
Sachchidananda, ‘Integration of Tribes in Indian Society’, Tribal India: Past and
Present, Calcutta, Institute of Social Research and Applied Anthropology, 1992, p
2-3

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will no doubt, be needed, especially in the beginning. But we should avoid

introducing too many outsiders into tribal territory.

We should not administer these areas or overwhelm them with a multiplicity

of schemes. We should rather work through and not in rivalry to their own
social and cultural institutions.

We should judge results, not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but
by the quality of human character that is evolved.

The Prime Minister exercised caution in the issue of development of tribal

areas. Development was perceived in terms of communications, medical facility,
education and improved agriculture. Pointing out the disastrous effect of the “so
called European civilization” on tribal people in other parts of the world, ‘putting to
an end their art and crafts and their simple way of living’ he has declared that “now,
to some extent, there is danger of the so called Indian civilization having this
disastrous effect, if we do not check and apply it in the proper way.” We may well
succeed in uprooting them from their way of life with its standards and discipline, and
give them nothing in its place. We may make them feel ashamed of themselves and
their own people and thus they may become thoroughly frustrated and unhappy. They
have not got the resilience of human beings accustomed to the shocks of the modern
world and so they tend to succumb to them. It is just possible that, in our enthusiasm
for doing good, we may overshoot the mark and do evil instead.”……..I am alarmed”,
he said again “when I see – not only in this country, but in other great countries too –
how anxious people are to shape others according to their own image or likeness, and
to impose on them their particular way of living.”132

Although the mantra of Paanchsheel was applauded everywhere but it was

an irony of fate that it was seldom practiced. It was unfortunate that our country failed
to adopt the blue-print forwarded by Pandit Nehru which resulted in a lag in the pace
of tribal development and failed to produce any spectacular growth of human
character. India took a fragmented approach to tribal development rather than a
holistic one and there was a slack on the implementation and execution of Nehruvian

132
N.P Bhanage, Tribal Commissions and Committees in India, Bombay, Himalaya
Publishing House,1993, p 58

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strategy. It is a shame that although we have achieved political integration in India till
a certain extent, the emotional integration in terms of acceptance by the people of a
common set of values and norms is still a far distant dream to become a reality.

However, although these three policies and approaches undertaken by the

policy-makers of our country are mutually exclusive and but all of them were adopted
as a means to promote the cause of tribal development only. It was well understood
with the passage of time that the tribals are also an important segment of our country
and something positive should be done for them. Although they have chosen a
geographically isolated residence and a secluded living but the rights and freedoms of
the tribals should be recognised and their lives should be protected from external
interference. However, in the zeal of protecting their secluded pattern of living they
should be neither isolated nor assimilated as the latter would result in the loss of
distinct cultural identity and characteristics of the tribal life. Hence, the policy of
integration which is the half way measure between the policy of isolation and
assimilation serves the best as it helps the tribals to retain their cultural identity and
yet join the mainstream psychologically as well as virtually. However, apart from
these policies, the Government of our country has taken other constitutional
safeguards for the protection of the tribals in the country’s federal framework.

3.3 CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS FOR THE

TRIBALS

The retrospective analysis of civilized man’s relations with the tribes in India reveals
three phases, namely an initial period of conquest and polarisation, the period of
preservation, exclusion and partial exclusion and the period of indiscriminate contact,
constitutional safeguards and protective legislations.133 After the attainment of
independence certain positive and concrete steps were taken to protect the tribals in
the country’s federal framework. There are almost twenty articles and two Special
Schedules in the Constitution of India which elaborately explains the protective
privileges meant for the tribal people. The Special provisions incorporated in the
Constitution under different sections; Part 3 on Fundamental Rights, Part 4 on

133
Hari Mohan Mathur, Development Administration In Tribal Areas, Jaipur, The
HCM State Institute of Public Administration, 1976, p 40

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Directive Principles of State Policy, Part X on Scheduled and Tribal Areas, Part XII
on Finance, Property etc, Part XVI on Special Provisions relating to certain classes
and lastly the V th and VIth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Government of
India has enacted several legislations from time to time for the protection of the
tribals. The Protection of Civil Rights Act,1955, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes ( Prevention of Atrocites) Act 1989, Provision of Panchyats ( Extension to
Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 epitomized the fact.

However, the Constituent Assembly accepted the tribals as an integral part

of the country and incorporated certain provisions while framing the constitution.
Article 46 of the Constitution of India was incorporated to safeguards the members of
the Scheduled Tribes. The article speaks for the promotion of educational and
economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular, of the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice
and various form of exploitation. The educational safeguards have been given to the
tribals by Article 15(4) and Article 29, the safeguards for employment to the tribals
have been given by Article 16(4), 320(4) and 333, economic safeguards have been
promised by the Article 19 and Article 46 which furnishes protection from all forms
of exploitation. As per Article 17, all citizens shall have the right to freedom of
speech and expression, to assemble peacefully and without arm, to for associations or
unions, to throughout the territory of India, to acquire, hold and dispose of property
and to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
However, important exceptions have been made to some of the fundamental rights for
protection of the interest of the Scheduled Tribes. Under provisions of the Article 17,
the State has been authorised to make reasonable restrictions on the exercise on any of
the rights relating to movement, acquisition of land and settlement for the protection
of the interest of the Scheduled Tribes. Apart from these reservations, political
safeguards like reservations of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and
Vidhan Sabha are enumerated in Article 330, 332, 334, whereas special provisions are
made for the tribes of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur in Article 371 (A), 371 (B),
371(C). The system of allocation of grants from the Central Government to the States
for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes are embodied in Article 75. The Directive
Principles of State Policy lays down the policy guidelines for the state to work under

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the Constitution. Article 164 provides for the provision of a Minister of Tribal
Welfare in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh (undivided) and Bihar (undivided) to look after
the tribal welfare which points to the concern of the Constitution for safeguarding the
interest of the Scheduled Tribes.

Article 275 (1) provides grants from the union to certain states for tribal
development. The creation of Sixth Schedule for the formation of autonomous regions
and regional councils as regards the management of resources according to the
customs also receives direction under the article. Thus the entire welfare programme
for the Scheduled Tribes is based on Article 46, whereas the required funds are
provided under Article 275 (I). This article also envisages such provisions for grant-
in-aid for meeting the cost of such schemes of development as may be undertaken by
a State with the approval of Government of India for the purpose of promoting
welfare of tribal people or for raising the level of administration in the Scheduled
Areas. Provisions of Special Central Assistance have been made to the States having
Scheduled Tribes population against specific schemes for their welfare.

Article 320(4) provides that Public Service Commission need not be

consulted in respect of the manner in which any provisions referred to in Clause 4 of
Article 16 may be made or as regards the manner in which effect may be given to the
provisions of Article 335.

Article 330, 332, 335 ensure reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha (Article 330) and State Legislative
Assemblies (Article 332). Though such reservations were to be ceased but on the
expiriy of a period of 40 years from the commencement of the Constitution, i.e, in
1990 (Article 334) it has been repeatedly amended and Castes and the duration has
been extended. The original provisions were for a period of 10 years. However, it has
been amended for 30 years up till 1990 and again amended for ten years that is upto
2000AD band for another ten years, that is upto 2010 AD. Article 335 put limits of
reservation to the posts and services of the Union and the States by the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The quota was fixed to 15 % for the Scheduled Castes
and 7% for the Scheduled Tribes. The Government had initiated several steps for
these backward classes by relaxing their age limit, reducing the examination fees,
lowering down the criteria of academic qualification and many others.

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Article 338 explains the appointment of a Special officer who would assess
the welfare activities of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. The Officer who
would be appointed by the president of India would investigate all matters relating to
the implementation of safeguards provided in the constitution of India. Moreover, the
Special Officer would lay his report before each House of the Parliament. This
institution was renamed as National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes.

Article 339(1) provides for the appointment of a Commission by the

President of India at any time after the expiration of 10 years from the commencement
of the constitution to report on the administration of the Scheduled Areas and the
welfare of the Scheduled Tribes of the State.

Article 339(2) empowers the Union Executive to issue directives to the

State as to the drawing up and execution of schemes specified in the directives to be
essential for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes in the state.

Apart from these constitutional safeguards, the Constitution also speaks for
the establishment of the Tribal Advisory Council under the Fifth Schedule of the
Constitution. This is constituted mainly by the Governor in relation to his regulation
making power. The Fifth Schedule gave wide powers to the Governor to empower
them to modify the existing enactments and make regulations for the welfare of the
tribals. Again, in the Sixth Schedule, the Constitution of India recognises the right of
self governance of the traditional Council. No law can be levied in these areas without
consulting the District Councils. Inspite of several provisions in the Fifth and Sixth
Schedules, tribal areas are being governed mechanically, and sometimes ruthlessly, by
the laws passed by the state or Land Acquisition Act or Excise Act, they are causing
serious problems. Not only this, many tribal dominated areas all over the country have
never been included in the scheduled areas from the colonial period itself. Though
parliament amended the Fifth Schedule in this regard, directing state government to
send proposals for scheduling left out tribals areas, till date this direction is not being
adhered to. It is a sorry state of affairs in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, UP,
West Bengal and Kerala, there is no area listed as scheduled area. As a result of this,

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large number of tribals living in compact areas have no right to claim under the Fifth
or Sixth Schedules.134

However, apart from this, the Constitution made financial provision for the
tribal areas under Article 275(1). For the tribal state of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and
Orissa the Constitution under Article 164 makes room for a minister in charge of
tribal welfare. Again, under Article 338 of the Indian Constitution, a Commissioner
was to be appointed to report the administration of the tribal areas in general and
development of the region in terms of communication, healthcare and promotion of
education. The Commissioners Report was to be placed before the Parliament. The
first list of the Scheduled Tribes was notified in 1950 by the President of India. But it
was amended by the Parliament in 1956 on the recommendation of the Backward
Class Commission. The Backward Class Commission which is famously known as
the Kaka Kalelkar Commission gave an insight to the deplorable condition of the
tribals and summed up three reasons behind their underdevelopment as apathy,
lethargy and negligence. After evaluating the tribal situation, he became alarmed of
the national interest. “National solidarity demands that in a democratic set up
Government recognize only two ends the individual at one end and the nation as a
whole at the other, and that nothing should be encouraged to organize itself between
these two ends to the detriment of the freedom of the individual and solidarity of the
nation. …….Thus, both the nation and the national Government have accepted the
ideal of familyhood of all the nations, all races, of all civilizations and cultures. It is in
this context that the condition of the backward classes in India has to be understood
and appreciated, and the remedies suggested are to be systematically applied. The
remedies will not yield the desired result within the stipulated period unless there is a
nationwide awakening through systematic propaganda and moral revival, and
practical steps are taken both by the Government and the people.”135 Then, The
Renuka Ray Committee which made an extensive study for evaluating the welfare
programmes for the tribals submitted its report on July 9, 1959 to the Chairman of the
Committee Shri Govind Ballabh Pant. The committee analysed that although the

134
Mukul, ‘Tribal Areas: Transition to Self –Governance’, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 32(18), 1997, p 928
135
N.P. Bhanage, Tribal Commissions and Committees in India, Bombay, Himalaya
Publishing House,1993, p 18-19

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office of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made a good
beginning but the Committee made certain viable recommendation for strengthening
this institution through recruitment of adequate and qualified staff. The evolutionary
machinery at the State level, the Programme Evaluation Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes were suggested to be remodelled and strengthened. In the Report it
was said that “Our studies have convinced us that a mere multiplication of schemes
and projects without regard for their quality is harmful. They might indicate progress
in statistical terms without maintaining the minimum standard of quality. This creates
a sense of frustration among the people and draws them away from participating in
future programmes, despite all efforts. Basically, we have to remember that the
progress in the Plans would acquire a full meaning and significance only if there is a
palpable evidence of growing prosperity in the people whom the Plans are meant to
serve.”

Moreover, in order to evaluate the functioning of the Forty-three Special

Multipurpose Tribal Blocks which were cons jointly constituted by the Ministry of
Home Affairs and Ministry of Community Development and Co.-operation, Dr
Verrier Elwin submitted its Report to the then Home Minister of Government of India
Shri Govind Ballabh Pant on March 30,1960. The Committee covered a wide field
including the problem of land, agriculture, forest, communication, indebtness, health
services, education, tribal art and craft for local use, tribal culture, the need for
cultural research institute, formation of Tribal Councils, the future of Special Tribal
Blocks and so on. Dr Elwin admitted that “Each man is his brother’s keeper and we
must all a tone for our long neglect and our wrong attitude. Mankind is one and the
tribes are a very precious part of mankind. We believe that in the programme of the
Special Tribal Blocks, if it is planned wisely and implemented sincerely, India has an
effective instrument to save her tribal people from poverty and fear, and develop them
along the lines of their genius. In pursuance of the provision of the Article 339 of the
Constitution, the Commission under U. N. Dhebar was appointed on October 14,
1961. The Commission which was famously known as the Dhebar Commission
reported on:

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The administration of the Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule of the
Constitution and in particular to:

a) The functioning of the Tribes Advisory Councils.

b) The laws applicable to the Scheduled Areas and the exercise by the
Governors concerned of powers under paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule

c) The principles to be followed in declaring any territory to be, or to form

part of, a Scheduled Areas, or directing that any territory shall cease to be,
or cease to form part of, a Scheduled Area.

Apart from this, the Committee threw a good deal of light on the land reforms for the
tribal, their right over forests, problem of indebtness, their educational and health
problem, impact of industrialization, role of the traditional tribal council and so on.
The Committee ended its report with a happy note. Inspite of acknowledging the
existing problems, the committee admitted that the tribal peoples have been awakened
from their century old slumber. Great Schemes for development are bringing and by
the end of the Third Plan, will have brought to every tribal village new ideas, new
techniques and new contacts. Roads are everywhere surging their way into places
which have hitherto been virtually inaccessible. Education as it spreads, is
revolutionising even the social and economic conditions of the tribal villages and in
creating new demands as it generates new skills……We must accept this changes and
bear the burden of the perplexities they bring. The tribals themselves are not afraid of
them. Indeed many demand a speedy entrance into the modern world. Change is
inevitable whether among tribals or non-tribals generally as in the rest of the world. A
freedom that does not guarantee him the freedom to decide how he will mould his
destiny, official programmes that do not give him the choice of how he will organise
his own development and to what end, will be sad impositions on him, materially poor
but spiritually rich and independent as he is.

Against the backdrop of these constitutionally enshrined rights and recommendations

of the commissions and committees which are appointed from time to time, it is
imperative to take a look at the Five Years Plan in order to understand the pattern of
thinking of the Government of India for the development of the tribals of our country.

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3.4 TRIBAL SOCIETY & THE FIVE YEAR PLANS OF

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

The First Five Year Plan (1951-1956) saw an era of community development which
craved for all round development of the people. The Krishnamachary Committee
Report observed that all aspects of rural life are inter-related and that no lasting result
can be achieved if some aspects are dealt in isolation. This approach has been
interpreted both as a goal and a method. As a goal, it deals with certain specific
problems such as increasing agricultural production and creating physical and
psychological conditions. The first plan aimed at bringing development in the rural
and tribal areas with an active participation of the people. An expenditure of Rs1.03
crores was incurred on tribal development. The major achievement of the plan were
opening up of schools, sevasrams, free scholarship to tribal children, state assistance
to primary schools for enrolment of tribal children, construction of road, settlement
and rehabilitation of tribal families, and opening up of primary health-centres in some
remote tribal areas. Though the ideals were lofty, the result achieved were not
commensurate with the measures undertaken. The success of these programmes
required creation of a spirit of common enterprise among millions of people who
belonged to a caste-ridden and feudal society. As such in the absence of the desired
popular participation these ambitious programmes could not yield quick results as
envisaged by the constitution.

The Second Five Year Plan (1956-61) set up the Special Multipurpose
Tribal Development Blocks (SMPT) in selected tribal areas on an experimental basis.
During this plan priorities were given to development of education, communication,
agriculture, animal husbandry and medic care in the tribal areas. Later a more flexible
approach was adopted and the SMPT was rechristened as Tribal Development Block
(T.D).

The Third Five Year Plan (1961-66) continued the Tribal Development
approach. Keeping in view the recommendations of the Elwin Committee, 469 Tribal
development Blocks were established. It was also prescribed that the funds of both
Community Development and Tribal development Block may be pulled together in
an integrated manner. Emphasis was given to the development of agriculture, animal
husbandry, fishing, cottage industry and programmes for child survival and
development.

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The Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-74) initiated a series of development

programmes for a specific target group like small farmers, marginal farmers and
agricultural labourers. Instead of area development, the focus was on the development
of the individuals. Greater focus was given to the development of the weaker section.
The Tribal Development Agencies were established on the pattern of the SFDA
(Small Farmers Dev Agency) which catered to the need of the individual tribals.
Higher investment was made and six pilot projects were taken up in selected and
sensitive areas of the country. The outlay for each project was Rs 2 crores . During
this plan Tribal Development Blocks covered a total of about 40% of the total tribal
population as compared to meagre 5% during the second plan. Experience shows that
most of the programmes in the backward classes sector in the absence of adequate
financial backing and organisational support had little impact on the poverty,
136
educational backwardness and social disability of backward classes . Even in the
case of area-based programmes such as tribal development blocks (taken up since the
Second Five Year Plan), the impact has not been satisfactory. The factors ascribed to
are limited areas covered and absence of substantial investment called for on such
programmes as minor irrigation, development of communication and electrification,
etc.137

The principal deficiencies of the earlier plans were:

A) Lack of special attention to tribal and scheduled areas in spite of constitutional

provisions;

B) Inadequate allotment of funds in both general and special sectors to cover all
aspects of development of tribal areas;

C) Inadequate administrative machinery to integrate all the sectoral programmes.

Coupled with it lack of coordination and integration of inter and intra-
departmental levels within the state as well as at the sectoral levels within the
state as well as at the sectoral levels of the state and the centre;

D) Lack of effective personal policy of the government etc. 138

136
Approach to the Fifth Plan (1974-79), Planning Commission, 1973, p 57.
137
Report of the Steering Group on Development of Backward Classes and Social
Welfare for the Fifth Five Year Plan ( Planning Commission), 1973, p 57
138
L.P. Vidyarthi, ‘Problems and Prospects of Tribal Development in India’ in
Buddhadeb Chaudhury(ed), Tribal Development in India: Problems and
Prospects, Inter India Publications, Delhi, 1982, pp 376-377

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During the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-1979) a comprehensive view of the tribal
problem was taken and a new strategy called the Tribal Sub-Plan approach was
evolved. The Tribal Sub-Plan Strategy envisages a provision of a minimum amount of
20% of the total plan size of the state to be spent for the development of the tribal
areas. The flow of fund has to be from all sectors and all departments of the state
government engaged in development activities. Moreover the strategy also provided
for a separate budget head for the tribal development funds which can not be diverted
or spent for purposes other than tribal development. The Government of India also
provided for special Central Assistance to the states to fill up any shortage of fund in
any sector of tribal development. This marks a radical departure from the approach of
the earlier plans for tribal development. Following the adoption of this strategy there
has been substantial rise in investment in the tribal areas of the state. The plan also
heralded the idea of an integrated Tribal development Plan (ITDP) in which a number
of specific projects for the tribals would be given high priority. This Plan was taken
up to work exclusively in the tribal areas. In all 45 such projects were launched in
tribal areas in various state. The ITDP is more a administrative cell for every tribal
sub-division. It is a focal point and monitoring agency to supervise the tribal
development projects in the subdivision

The respective State Governments were given guidelines for framing the
sub-plan for tribal areas. Depending on the tribal concentration in a particular area,
three district zones have been identified namely:

Zone of tribal concentration of 50% and above.

Zone of dispersed tribal population below 50%

Zone of extremely Backward and isolated pockets.

Out of the three which was enlisted above

The First type has been covered under the ITDP.

The Second Type has been brought under the Modified Area Development
Authority (MADA) Projects which deals with contiguous areas having tribal
population upto 10,000.

The third type has been the primitive tribes dispersed in small pockets.

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Thus, in order to monitor the development of the tribals closely who are living an
isolated life, a population of 5000 were grouped in a cluster. Keeping in view their
special and peculiar needs, Micro Projects were set up to deal exclusively with their
rehabilitation and development.

In the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-1985), efforts were made to coordinate
the activities of Integrated Tribal Development Agencies and Special Micro Projects.
The strategy of this plan was area development with special emphasis on the tribal
communities. The objectives of the tribal Sub-Plan Strategy were reformulated as to
raise 50% population of the tribal communities above the poverty line and help them
to earn their livelihood by accelerating the productivity of agriculture, horticulture,
animal husbandry, forestry etc. Efforts were made to develop the human resources of
the tribals by illuminating them with education. Moreover, the Government took
measures to protect the tribals from all forms of exploitation of the money-lenders,
middle-men and help them to get a respite from land tenure, debt, bonded labour and
so on. Investments for the development of the critical infrastructure were made in the
tribal areas through the functioning of LAMPS (Large Sized Agricultural
Multipurpose Societies) During this plan period, efforts were made to transfer the
beneficial effect of ITDP from Blocks to Districts, State and National level. It is an
undeniable fact, that the Sixth Plan was able to create a platform by performing
certain ground work from which the reformers could bring a development to the tribal
community.

During the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-1989), several innovative steps
were followed. Efforts were made to alleviate the poverty of the tribals by promoting
agriculture, horticulture, forestry, cottage industries, small industry etc. The tribals
were given special training of using technology, marketing and advancing monetary
assistance. As the Government took the following measures, the goal of the Sixth Plan
of helping 50 % tribals to cross the poverty line became a reality. Although the Sixth
Plan vowed to promote education among the tribals, but in reality nothing much was
done. The gap between the national literacy and tribal literacy was growing in leaps
and bounds. Against such context, the Seventh Plan took steps in promoting formal
and vocational education among the tribals. The vocational education were
emphasised as it would not only help the tribals to earn their livelihood but boost
them morally and enhance their self-respect. Although the State Governments

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initiated steps against land alienation, indebtness, sale of liquor in tribal areas, but it
bore no fruit. The tribals continued to be squeezed from all sides and so the Seventh
Plan displayed considerable concern for doing away with all the ills. The Seventh
Plan took initiative in building of physical infrastructure for the tribals. Among the
physical infrastructure, emphasis was put on irrigation, soil and water conservation,
building cooperatives, land reforms, supplying with drinking water and so on. The
plan gave special attention to primitive tribal groups, nomadic groups, shifting
cultivators, forest villagers, tribal women, migrant tribal workers and tribal families
who got displaced by development projects. The problems and disabilities of these
vulnerable groups were identified and remedial measures were proposed. The tribal
environment were posing a serious threat by the development projects as well as from
the natural calamities like flood, droughts, landslides and so on. Efforts were
thereafter made to study the problem of environmental threat scientifically and
thereafter propose certain remedial measures.

The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-1997) failed to bring any fundamental
change to the orientations of the previous plans. Although high sounding promises
were made in one plan after another, but weakness in some form or the other were
noticed in each of their implementation. The Eighth Plan tried to bring welfare to the
tribal communities by implementing the Tribal Sub Plan Strategy more intensively so
that the tribals reap the benefits of the same. Adequate steps were taken to develop
irrigation, horticulture and spread education among the tribals. A review Committee
was constituted under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister/ Minister of Harijan and
Tribal Welfare/ Chief Secretary at the State level for coordinating the implementation
of tribal development programmes and for reviewing the policy on a regular basis.

The Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) vowed to empower the tribal
communities who are striving for survival for centuries. Hence, the Plan took a
holistic vision of the empowerment process and approach both the Government and
Non Governmental agencies to contribute in the development of the tribals. The Plan
adopted a three point strategy for tribal development, viz. social empowerment,
economic empowerment and social justice. By the three forms of empowerment, the
fruits of development would “reach the unreached.” The document advocated the
active participation of the socially Disadvantaged Group in the process of planning,
not only as a beneficiary but also as a participant in the development process.

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Through the implementation of the development oriented programmes and policies,

the tribals would come in line with the general populace of the country.

During Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), development of the Primitive

Tribal Groups was given high on agenda. The Government of India allocated as
much as Rs. 105.03 Crores for various activities viz. housing, land distribution, land
development, education, agriculture, horticulture development, health, etc. were taken
up through State Governments and NGOs. Under this plan, a National Scheduled
Tribes Financial and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) has been set up which
acted as an apex institution for financing economically viable projects for Scheduled
Tribes and extends financial assistance at concessional rate for income-generating
schemes and skill development programmes for Scheduled Tribes. For attaining this
end, the Government of India funded about 510 projects of NGOs under the scheme
of "Grant-in-aid to Voluntary Organizations" which benefited about 4.63 lakh
scheduled tribes. The Government thus tried to boost the morale of the NGOs by
providing support so that they can assist in the development of the tribals who are
scattered in the far flung areas.

In the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012) proposed different strategy for
two distinct primitive Tribal Groups. The approach of heritage group will emphasise
on preservation of eco-system and traditional skills along with an economic
component. However, in the case of peripheral community, one approach will be
conservation of eco system with stress on economic programme. For the purpose,
unique attribute of each group will determine specific treatment in planning and
implementation. The Plan emphasised on the formation of a tribal data bank which
will contain the information of three hundred tribal groups with their different
attributes in customs, practices, tradition, faith and language. The land records of the
tribals are to be computerized to prevent the alienation of tribal land. For coordinating
the programmes and schedules of the tribal development, the role of eighteen State
Tribal Research Institutes were highlighted. The issue of scheduling and de-
scheduling of communities have assumed national importance and need to be
appraised rationally and dispassionately. The Government approved the National
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy 2007 for building infrastructure in tribal areas
at par with the rest of the areas of the country and for achieving this end, money will
be spent from the Consolidated Fund of India. The Plan precisely tried to empower

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the tribals and seek to establish a tribal-centric, tribal-participative and tribal-managed

development process.

After Africa, India is the second country to host a large number of diverse
tribal communities. Each community has its own cultural and economic
differentiation besides specific ethnic identities. Since more than five decades
numerous academicians, administrators and policy makers have been recommending,
evaluating and altering the development policies for the scheduled tribes and
scheduled castes. Yet nothing new happened nor was the exercise abandoned. But the
problem is much more complex than mere formulation of programmes.139 Inspite of
such enormous plans and schemes for the development of the tribals, the goal of
achieving the same had remained an unattained dream. The government had spent
crores to alleviate the sufferings of the indigeneous people but still it had failed to
ensure a smile in the face of the adivasis who had been for all practical purpose been
pushed to the wall. Advantages have been reaped by the non-tribals who lived in the
tribal areas but were more in contact with the politico-administrative machinery. Thus
the vulnerability of the tribals becomes apparent as their notion of development does
not match with that of the framers of the constitution as well as policy makers.
Although the latter is trying to take effective steps for the promotion of tribal
development but with the passage of time it was well understood that the intervention
packages of the Government are much more target oriented rather than people
oriented. Inspite of the vast resources and colossal man power the Government had
taken a much more pathological approach as the achievement of a predetermined
target set by the five year plans is their sacred goal. Thus, instead of a bottom-up
approach, a top-down approach has been followed in the process of tribal
development and their consequent empowerment. After so many decades of
independence, the tribals are still languishing in the periphery and is paying a heavy
price with the hope of getting integrated in the mainstream. However, such continous
pathetic situation has bewildered the tribals and it is seen that the tribal community is
also being subjected to certain catastrophic changes as they are undergoing a radical
transition.

139
Suguna Pathy, ‘Destitution, Deprivation and Tribal Development’, Economic and
Political Weekly, Vol. 38( 27), p 2832

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3.5 “TRIBES” IN TRANSITION

There is a myth that tribal symbolises rigid social structure and they do not change on
their own. However, the myth is changing. The endogenetic and exogenetic forces of
change have brought tremendous shifts in the tribal society. The following factors can
be considered for locating the position of the tribals in today’s world and identify the
causes which are responsible for the change. If we do not assess the present standing
of the tribals, then the research would lose touch with the reality.

A. Changes have taken place both in the tribal communities and the tribal inhabited
regions due to political modernisation and development programmes initiated by
the government. The areas of tribal concentration are often linked with the urban
industrial areas. Instances are not rare to see that the development of
communication has only accelerated the impoverishness of the tribal community
as they have fallen easy prey for commercial transaction and industrial and
mining activities. The 28th Report of the commissioner for Scheduled Castes
Report says, “The tribal people are losing their lands along the new arteries of
communication and being incessantly pushed back from whatever new
opportunities are arising. They are being squeezed out or forced to flee on their
own, firstly as their lands are acquired by new establishments and then in the face
of successive waves of migrants who begin to pour into these areas and spread
out. The new enclaves are emerging as islands of affluence and centres of
tremendous power and authority in which the tribal has no place or at best can
creep in only to occupy the substratum of the new economy as also the new social
system.” This deprivation continues despite the many laws enacted to protect
tribals. Even the measures designed for the welfare are sometimes used against
them. As the Report says, alienation of tribal land has continued unabated
notwithstanding enactment of a bevy of laws and promulgation of regulations for
protecting the same.140

B. The non-tribals reap the advantage of the illiteracy and ignorance of the tribals
and force them to evict their land which consequently results in land alienation.

140
Bharat Dogra, ‘Tribal Discontent: Timely Warning’, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol.25(14), 1990, p 710

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Land is not only the most important productive resource base for the tribals, but
also occupies an important place in their psyche as the mainstay of their social
and religious practices. Over a period of time, this resource base of the tribal
communities has tended to get eroded not only through acquisition for public
purposes but also through fraudulent transfers, forcible eviction, mortgages,
leases, and encroachments.141 The money lenders, zamindars and other forces of
exploitation often manipulate the records and deeds and forcefully snatch their
asset.

C. In the backward reaches of backward and poverty- stricken areas, live the
communities of tribal people, subsisting off the hill slopes, clutching at crumbs of
unemployment and development thrown at them, trekking for days and miles to
go to a market, trudging for leagues and leagues to get medical help, having to
die to get into the papers, and slogging to feed the contractors, the landlords, the
moneylenders, the politicians, the happy group of vested interest who have
seemed it their right to make their living and considerable fortunes out of the
land, labour and other resources of the tribal people.142

D. Natural calamities like flood, famine, drought also results in the displacement of
the tribals from their homeland and results in forced migration. Coupled with
that, the mega-projects have also complemented the process. All tribal
development projects hitherto introduced in the agency areas have only
developed the tribal region, but not the tribal people. A distinction must be made
between ‘development’ of tribal region, but the tribal emancipation, failing which
all those programmes aimed at tribal development would further intensify the
hold of the migrants and weaken that of the natives, and would create the illusion
of tribal development while the ground reality continues to be one of growing
conflict and contradictions in the agency areas.143

141
Jhon. K Thomas, ‘Tribal Dev in India, Empowerment and Protection of the Rights
of Tribals,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 2005, p 94
142
Vidya Das,“Human Rights, Inhuman Wrongs: Plight of Tribals in Orissa”,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.33 (11), 1998, p 571
143
Sarit Kumar. Bhowmik , ‘Development Perspectives for Tribals’ Economic and
Political Weekly,Vol.23(20),1988, p1006

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E. Considering the dependency of the tribals on forest, the National Forest Policy
1988 was enacted which stipulated that all agencies responsible for forest
management should ensure that the tribal people are closely associated with the
regeneration, plantation, development, harvesting of forest so as to provide them
gainful employment. Instead of such safeguards and legislative acts, the tribals
face the problems of eviction because of development of national parks, wild life
sanctuaries, and protection of the forests. Several clauses in the proposed forest
bill are against the interests of tribals. Clauses like,’ carrying capacity’, ‘powers
of settlement officers’, ‘ classification of the forests’, give arbitrary powers to the
forest officials which deny the rights of the forest dwellers guaranteed by the
earlier and present forest legislations. The free play of the smugglers in the forest
areas with the covert political patronage would further intensify as the proposed
forest bill further alienates the tribals from the forests.144 When the tribals are
uprooted from their forests to make way for modern industries it is genocide and
when their culture is systematically destroyed, it is ethnocide.145

F. The Forest Act 1927, a colonial legislation that remains in place, has led to large
tracts of forest being reserved regardless of prior claims of lands. The Wildlife
Protection Act 1972 has further increased state control of land in the name of
protecting fauna. The Land Acquisition Act 1894 has been the state’s ultimate
weapon to assert it’s pre-eminent domain. An estimated 10 million adivasis have
been displaced due to development projects that have made the Land Acquisition
Act in the name of greater common good. Moreover, protective legislation such
as PESA has remained largely unimplemented or has been watered down by
individual states as land and decentralisation are state subjects. States, in their
attempts to invite investment, have been reluctant to uphold legislation such as
PESA that could discourage such investment. To add fuel to the fire, adivasi

144
Janardhan, B Rao & M. Bharat Bhusan, ‘Tribal Forums Unite for Self Rule’,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30(1), 1995,p25
145
Sharit Kumar Bhowmik, ‘Development Perspectives for Tribals’, Economic and
Political Weekly, Vol. 23(20), 1988, p1006

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rights to land have been hampered by an absence of title deeds over land, benami
transactions and contestations over land, adivasis claim as theirs.146

G. Although the slash and burn cultivation practiced by the tribals is not ecologically
sound but still it is practiced by the tribals living on the higher slopes of the
country. The shifting cultivation is not only a livelihood practice but it is
integrally connected with social, psychological and ritual of the tribals. Although
shifting cultivation is one of the primary source of living, but the same has been
severely restricted by the Government.

H. The tribals are often found to detribalize themselves by assimilating with the
mainstream-as they get influenced by the cultures of the aliens, and consequently
adopt the same. The tribals have tried to emulate the symbols, values and norms
of the groups which surround them. They have acquired an urge for prestige and
this has brought about changes of magnitude in their dress pattern, diet and social
practices of various kinds. Such an internationalization made by the tribals has a
cohesive effect. “It tends to pull down the walls which in the past segregated the
different sections of society.”147

I. The final blow for some tribes has come when non-tribals through political
jockeying, have managed to gain legal tribal status, that is, to be listed as a
Scheduled Tribe. The Gonds of Andhra Pradesh effectively lost their only
advantage in trying to protect their lands when the Banjaras, a group that had
been settling in Gond territory, were classified as a Scheduled Tribe in 1977.
Their newly acquired tribal status made the Banjaras eligible to acquire Gond
land “ legally” and to compete with Gonds for reserved political seats, places in
education institutions, and other benefits. Because the Banjaras are not scheduled

146
C.R. Bijoy, ‘Adivasis Betrayed: Adivasi Lands Rights in Kerala’, Economic and
Political Weekly, Vol.34( 22), 1999, p 1329-35.
147
S.L,Doshi, Tribals: An Assimilationist Society and National Integration”, in The
tribal Situation in India (ed) by K. Suresh Singh, Shimla; Indian Institute of
Advanced Study, 1972, p 438-439.

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in neighbouring Maharashtra, there has been an influx of Banjara emigrants from

that state into Andhra Pradesh in search of better opportunities.148

J. The problem of indebtedness is a menace to the tribals which pushes the tribals to
extreme conditions of poverty and forces them to dispense with their meagre
resources, including the small bits and pieces of land to pay off the loans at
exorbitant rate of interest charged by the money-lenders. The commercial
vending of alcohol had further impoverished the tribals. Although the system of
bonded labour and slavery is prohibited yet it is predominant in some of the
fringes of the tribal society. Psychologically, these people in many areas are not
leading a happy life as they are socially and economically deprived. They
constantly experience the deprivation of positive life aspects. They do not have
permanent jobs to earn their livelihood. They mainly depend upon seasonal works
which may sometimes disappoint them due to the failure of monsoon in their
living areas. This mainly causes them economic deprivation, leaving them in
starvation.149

K. The state is the catalyst of social change. However, due to the erosion of the
functions of the state, various non-governmental agencies also play an important
role in transformation of the tribal society.

L. Two more reasons can be attributed for the transition of the tribes:

First, the modern state has an inherent tendency of obliterating and is articulating the
marginal societies including those of the tribals.

Secondly, tribal politics is seen largely as an assertion of identity on the part of tribal
community whose cultures face the threat of becoming extinct. As these communities
are pushed to a desperate situation and are literally knocked away from their
traditional habitat, they are making a last-ditch attempt- albeit in ways peculiar to
themselves, at carving out a niche for them. But the battle is highly uneven for what
they are battling against- a developed modern state, is disproportionately stronger than

148
Jhon. K. Thomas (ed).,Empowerment and Protection of the Rights of the Tribals,’
in Human Rights of Tribals (Vol II), (ed) by Jhon.K.Delhi, Isha Books, 2005, p
227-228
149
M. Rajamanickam, Psychology of Tribal People, Delhi, Authorspress, 2007, p10

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what they are. Hence, it is a battle that they are destined to lose. The new approach,
hence is marked by a celebration of this tragedy.150 Thus, it can be well deduced from
the points enumerated above the reasons for the transition of the tribes. The action and
the interaction of these numerous subjective ad objective factors has resulted in the
ushurence of such catastrophic changes of the tribal communities which had
contributed further to worsen their position in the globalized world.

3.6 TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT – AN APPRAISAL

It is relevant to mention that the constitution places a heavy responsibility for the
taking care of the welfare, protection, development and empowerment of the tribes on
the Government, both Centre as well as State. In independent India, all social groups
are assured of protection who have suffered from centuries of discrimination and
neglect. It is precisely because the mainstream that they are striving to join brands and
labels their origin as unclean, dirty, untouchable (in the case of SCs) or uncivilised,
dirty, savage (in the case of STs)151

But, by and large the emphasis of such intervention packages has been
towards assimilation in the so called mainstream without much regard and
understanding of the needs of all the tribal communities, their culture, social structure
and rich heritage. The concept of development in this context is narrow, since it is
only based on government grant. In less developed or developing countries
development has a wider connotation. In a society characterized by several
inequalities, mass poverty, illiteracy, under employment, mere economic growth
would not suffice. What is required is a change in the redistribution of resources and
bringing about an all round development. Development intervention approaches in
India over the past sixty years have been very much a “supply oriented one-way
traffic. The approach has been restricted due to the top-down strategy, being target
oriented rather than people oriented, poor percolation due to bureaucratic practices at
all the stages of development, the non-involvement of people in selecting the right

150
Samir Kumar Das., ‘Tribal Politics in Contemporary India’ in Politics India: The
State Society Interface, edited by Rakhahari Chatterjee, New Delhi, South Asian
Publishers, 2009, p 326-350
151
Mari Marcel Thakaekara,‘Undermining Tribal Culture?’ Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 26(1/2), 1991,p 26

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development strategy and their ever-growing recipient attitude. However, it is an

undeniable fact that the development perspective must weigh the growth of the
people. Michael Todaro considers that “development is both a physical reality and a
state of mind in which society has, through some combination of social, economic and
institutional processes, secured the means for obtaining a better life”. He elaborates
the objectives of development as follows:

1. To increase the availability and widen the distribution of basic life-sustaining

goods such as food, shelter, health and protection.

2. To raise levels of living including in addition to higher incomes, the provision

of more jobs, better education and greater attention to cultural and humanistic
values all of which will serve not only to enhance material well- being but also
to generate greater individual and national self-esteem.

3. To expand the range of economic and social choices available to individuals

and nations by freeing them from servitude and dependence not only in
relation to other peoples and nations, but also to the forces of ignorance and
human misery.152

In a pluralist country like ours, each of the different strata of society has its own
perception of development. It is possible that while viewing the things from national
vantage, the planners might not be able to appreciate or absorb the varying
perceptions of the different sections. The tendency to take a global view overlooking
the shades of aspirations gives rise to dissatisfaction. “It is in this context that we
hear the observation, brusquely brushed aside at times that the development process is
oriented towards the elite. Notwithstanding the swings in the planning process in the
earlier five years plans from agriculture to heavy industries and infrastructure and
back to agriculture, and other changes of varying character, the realization has grown
that generation of wealth and increase in GNP, however substantial, cannot ipso facto,
guarantee equitable sharing among the various constituents of a polity. The trickle-
down effect has not automatically occurred. There has to be a deliberate, conscious
effort of distributive equity. The constituents should feel satisfied that they have been

152
Michael. P. Todaro, Economic Development in the Third World, London,
Longman Group Limited, 1985, p 87

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partners both in generation of wealth as well as recipients of the benefits.”153 The

makers of the Indian Constitution were however conscious of the fact that due to
historical reasons, certain amount of mental barrier prevailed between the tribal and
nontribal population. What is necessary in the present Indian tribal situation is the
conscientization of the tribals regarding their latent capacities and stimulating their
will to acquire and live a better life. Dawn of awareness is the solution to their
psychological gap and rigidity of attitude. The tribals should not be a mere beneficiary
but a contributor in the development and decision-making process. Precisely, the
tribals should not be a passive participant in the development venture. Although the
tribals have not been involved to the desired extent in the formulation programme,
planning, execution, monitoring or even in their evaluation. The tribals have not been
allowed to take the initiative for their own development. Hence they have to depend
on the government for their welfare. Self Management would help the tribals out of
the clutches of the bureaucracy and the judiciary, as they could then frame and
interpret their own laws according to their traditions. The orientation of the planning
must be changed. Planners usually thrust upon the tribals what they think is ideal.
Though these plans may appear attractive when framed in the secretariat, quite often
they become disastrous for the people they are expected to help. It is therefore
necessary for planners to go to the people and study their problems. Development of
tribal culture would also imply development of their languages and scripts. Mass
education among tribals could be achieved only when instructions are in their mother
tongue.154 At this point of time, what is needed is that development plans should be
formulated keeping in view the local development resource potential. This would
inculcate the spirit of e reliance and achievement amongst them which is essential for
their sustainable development. Planning from below has to be emphasized. Block
level planning has to be made a reality. Plans should be made location specific and
clientele specific. Even when a viable programme is implemented, it may suffer from
faulty formulation and subsequently in implementation. Hence, an interdisciplinary

153
R.K. Goswami, ‘The Tribes Of Andaman and Nicobar’ in Tribal Development
Administration in India, (ed) by Ashok Ranjan Basu & Satish Nijhawan, New
Delhi, Mittal Publication, 1994, p 54
154
Mari Marcel Thakaekara, ‘Undermining Tribal Culture?’ Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 26(1/2), 1991, p 26

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approach is needed for a successful programme. This would inculcate the spirit of
reliance and achievement amongst them which is essential for their sustainable
development. It is to be kept in mind that a tribal problem requires a tribal solution
and this requires a paradigm shift in the very perception. However, recurrent
assistance in the form of spoon-feeding would not help the tribals in the long run.
Attempts should be made to make people stand on their own feet and realise the
benefits of the endeavours of the government and Non-governmental agencies.

After assessing the tribal development process in India, it can be said that
certain factors are responsible which collectively resisted to turn the dream of the
empowerment of the tribals into a reality.

Firstly, there are certain hindrances which have obstructed the way of tribal
development. The most glaring mistake has been in the tribal development planning
in India which aimed at clubbing all the tribes together as a homogeneous cultural
group irrespective of their level of development. In actual term, the Scheduled Tribes
are at a different spectrum of human and cultural evolution and are engaged in
livelihood practice from hunting, food gathering to shifting cultivation, pastoralism,
marginal farming to agriculture based on irrigation. So, it would be a faulty planning
if all the tribes are treated as equal in the race for development. Moreover, adhocism,
piecemeal efforts, bureaucratization, lack of coordination and short of new insights
and ideas hindered the process of development. Most of the programme planning and
implementation has been stereotyped and there are many a slip between the rules
formulated and their actual implementation. The ultimate result of such defected
planning and their implementation results in an undulating situation where some
tribals have advanced in terms of the socio-economic indicators while the other tribals
have remained static. Moreover, the special programmes framed for the development
of the tribals have a limited coverage and are rigid and uniform in nature although the
demand of the tribes of different topography are different. Further, the areas which
were delineated for the sake of the development of the tribals are without any rational
and scientific basis. In addition to these, the persons who were concerned with the
implementation of the programmes were found unsympathetic to the unfortunate
tribals. Bureaucrats at the secretariat level seem to be involved in a constant battle for
fine tuning them, not always successfully…….Rules for the day –to- day functioning
of the government, in themselves are lifeless. At best they can specify who has to do

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what, how, when and where. But the desire to make that happen has society has to
come from public life. Like much else in society, the act of bringing rules to life gets
refracted through a variety of factors: power, culture, local traditions etc.155 However,
there is a urgent need of harmonising the goals and needs of the different constituents
of society which varies with the regional, linguistic, ethnic, cultural differences. It is a
herculean task to bridge the gap between ideology and existing reality. Hence, the
strategy for tribal development has lost its vigour, and got bogged down in quagmire
of formalism and routinization. The spirit of tribal development is thus fading away
and gradually assuming a ritualistic status.

Secondly, the issue of tribal development has been politicized badly. The
vested interests had walked away with the cake which was qualitatively allotted for
the backward classes. In a globalised situation, it is the market and not the community
which is the focal player. It is the centralisation of resources and decision-making,
increasing communities vulnerability to political vagaries and industrial interests. It is
commercialisation of resources and profit gains to global powers and global corporate
that is of crucial importance. As a result of such a political and economic ideology,
the state as a social institution loses its role.”156 However, the fortune of the tribals
had been raped by the different stakeholders. In our constitution, certain communities
were scheduled as tribes on the basis of geographical isolation, economic
backwardness and distinctive cultural ethos. It was laid down that the list would be
revised every ten years presumably with the intention of delisting some communities
which had made adequate socio-economic progress. However, everytime the list was
revised, there were additions instead of deletions. Many communities who were
outside the list tried to get enlisted so that they can also avail the privileges of
reservation in the legislature and services and several other concessions for socio-
economic development. Thus the country has with the passage of time a large number
of tribal communities which have a vested interest in backwardness. As democracy is
a game of number, no popularly elected government with an eye on the voting
strength of these communities would have the courage to go in for a reduction in the

155
Meeta and Rajivlochan, ‘Reorienting Tribal Development: Administrative
Dilemmas’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 32( 33/34), 1997, p 2092, 2095
156
Samata and Mines, ‘Globalisation in the Scheduled Areas’ in Scheduled Tribes
and Development, edited by H.S.Saxena, New Delhi, Sterling Publication p 498.

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list. Today the entire gamut of tribal problems has to be seen in the political
perspective. Politics has emerged as the principal avenue through which they look
forward to finding solution to their many problems that have persisted in one form or
other through centuries. In the last two decades some of these problems have acquired
a sharper edge. There have been many new additions to the long inventory of tribal
needs, for the tribes who have undergone a limited revolution of rising aspirations.
They are aware that in contemporary politics, competitive pressure determine one’s
place and share in the decision-making process. By being a part of this process, they
feel, they can ensure not only the preservation of their self-respect but also gain
proportionately larger share of scarce resources for economic development. In many
areas they have discarded the satellite role they have played so far in the political
process. There has been a noticeable shift in their political attitudes and strategies:
from politics of compliance and affirmation, they have moved over to the politics of
pressure and protest. Where a tribal elite has not emerged political parties- old and
new- are moving in. In their efforts to capture the minds- as also the votes- of the
tribals, they are adopting radical postures and fomenting militant agitations. The fire
of discontents is being fed by interested tribal and non-tribal agencies. The keg
appears to be charged with dynamite. An explosion may come any day157.

Thirdly, the rise of tribal leaders who are engaged in meeting their
parochial end in the name of the tribal counterpart is another threat in the path of their
development. Nevertheless, a certain level of political participation evidently relieves
frustration and develops a ‘democratic creed’ which keeps the Adivasis in perpetual
hope that someday they would be equal with others. Such ideological hangover
disarms them from action for realising their dream. They depend entirely on their
representatives. The Adivasis believe that their leaders know their interests better than
they themselves do or others could……. They make these and other demands in the
name of the Adivasis, but in practice, their concern for the ordinary Adivasi is only
secondary. The ordinary Adivasi, who is still langoti-clad and half starved, stills
follows primitive agricultural methods, is still literate, and is still being exploited by
money-lenders and contractors, belongs to a class different from that of his leaders…..
The political leaders are not only socially and economically better off, but they are
157
S.C. Dube, Tribal Situation in India, Shimla, Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
1972 p 29

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also better educated and more exposed to the outside world. In norms and etiquette
they are being gradually detached from their tribal brethren. And their participation in
secular institutions- like education, the market economy, and political parties- brings
them closer to the larger society. It could be hypothesised then that, the greater the
extensive and intensive involvement in these institutions the greater is the possibility
of their being involved in the mainstream of the society. It may also be added that, if
the emerging lead stratum is small and relatively closed, and if the political leaders
get circulated in the same socio-economic group, integration of tribal society into
larger society will become an illusion.158 The rise of the tribal elite resulted in creation
of cleavages in the tribal society as the former occupies a place of their own in the
national and state legislature where as the rest of the tribal society are eking out for
their existence.

Fourthly, the non-tribals are aware of the fact that the tribals are the poor
souls and have no effective means of asserting their rights, or even communicating
their problems. They can not access information and communication channels by
virtue of which they might air their grievances. Moreover, the tribals lack the
confidence to assert their rights and on matters unambiguously political, the poor lack
the confidence to assert themselves and as a result, become cynical, or at best,
indifferent towards developmental programmes. Thus because of such apathy and
indifference the spirit of tribal development get diffused. When the interests of the
smaller and larger units clash, the common tendency is to overlook the smaller one.
The tribal interest has clashed many times with broader objectives and thus had to be
compromised for the sake of national interest. Tribalness is a powerful political card
which is manipulated by the non-tribals many a times to further their own interest. In
the current scenario, there are constitutional provisions, international agenda for
human rights, tribal development plans, environmental protection laws and
democratic decentralization on one hand, while on the other hand, there are dominant
factors like vested political interest, regionalism, political overtones, pressure of
development and global economies, world capitalism, projects and dictates of IMF
and World Bank and other International Financial Institutions. However, today in the
current economic order, the international concern of the “Indigenous People” is of
158
S.D. Kulkarni, ‘Class and Caste in a Tribal Movement’ Economic and Political
Weekly,Vol.14( 7/8), 1979, p 465

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equal importance. All societies change, so must the tribal societies. But how should it
be affected so that the tribals maintain their identity and dignity in the face of drastic
socio-cultural and eco-political changes pressing upon them from all around? They
need to be integrated into a culturally pluralistic and economically egalitarian society
and not be assimilated into an ethnically uniform, class-stratified state. While seeking
for an integration of tribals into the national mainstream, the issues concerning all
ethnic minorities of the country need to be attended as well: social equity, ecological
sustainability, people’s participation, cultural autonomy and democratic integration.
The non-tribal societies have also to learn much from the tribals, like ecological
protection and forest management, to mention a few.159

Fifthly, the new tribal generation believes that they have been betrayed as
they have been pushed to the wall and suffer from the hydra-headed problems like
poverty, indebtedness, illiteracy, morbidity, mortality, malnutrition,
underemployment, cultural erosion, displacement trauma, identity crisis and
dispossession. For the State’s neglect of the adivasis is in many respects a product of
the terrain in which they live. In these remote upland areas, public officials are
unwilling to work at all. Doctors do not attend the clinics assigned to them; the
schoolteachers stay away from school; magistrates spend their time in lobbying for a
transfer back to the plains.160. All these problems collectively results in a crisis which
engulfed the tribals with the passage of time. The antagonisms of the tribals are
getting burst out here and there like a sore in the body of our country in the name of
identity politics. The recent formation of the new states of Chattisgarh and Jharkhand
in the Indian union poses as a challenge, both theoretical and practical, those who
have long argued and agitated for the preservation of tribal identity and culture and its
possible development in the direction set by its possible development in the direction
set by its own genius. Would the requirements of being a modern state with its whole
institutional paraphernalia of governance and administration permit such a
preservation or make it impossible, is the question which needs to be squarely faced
by all those who value traditional ways of life in any form whatsoever. A state, as

159
Alexius Ekka, ‘Review: Negotiating Tribal Identity’, Economic and Political
Weekly, Vol. 30(22), 1995, p 1294
160
D. Mukherji,‘If You Look after Forest People, You Kill Naxalism’, The Asian
Age, June 28, 2005

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everyone knows, has to be have ‘elected’ representatives who need a modern air-
conditioned assembly hall to deliberate on the welfare of those who have elected
them, need reasonably comfortable houses to live in and transport facilities to go to
the assembly building and to visit and look after their constituencies. They also need a
governor from the centre to ‘oversee’ the working of the state from his central palatial
building and a whole set of ministers with their diverse departments and offices to
‘develop’ the economy of the state and plan its social and ‘human’ development
conceived of in terms set by expert trained in the west.161 For the post-colonial
government is still much more in continuity than discontinuity with the earlier
colonial state. Tribal resistance is all too often treated as a law and order problem and
suppressed as ruthlessly as before.162 In this situation, the benefit of the complexity of
situation is reaped by the Naxalites who are bringing the adivasis within their fold.
They are committing crimes and taking refuge in the hills and forest of the tribal
homeland. They are consoling the tribals and giving them false promises of statehood
by the virtue of self-determination. This sorry state of affair is speculated in many
states of our country. For instance, it appears that armed insurgent groups will
continue to flourish in Tripura as long as three main sources remain to sustain them.

First, there is a growing mass of unemployed tribal youth who feel that
there is no future for them in the present set-up-a mood that reflects in a large measure
the genuine discontent of the rest of their community.

Secondly, the desperate among them can get hold of enough weapons
which are going around, thanks to the thriving gun-running across the border, and can
form gangs that combine extortion from common people for their personal sustenance
with occasional attacks on police stations that make them politically respectable as ‘
insurgents’ among their tribal followers.

Thirdly, there are always the political ‘netas’ who are all too willing to
underwrite the purchase of weapons by the group of insurgents whom they patronise,
as long as their own political interests are served best. The tribal poor of Tripura are

161
Daya Krishna, ‘The New Tribal States: Can They Survive in the Modern World?’
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35( 46), 2000, p 3997
162
Rudolf. C., Heredia, ‘Tribal History: Living Word or Dead Letters?’ Economic
and Political Weekly, Vol. 35(18), 2000, p 1524.

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caught in this sordid mesh of selfish interests, without any hope of an immediate end
to their plight.163

To conclude we can say that until 1990s India followed socialistic model of
development where role of the state was confined to welfare and social justice.
Thereafter the country restructured their global agenda through neo-liberal
philosophy. Introduction of New Economic Policy in 1990 ushered the era of
corporate ie the transnational control of resources where the state is handing over the
natural resources to industries on the pretext that the state has failed to deliver through
its undertakings. Corporate became the state with overarching power. These forces
brutally engulfed the indigenous knowledge system, land and forest.
Commercialisation and commodification of the resources became the primary
concern. The tribal homeland is the hub of natural resources like oil, minerals,
silvicultural and other biotic objects, which are the important factors of production.
These hubs make the tribal and indigenous territories targets of the greed of the global
hegemons and their compradors who are extending their tentacles to squeeze the
resources as much as possible. The globalised economy depleted the resources beyond
repair. The tribals have become arenas of the global ‘free’ market economy and there
is a gradual process of monopolization of resources by the dominant economic
forces.164 This exploitation has alarmed the tribal and indigeneous elites, tribal leaders
and a large number of tribal commoners who are conscious of this emerging global
scenario and getting agitated by the same. The rising of such political consciousness
among the marginalised socio-political category who constitutes four percent of the
global population has a considerable implication for the geo-politics of 21st C. Apart
from that, invasion of tribal areas by MNCs accompanied migrant population, big
township, tertiary sectors like trade and related activities, new forms of economic
activity, large scale destruction displaced and pushed the tribals into fringes. The
tribals thus became unskilled labour like construction work, domestic service,
vending, petty trade, etc----- depletion of forest results in the erosion of health needs.
Dispossession of age old right to access, control, manage resources, marginalisation in

163
‘Tribal Poor in a Trap’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 32( 22), 1997, p1226
164
Manu Bhaskar, ‘Globalisation and Empowerment of Capital and
Disempowerment of Tribals’, in Scheduled Tribes and Development, New Delhi,
Serial Publisher, 2006, pp 78-79.

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the decision-making process.......... This effort has been symbolised by the CBD
signed during the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
at Rio de Janerio, and by the GATT agreement. The WTO agreement on Trade related
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which deal with patents and effective sui
generis, legislation on property rights, plants and animal varieties and genetically
modified organisms is an effort to control the traditional knowledge system.165

This exploitation has alarmed the tribal and indigenous elites, tribal leaders
and a large number of tribal commoners who are conscious of this emerging global
scenario and getting agitated by the same. The rising of such political consciousness
among the marginalised socio-political category is a threat to the global hegemons
which have a serious implication for the geo-politics of 21st Century. Against this
context, we can say that in spite of such initiatives tribal development has remained a
mere philanthropic exercises and not a people-oriented development activity. In the
midst of such differences, the tribals are struck badly. It would not be out of context to
state that “One has also to put one’s ear to the ground and learn from them of their
travails, hopes and disappointments…….. The tendency has been to explain this
indifference by “blaming the victim”. He is deemed to be the prey of superstition,
ignorance, and tradition; a bearer of the “culture of poverty”…… Because the
development initiators are able to view the social space on a larger and supra-local
scale, there arises a two-way learning process: the people are educated by the agent
and the agent is educated by the people.”

Dr B. D. Sharma took a deep insight on the tribes as:

“The biggest irony with regard to dignity and prestige of a people in our country is
that the condition of the tribal communities, who are most conscious about self
respect and honour, is the worst. These communities have become completely
helpless in the face of the omnipotent system on account of the criminalization of
their social and economic system itself, denial of their rights over resources and non-
recognition of their traditional self-governing systems. The forests are the property of
the State; and therefore, it is an offence for the tribal, who has been living in those
very forests for ages, to make a living from these forests. His very presence in the

165
H.S. Saksena, Scheduled Tribes and Development, New Delhi, Serial Publication,
2006, p 78.

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forest is against the law. If a tribal enters the forests with his bow and arrows, it is an
offence. If his cattle, as usual, graze in the forest, they are taken to a kin house. If he
takes his traditional brew after worshipping his Gods or in social functions according
to his tradition he still becomes a law-breaker. He is branded as an offender in all
matters concerning his social and economic life only because the law is against him.
The criminalization of the entire communities in the tribal areas is the darkest blot on
the liberal tradition of our country.166

The tribals are caught between two worlds; a traditional and a modern. For
an infant nation, nation-building has to take precedence over development even
though temporally the two may be taken in hand concomitantly. In the turbulent and
troubled decades that followed the attainment of national independence, the fibre of
India’s nationhood has been put to litmus tests many a time. The recurrent
convulsions caused by communalism, regionalism, linguism, and casteism differed in
their intensity and duration, but their consequences were sufficiently unsettling to
raise doubts in many minds- both at home and abroad- about India’s visibility and
durability as a nation….. Tribal sub-nationalism –dormant in some parts and
explosives in others- contributes to the uneasy mosaic so characteristic of
contemporary India.167 Time healed some of the wounds caused to the tribal self-
respect and their cultural autonomy, but some of them turned into festering sores
partly because of the newcomers’ arrogance that made them insensitive and
unresponsive to tribal sentiment. Changing social, political, and economic contexts
continued to alter prevailing tribal-non-tribal equations and upset their delicate
equilibrium. This generated new passions and conflicts. As opposed to sheer
quantitative growth, development in the new approach involves human as distinct
from material resources. The focus has shifted from growth centred model to human
centred model. New concepts concerning security in the post cold war period focus
less and less on the idea of military security and more on the intangible soft threats to
security. These include areas such as question of identity These threatening problems
exist not only at certain national level but also on a global scale. In the path to nation-

166
B. D. Sharma, Twenty-ninth Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes, Government of India, New Delhi, 1987-89,
167
S.C Dube, Tribal Situation in India, Simla, Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
1972, p 27

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building, communalism, radicalism, casteism, linguism and tribalism often throws a

serious challenge. To conclude, it can be said that the cultural identity of the tribals is
passing through a crisis. The only practical solution of the tribal people in the national
democratic set up. India, as a nation would thus be which the vast mosaic in which the
numerous ethnic and cultural groups would constitute the component element of
diverse culture and pattern. Only such a process that threats them as equals can in the
long run can be a protective cushion against the present trauma of domination and
exploitation. Evidence of simmering discontent is all-too-clear. Dark and ominous
clouds are gathering on the tribal horizon: a cloudburst, followed by a tornado may
come any day.168 However, there should not be any iota of disagreement that
something positive has to be done to resist the tornado and the consequent destruction.
The tribals are stuck at a severe crisis. So in order to protect them, serious steps
should be taken not only from the Government but from the Non Governmental
Organizations as well. They have to jump with whatever resource and strength they
have to shoulder the task of the tribal development. Tribal development is a huge
landscape which encompasses many issue areas. This research had however
streamlined the issue area of study into two namely tribal education and tribal health
in which the role and contribution of two respective NGOs would be studied in the
forthcoming chapters.

168
Ibid

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