Contemporary Tribal Challenges • 53

7. Problems of Education
Census 2011 also reveals that the literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes (STs) is 58.96% and that
literate females constitute only 49.35%. It is true that the literacy rate has increased from a
mere 8.53% in 1961 to 58.96% by 2011. However, this is not satisfactory as the gap in the
literacy rates between the STs and the general population and for that matter, gap between
ST and SC is still wide. The enrolment of tribal children in school going age have similarly
improved, but not surely to the expected levels. The dropout rates of tribal children even
before they complete 10th standard is too alarming.
Data on enrolment and out of school tribal children in 2017 in Andhra Pradesh
reveals that enrolment of boys is about 73% and that of girls is about 76%. There are inter-
tribal differences in regard to enrolment. While the concerted efforts in the agency areas
seem to have paid results, the newer opportunities for employment to school dropouts in
case of tribals living in urban settlements or near the cities and towns seem to have resulted
in increased drop out of tribal boys in recent years. The high dropout rates in Nellore
which has predominantly Yanadi population is the example.
The performance of tribal children in schools shows a very dismal picture. According
to the National Achievement Survey (NAS, Cycle 3, 2014), in Andhra Pradesh, average
score of SC, ST and OBC category students of Class V in reading comprehension was
lower than the overall average score. The performance of SC category students was higher
than ST students on all the competencies.

7.1. Reases for the low educational performance of tribal children

• Physical access to schools is still a major reason for the poor participation of children
of certain tribal communities.
• Lack of proper infrastructure like pucca building, shortage of adequate classrooms,
boundary wall, usable toilet and drinking water facilities, library facility, playground,
electricity etc.
• The practice of multiple class teaching due the shortage of teachers.
• Lack of child-centred pedagogy and poor quality of instruction due to the presence of
less qualified and untrained teachers.
• Poor interpersonal relationships between teachers and students, stereotyped beliefs
of teachers regarding the tribal students.
• The poor cultural sensitivity of the teachers and negative attitudes towards children.
• Challenges to cope with emotional and social problems in an alien culture (school
culture).

7.2. The challenges for higher education beyond 10th standard are
also notable. The most important of them are:
• Lack of appropriate educational counselling on opportunities and procedures.
• Untimely release of post-matric scholarships to the needy members.
54 • General Themes

• Stress and inability to cope with academic expectations and insufficient mentoring
activity in educational institutions.

8. Problems of Health
• Nutritional status of pre-school children is very unsatisfactory. The underweight
child population is around 50% in Andhra Pradesh, and in Maharashtra, it is 63% as
the larger population has the larger burden. Overall, the children who are underweight
constitute around 51%, stunting 54.7%, and wasting around 22%. Micronutrients
like calcium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, are deficient in all tribes across the country.
• Genetic diseases are peculiar to tribal populations. The ICMR survey informs that
20% of children with sickle diseases die by the age of two years. Moreover, about 30%
of children with sickle cell disease do not reach to adulthood. The sickle cell anaemia
belt in India includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa
and Andhra Pradesh.
• Similarly, Thalassemia is also observed to be a significant health issue among the
tribes of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.
• Data on malaria has revealed that 8% of the tribal population in the country
contributes to 46% of total malaria cases, and 70% of falciparum cases in the country.
The reported incidence of malaria is not the true burden of malaria. There is under-
reporting which is due to the low annual blood examination rate, and it reflects the
inadequate disease surveillance by the states. Other reasons attributed to the gap:
the quality of smear examination and underreporting of malaria cases.
• Overall around 700 per lakh population is the estimated prevalence rate for
tuberculosis in some tribal communities. Studies relating to pulmonary TB in tribal
areas have pointed out to a pooled pulmonary TB prevalence estimate of 703 per
100,000 for the tribal population as against 256 per 100,000 estimated for India. The
RNTCP annual report estimation is, however, only 80 smear-positive cases per 100,000
tribal populations, but still very significant (RNTCP report, 2011).
• Fluorosis is emerging as a new public health problem in many tribal areas all over
the country. Fluorosis programme is a multi-sectoral disease. Safe drinking water
and nutrient supplementation are required to control this disease. However, the lack
of coordination between public health engineering department and women and child
development department has resulted in the neglect of either or both of them.
• Sexually transmitted diseases were also found to be on the increase. This is particularly
in the case of tribes who are seasonally migrating and also in case of those tribes who
are influenced by the tourism projects. The tribes having social approval of premarital
sex like Poraja in Andhra Pradesh are also found to have STI in greater intensity.
• Hypertension, supposed to be less prevalent among the tribes, is on the increase and
the overall prevalence of hypertension is around 23%. An urban-based survey in
2014 has shown that hypertension is much more among the urban tribes.
• Dengue outbreaks in tribal areas are also being reported in the tribal areas in many
parts of the country.
 Contemporary Tribal Challenges • 55

8.1. Major causes of the poor health status of tribes include

• Poor health infrastructure in tribal areas;
• Shortage of trained healthcare manpower;
• Indifference to culturally sensitive healthcare delivery;
• Inability to achieve effective community participation;
• Disappearance of diversity of food among tribes;
• Loss of traditional knowledge;
• Dependence on poorly qualified/unqualified biomedical practitioners;
• Poor standards of personal and environmental hygiene; and
• Health beliefs and practices of tribal people.

9. Restriction on Forest Resources

The restricted movement of tribal people in the forest began with British colonial
administration. The establishment of forest departments and implementation of forest
laws had resulted in the control of forest resources which were freely accessed by the tribal
communities. The changes in both implementation and policy impact on the tribal
resources led to the restricted movements of the tribes. The fear of allegations of hunting
animals in the forest further restricted their choice of collection of forest products. The
major consequences of restricted access to the forest are:
• Loss of income;
• Loss of diversity of food;
• Forced choice of other livelihoods that result in different socio-economic consequences;
• Loss of traditional knowledge; and
• Loss of identity.

10. Weakening of Traditional Leadership

As the tribal societies are becoming part of the larger societies, and non-tribal interference
on tribes is increasing, the transformation of the traditional institutions is inevitable. The
weakening of traditional leadership is making the tribal societies more disintegrated and
leading to anomie (state of normlessness), loss of autonomy and dependency on the non-
tribal leaders. This is affecting the administration as well as the successful implementation
of developmental initiatives.

11. Alcoholism
Earlier publications have pointed out the nuisance of alcoholism in tribal areas. The
rampant alcoholism for various reasons, particularly due to high social approval is an
important cause of their health problems. It often leads to the conflicts and crime in tribal
areas. The study among the Savara has shown that incomes for tribal families have
56 • General Themes

substantially increased due to adoption of horticulture and other livelihood opportunities

and that at the same time, the expenditure on alcohol has also increased in a greater
proportion resulting in reduction of net income for meeting food, health and education
expenditures of families.

12. Increased Litigations

Litigations of tribes with non-tribes as well as fellow tribal individuals are on the increase
due to various reasons. Litigations due to increased empowerment is welcome. While in
many cases, tribals are unnecessarily dragged into litigations, but the cases of litigations
on account of the crime, indulgence in illegal activities, divorce etc., are also noted. These
increased litigations and their dependence on institutions outside their community for
dispute resolutions severely affect their economy and social development.

13. Unemployment
Though no one can say that the tribals significantly progressed in educational attainments,
it is also true that the efforts in this regard are visible and especially so in case of certain
tribal communities. The educational development, however, has also created an issue of
unemployed ‘educated’ among the tribals. Most of these unemployed are school dropouts
or undergraduates. The tribal parents are disappointed that they are unwilling to take
part in their family agriculture or other livelihood activities and contribute to family
incomes. And at the same time they are not employed suitably according to their educational
qualifications.

14. Adaptation of Technology and its Consequences

Adoption of technological innovations too created problems like (1) increased dependence
on others and so exploitation of them in several ways and (2) increased risk of some of the
occupational hazards. The adoption of technology is leading to new wave and forms of
exploitation of tribals by the others. For example, due to adoption of agriculture, the
tribes depend on traders and agriculture experts for seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and
on technicians for repairs of their machinery and equipment; for health services they
depend on private practitioners of biomedicine, both qualified and semi-qualified. In such
cases, they are getting exploited.

15. Problems in Marketing

The shift of tribes to agriculture and horticulture crated problem of marketing. These
problems are like (1) fluctuations in market prices, (2) information gaps in regard to
market prices, (3) distress sale and (4) sale of products at a prefixed price.

16. Bogus Claims of ST Status and Competing Demands for

Benefits of Constitutional Provisions
The tribals are not able to reap benefits of the constitutional provisions like reservation in
employment and educational institutions due to bogus claims of ST certificates. The
incompetency of officers, as well as their corruptive practices, results in the issue of such
bogus certificates to non-tribals depriving the genuine tribes off their benefits.
 Contemporary Tribal Challenges • 57

The demand for Scheduled Tribe status by other tribal communities even in a
democratic manner with the political support is resulting in increased tensions and inter-
community conflicts. As the socio-economic status between the tribal communities has
widened in certain cases, the feeling among some tribes that they still remain relatively
more backwards and that certain tribal communities only are getting the benefits of the
government in different forms is increasing. In fact, the demands for de-scheduling of
certain communities by these tribal communities is resulting in inter-tribal tensions and
conflicts too.

17. Extremist Activities and Inability to Participate in the

Development Process
The states like Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra have been witnessing the
extremist activities particularly in the tribal areas. The tribes are caught between the two
sections, government machinery dealing with law and order and Naxalites that attempt
for dominance in these areas. In some cases, the tribes are making forced choices under the
domination of either of them. This process is also hindering their socio-economic and
political participation.

18. Poverty Driven Indulgence in Illegal Activity

The poverty as well as the demand for some goods and services outside their society
together work as push and pull factors for the tribes in indulging in the illegal activities in
certain sections. For example, cultivation of ganja, brewing of liquor and illegal sale,
poaching, smuggling of wood, sex trade etc., keep the tribal individuals and communities
in tense situations.

19. Migration-related Issues

At least some tribes are seasonally migrating to urban and semi-urban areas in search of
livelihood. The system of ‘labour contracting’ which is especially operative in construction
activity is resulting in migration of tribals during the off seasons. The important
consequences of this are:
• Health problems due to living in unsanitary and unhygienic living conditions;
• Health problems due to undertaking of unfamiliar work and undertaking hazardous
jobs; and
• Educational problems for children.

20. Problems of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)

Many of the problems listed above are very appropriate to PVTGs of the state of Andhra
Pradesh also. However, some problems like the land alienation and displacement and
rehabilitation are more acute to the PVTGs. The low educational attainments, poor health
status, alcoholism etc., are more important challenges for these communities today.
The problems that these communities face are also due to administrative reasons
such as the disregard of PESA. The strict implementation of PESA will serve many purposes