48 • General Themes

11. Summary
Our country is home to a great number of tribes. Each tribe is distinct from the other in
language, customs, beliefs, practices, political and religious views and many other
characteristics. The sad reality is that the tribes are often disrespected and belittled by
others. This attitude of people towards the tribal communities has to be changed. The
unit, by introducing the anthropological concepts of ‘ethnocentrism’ and ‘cultural
relativism’ in addition to giving an understanding of the concept of ‘culture’ has tried to
make an attempt towards valuing the tribal population. It has been stated that the
evaluation of other cultures according to the standards of one’s own culture is incorrect.
Rather, people of other cultures are to be given equal value and respect. Treating the tribes
as secondary citizens has to end. Their lives and cultures are as important as ours. No one
should be viewed better or worse, people are just different from one another. Thus, one
should get rid of the ethnocentric attitude when interacting with people of other cultures.
It is important to develop empathy towards the tribes and engage in cordial relations with
them. Tribes should be considered as our true equals, not as ‘the inferior other’.

12. Recapitulation
• Can culture be understood as good or bad?
• Is it correct to say that tribals need empathy and not sympathy? If so why?
• What is ethnocentrism? Why cultural relativism is required to have an empathetic
approach to tribals?
• What are the steps to eliminate ethnocentrism?

13. Glossary
• Cultural Relativism: The notion of cultural relativism claims that it is inappropriate
for a given culture to be judged by the standards of other cultures.
• Culture: Culture includes the ideas, customs, values, norms, beliefs, behaviour and
all such attributes of a particular people or society.
• Enculturation: Enculturation is the process by which the members of a culture acquire
the norms, values and other characteristics of that culture.
• Ethnocentrism: Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of other cultures according to
preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture.
• Socialization: Socialization is the process by which an individual learns to behave in
ways that are acceptable to the society in which he/she is a member.

14. Activity
• From the tribal communities that you are familiar with, list some of the customs and
practices that you think are to be done away with. Why do you think some practices
are to be abandoned?
• There are two people- a highly educated man and an illiterate farmer. Whom would
you consider as ‘cultured’. Choose the right answer from the options given.
 Building Empathetic Interactions with Tribals • 49

(a) The educated man (b) the illiterate farmer (c) both of them (d) neither
• ____________ is a concept that is associated with a general tolerance and respect
for difference.
• List some of the attitudes of people around you that you think are ethnocentric and
find out what could be the possible ways to eliminate such an outlook

15. References
Ember, C., & Ember, M. 2003. Anthropology. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Herskovits, M. 1955. Man and His Works: The Science of Cultural Anthropology. New York: Knopf.
Rao, M. S. and Rao, B. L. 2010. Factors Influencing Socio-Economic Status of the Primitive Tribal
Groups (PTGs) and Plain Tribes in Andhra Pradesh (A Logistic Regression Analysis). World
Applied Sciences Journal11 (2).
Rosado, C. 1994. Understanding Cultural Relativism in a Multicultural World. http://www.rosado.net/
pdf/cultural_Relativism.pdf
Rachels, J. 1999. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA.
Spiro, M. 1986. Cultural Relativism and the Future of Anthropology. Cultural Anthropology, 1 (3).
Tilley, John J. 2000. Cultural Relativism. Human Rights Quarterly,22 (2).
 4
50 • General Themes

Contemporary Tribal Challenges

Alcoholic cirrhosis of liver  one of the major causes of death among the Chenchus.
Among the Chenchus, alcohol plays an integrative role from the cradle to the grave. In a
study conducted by National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, it was reported
that alcoholism is the predominant cause of death among the Chenchu adults. While,
traditional rice beer has an alcoholic content of about 3-5%, the Chenchus because of
contact with outsiders have access to adulterated distilled beverages, the alcoholic content
of which can go upto 70%.

Tribal people, due to various circumstances, are at risk of substance addiction. One of
the reasons is contact with outsiders. What kind of State interventions can be introduced
in such a situation?
Is there a danger of becoming judgemental about the cultural practices of the tribals
regarding alcohol and propose a 'culture adjustment programme'?

Contents

1. Introduction 17. Extremist Activities and Inability to

2. Learning Objectives Participate in the Development
Process
3. Tribal Problems
18. Poverty Driven Indulgence in Illegal
4. Problem of Land Alienation
Activity
5. Indebtedness
19. Migration  related issues
6. Shift to Settled Agriculture; Effects of
20. Problems of Particularly Vulnerable
Globalization and Indebtedness
Tribal Groups
7. Problems of Education
21. Summary
8. Problems of Health
22. Recapitulation
9. Restriction on Forest Resources
23. Key Terms
10. Weakening of Traditional Leadership
24. Activity
11. Alcoholism
25. References
12. Increased Litigations
13. Unemployment
14. Adaptation of Technology and its
Consequences
15. Problems in Marketing
16. Bogus Claims of ST Status
 Contemporary Tribal Challenges • 51

1. Introduction

I n colonial India, the problems of the tribes were mainly related to the ban on collecting
forest produce, land revenues of various kinds, moneylenders’ exploitation and atrocities
of police administration. When colonialism ended, the rulers soon realized that in the
course of civilizing the natives, they have made them poor. So they started working in
tandem with new states for poverty alleviation through development agencies and projects.
This new phase of colonialism has seen much more displacement and resulting destitution.
After Independence, the development projects by the government displaced them from
their homes. Today, displacement is the main problem confronting the tribals. This has a
dual consequence: depriving them of their cultural identity and threatening their existence.
Further, the globalization that is making inroads into the tribal life has many negative
consequences on their economy and living conditions. This unit will briefly outline the
contemporary problems of tribes, with a specific focus on tribes of Andhra Pradesh.

2. Learning Objectives
After reading this unit, the reader is expected to learn:
1) The nature of problems being faced by tribes in the country; and
2) The causes of such problems.

3. Tribal Problems
While some of the problems are common to all tribal communities, though, in varying
degrees, some are more specific to some tribal communities. This is because, the degree of
geographic isolation, the nature of the economy and cultural characteristics are not the
same for all tribals. For example, some tribes speak their language even today while others
have undergone a rapid language assimilation process. There are tribes who still practice
shifting cultivation while some others have completely shifted to settled agriculture.
However, the High Level Committee (HLC), Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Government of
India as recently as 2014, reported that livelihood and employment, education and health
are three problems common among the many tribal communities. The HLC also identified
landlessness, land alienation, malnutrition, bonded labour, eviction from National Parks
and Sanctuaries, as well as displacement due to mines and hydroelectric projects.

4. Problem of Land Alienation

Problem of land alienation is not new to the tribals. Prior to independence, the demand for
sleepers for constructing railway lines in the Indian subcontinent, requirement of wood
for shipbuilding and demand for timber created immense pressures on the Indian forests.
Laws were enacted and implemented dissolving the communal ownership of land. Lands
that communities communally owned became the property of the Government. After
independence, community-owned forest lands are diverted for industries, dams, mining
and biodiversity conservation. Post-1991, the economic liberalisation era of India has
created pressure on tribal and forest lands for the economic growth of the nation.
52 • General Themes

Loss of land by tribes during land survey operations covered by Andhra Pradesh
Regulations 1/ 69, 2/69 and 2/70, to settle the land occupations of both the tribals and non-
tribals is also a serious problem in regard to land alienation. All the Settlement Regulations
diluted the letter and spirit of Land Transfer Regulations 1 of 70 by enabling non-tribes to
claim patta over land situated in the Scheduled Areas, in effect negating the presumption
that unless and until proved contrary, the land in occupation by non-tribes would be
deemed to have come from the tribes through a transfer (Rao, 2014). It is pointed out that
large scale manipulations occurred during the Survey and Settlement period of 1970-76
that led to the grant of land entitlements of tribal land as settlement pattas in the name of
non-tribes.
The encroachment of non-tribes into tribal areas resulted in large-scale land alienation
since the tribes do not have documents that stand legal scrutiny. Further, they have no
other go than to surrender to the powerful non-tribes.
It is estimated that about 48 percent of land in the survey agencies has gone into the
hands of non-tribals. Some of the reasons that led to this situation are: no access to
the Record of Rights (ROR); incompetence and inexperience of the revenue officers;
money lending; lack of investigation into the occupation by non-tribals; the non-
tribal men entering into marital relationships with the tribal women and purchase
of land in the names of tribal wives; purchasing land in the names of their tribal
servants; procuring false tribal certificates; industrialisation and privatization;
setting up of power projects; right to property being a mere legal right i.e., not a
fundamental right; and fictitious adoption of the non-tribal children by the tribal
families etc. (Ramachandraiah and Venkateswarlu, 2011).

5. Indebtedness
It is a significant problem of tribes. As many as 58% of the tribal households come under
the category of Below Poverty Line (BPL) with a high concentration in states like Andhra
Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal6. The land alienation with its long
history has natural consequence of indebtedness, which further leads to dispossession of
tribal land. The poverty, land alienation, indebtedness and landlessness operate as a vicious
circle.

6. Shift to Settled Agriculture: Effects of Globalization and

Indebtedness
Tribes were attracted to settled cultivation through various schemes of the government.
Then they have also gradually adopted the practices of the non-tribes and moved to the
cultivation of water-intensive crops like paddy or commercial crops like cotton. This shift
is not just a livelihood option but, for them a means to alleviate status that is at least
equivalent to their non- tribal counterpart. The capital-intensive crops resulted only in
further indebtedness which is again leading to land alienation.

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