SOC1C04

SOC1C04: RURAL AND TRIBAL SOCIETIES IN INDIA
RURAL AND TRIBAL SOCIETIES

IN INDIA
(SOC1C04)
STUDY MATERIAL
I SEMESTER
CORE COURSE
M.A. SOCIOLOGY
(2019 Admission onwards)
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
CALICUT UNIVERSITY P.O.
MALAPPURAM - 673 635, KERALA
190354
School of Distance Education

University of Calicut
Study Material
First Semester
M.A. SOCIOLOGY
(2019 ADMISSION ONWARDS)
CORE COURSE:
Prepared by:
Smt. RANJINI. P.T.
Assistant Professor on Contract,
School of Distance Education,
University of Calicut.
Scrutinized by
Sri. SHAILENDRA VARMA R
Assistant Professor,
Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College,
Calicut.
Objectives
1. To acquaint students with basics of rural and tribal
societies in our country.
2. To analyze rural and tribal problems.
3. To provide knowledge of rural and tribal social
institutions.
MODULE 1 - RURAL AND PEASANT SOCIETY

1.1 Scope and importance of the study of rural society in India
1.2 Rural society, Peasant society, Agrarian society: Features
1.3 Perspectives on Indian village community: Historical and
Ecological
1.4 Nature and changing dimensions of village society, Village
studies-Marriot & Beteille
MODULE 2 - CHANGING RIRAL SOCIETY

2.1 Agrarian social structure, Land ownership and agrarian
relations
2.2 Emergent class relations, Decline of Agrarian economy,
De-peasantization
2.3 Land reforms and its impact on rural social structure with
special reference to Kerala
2.4 Migration, Globalization and rural social transformation.
School of Distance Education, University of Calicut

MODULE 3 - GOVERNANCE IN RURAL SOCIETY

3.1 Rural governance: Village Panchayath, Caste Panchayath,
Dominant caste
3.2 Decentralization of power in village society, Panchayathi
Raj
3.3 Community Development Programme in India
3.4 People‘s Planning Programme: A critical Appraisal
MODULE 4 - TRIBAL SOCIETY IN INDIA

4.1 History of Indian Tribes, Demographic features
4.2 Integration of the Tribals with the Non-tribals, Tribe-caste
continuum
4.3 Tribal problems in India
4.4 Approaches, Planning and programmes for Tribal
Development.
School of Distance Education, University of Calicut

MODULE 1
RURAL AND PEASANT SOCIETY
Rural and tribal societies in India is the fourth paper of
MA Sociology. This paper deals with the structure and
characteristics of rural and tribal societies in India in ancient as
well as in modern period. Even though the process of
urbanization is very fast in modern society, the rural societies
are not fully disappeared so the study of rural and tribal society
deserves relevance in society. This course acquaints the
students with the basics of rural and tribal societies in India
and at the same time it provides a clear picture about the rural
and tribal social problems. The course also tries to give an idea
about the rural and tribal social institutions. Through providing
these intellectual outlooks the course also provides an outlook
about the fellow beings living in rural and tribal society.
The paper constituted by four modules First Module is
Rural and peasant society, which discusses the origin,
development, nature and scope of the study of rural society in
world as well as in India. The module also tries to familiarize
the basic concepts in Rural sociology that is the scientific
study of rural society. The module displays the structure and
characteristics of village community with the help of the
studies of well known Indian sociologists like Marriot and
Beteille. The second module is changing rural society, which
deals with the transformation of the rural society from agrarian
social structure to the modern form. The rural society
transformed mainly with the influence of emergence of class
society. The emergent class relations destruct the agrarian
School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 1

economy which leads to de-peasantization. Land reforms are

another peculiarity of post-independent society; it is another
cause of decline of agrarian society. Migration and
globalization are another two factors leading to rural
transformation. Module third mainly analyzes the governance
in rural society, which discusses the historical emergence of
the governance system in rural society. Village Panchayath,
caste Panchayath and dominant caste are the early governing
body in rural society. Decentralization of power is the
attraction of village society during post-independence period.
Tribal society in India is the fourth module of this paper. The
fourth module mainly discusses the history of Indian tribes
give special reference to the demographic features of tribes,
integration of tribes with non-tribes, tribe-caste continuum,
tribal problems in India and the approaches, planning and
programmes for tribal development.
1.1 Scope and importance of the study of rural society in
India
Rural society is the subject matter of rural sociology. It
is a field of sociology associated with the study of social life in
rural society. Rural social institutions, social structure, social
change, rural life etc. are important topics analyzed in rural
sociology. Rural sociology is the scientific study of rural
society and it is the holistic study of rural social settings. Rural
sociology became prominent during the late industrial
revolution in France, Ireland, Prussia, Scandinavia and US.
The systematic origin of rural sociology is in 19th century in
America. The period of 1890-1920 in America saw the rural

societies facing many socio-economic problems which

attracted the attention of the intelligentsia thus establishing
study of rural society as an academic discipline. The
appointment of Country life Commission by Theodore
Roosevelt was an important landmark in the history of rural
sociology. It has been argued that the Second World War
caused heavy destruction and damage to human society which
needed immediate reconstruction. As a result rural sociology
got an impetus in USA. The main concern of rural sociology
came to be the understanding and diagnosing of the social and
economic problems of farmers. More emphasis was placed on
issues such as the internal structures of community life and the
changing composition of rural populations than on their
relationships with land or the social aspects of agricultural
production. The prominent scholars engaged in researches in
rural sociology during this period were Sir Henry Maine,
Etton, Stemann, Baden Powell, Slater and Pallock etc.
It was since about the middle of the nineteenth century
that more systematic observations on the history of the origin
and transformation of rural society have been advanced the
impact of the capitalist industrial civilization upon the rural
economy and social structure, in various parts of the world,
forced the attention of scholars to the study of the trends of
rural social development. Research in the subject of the origin
and the nature of village communities which were undergoing
transformation was launched.
Emergence of sociology as an organized discipline in USA
However, rural sociology as an organized discipline

consciously developed, is of very recent origin. Due to

historical reasons it has originated in the U.S.A. and slowly
tends to draw attention elsewhere as its importance is being
realized. The American society faced an all round decay during
the period among 1890-1920 this period known as the
exploiter period. Intelligentsia makes analysis about the
exploiter period and a considerable literature, describing and
analyzing the problems arising out of its growing crisis, came
into existence. This literature, however, did not explore, locate,
and formulate the fundamental laws governing the
development of rural society. It became pre-requisites for the
birth of the science of rural society but did not still create that
science. However, the beginnings of rural sociology may be
traced to those ―streams‖ of publications.
The first valuable work on the subject was the Report
on the Country life Commission appointed by President
Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. A number of Doctorate theses
based on the study of the rural community comprised further
significant literature dealing with problems of rural life and
providing, revealing information thereon. Finally a group of
rural church and school studies made by individuals interested
in an investigation of maladjustments in rural life constituted
the third ―stream‖ of publications. This literature served as the
basis for creating the science of rural sociology in the U.S.A.
The Country life Commission, under the chairmanship of Dean
Bailey, the eminent scholar of rural problems, conducted a
field work on the basis of questionnaire. The Commission, on
the basis of this investigation, published a report in which they

attempt to analyze and diagnose the defects and deformities of

rural society. ―This report actually provided what might be
called a charter for Rural Sociology‖.
―An American Town,‖ ―Quaker Hill‖ and ―A Hoosier
Village‖, of which James Michel Williams, Warren H. Wilson
and Newell L. Sims were respectively authors, represented
further studies of the American rural community. These studies
were based on statistical and historical data and field-interview
techniques and were submitted as research documents at the
Columbia University between 1906 and 1912. Dr. Warren
Wilson, along with others interested in the process of rural life,
carried on a number of rural church studies. These studies,
together with some rural school studies and ―The Social
Anatomy of an Agricultural Community‖ by Dr. C.J. Galpin
based on an investigation into rural life made by him at the
Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of
Wisconsin in 1915, comprised additional literature germane to
rural sociology until 1916.
―Rural Sociology‖ by Prof. John M. Gillettee published
in 1916 served as the first college text book on the subject.
Subsequently, a number of writers devoted them to the study
of rural life and published valuable works which also enriched
the literature on the subject. The publication of ―A Systematic
Source Book in Rural Sociology‖ in 1930 recognized as an
―Epoch-making‖ work contributed decisively to accelerate the
advance of rural sociology.
Later on, other intellectuals also focused their attention
on the subject and helped its further development. Sorokin,

Zimmerman, Galpin, Taylor, Kolb, Brunner, Sims, Dwight

Sanderson, Landis, Redfield and Smith are some of the
outstanding social thinkers in the U.S.A. whose intellectual
labour resulted in a phenomenal advance of the new science of
rural sociology. The founding of the journal ―Rural Sociology‖
in 1935 (at present a monthly) and the establishment of ―Rural
Sociological Society of America‖ in 1937 were further
landmarks in the history of its growth. It has started taking
roots and is slowly but securely spreading itself in various
parts of the world including India which needs it the most in
view of its very large rural population with innumerable
complex problems.
The origin and development of Rural Sociology in
America was influenced by the social conditions during the
period of 1890-1920 and its analyses by the world of
intelligentsia. Besides these, the research works and teaching,
influences the development of Rural sociology.
Origin of Rural Sociology in India
Rural sociology is the science of rural society as a
whole, the origin of Rural sociology in America was
influenced by the problematic nature of rural society. The
origin of Rural sociology also reflected in the development of
rural sociology in India. The intellectual world received and
recorded the problematic nature of rural society, it leading to
the publication of books on rural social problems. Even though
the books are the main pillar of the development of rural
sociology in India, the systematic growth started with the
promulgation of the Constitution of India and the

implementation of Community Development Programme in

India. We are briefly discuss the emergence of Rural sociology
in India.
Sir Henry S. Maine a well known Anthropologist, the
beginning of the study of rural society in India is closely
related with him. Maine brought out two significant books,
viz., Ancient Law (1861) and Ancient Society (1877). Maine,
though wrote about Indian villages and designated it as a
republic, he had his own bias which was Euro-centric in its
cognition and value terms. Dumont an Indologist has criticized
Maine for his European bias in analyzing Indian rural society.
Actually the British administrators-turned ethnographers and
Anthropologists considered the village community as an
autonomous sociological isolate. This is particularly reflected
in the writings of Charles Metcalf and other British
administrators in India besides Henry Maine. Despite some of
these weaknesses the fact remains that Maine made a
beginning of a systematic study of rural life. It is he who for
the first time theorized that kinship was the mainstay of India‘s
rural society. However, the systematic growth of rural
sociology started in India after the promulgation of
constitution of India and the implementation of Community
Development Programmes. It was argued that when the British
Anthropologists consolidated their colonial empire in South
Africa and India, why social Anthropology could not be
helpful in Nation-building in the wake of development
programmes. This gave rise to number of rural studies. Even
during the days of British East India Company there were

efforts made by sociologists and Anthropologists to find out

the pattern of land tenure, customary laws and the functioning
of peasants and artisans. Besides these, during the British
period researches were made on the affairs of rural life, it is the
main influence of the development of Rural sociology in India.
The Recurrent famines in India provoked several studies which
also leading a number of economists in the study of village
communities. Rural sociology in its own right and merit
occupies a qualified status. It has its subject matter, its
scientific nature and above all methods and tools. By its nature
it is interdisciplinary and draws freely from the sister
disciplines of economics, political science, sociology and
social Anthropology. A R Desai has done a pioneering work in
the field of rural sociology by editing Rural sociology in India.
The edited work was first published in 1969.
Rural sociology mainly analyses the rural society as a
whole such as rural social structure, social institutions, social
problems, rural governance etc. Like other subjects like
Sociology, Rural sociology developed with the influence of
social condition in America. In Indian context only the rural
problems aren‘t the main influence of the development of
sociology, the study of rural social institution was another
influence of development of Rural sociology.
Some basic characteristic features of rural sociology
Rural sociology is the scientific study of rural society.
As a science, Rural sociology has certain characteristics which
are given below:

1. Rural sociology is multi-dimensional: Owing to the

orientation Rural sociology to sociology and social
Anthropology, Rural sociology is multi-dimensional. It has
different traditions in US, Europe and in Asia. It draws
subject matter, scientific nature and methodology from
sociology and social Anthropology.
2. Rural sociology is interdisciplinary: Rural sociology is
interdisciplinary in its design and functioning. It draws
freely from the sister discipline of Economics, Political
Science, Sociology and Social Anthropology.
3. It studies interactions and interaction systems: Rural
sociology deals with the study of interactions and
interaction systems. When this perspective is applied to the
analysis of rural society it becomes rural sociology.
4. It studies small places: Rural sociology is the study of
small places like villages and tribal habitations etc. The
empirical abstractions made out of the little or small places
help to construct theoretical constructions. The studies
made by Malinowski, Boas, Radcliff Brown, Levi Strauss
etc. made various empirical studies about the people living
in high lands, forests and small villages.
Nature and Scope of Rural Sociology
Nature of a subject means the way it behaves; it is the
peculiarity of every subject. Scope is another area of analysis
related with the branch of knowledge. The scope is determined
on the basis of its applicability in various fields and in society.
In this sense the scope of rural sociology is wide. The nature

and scope of rural sociology is briefly analyzed below.

1. Nature of Rural sociology is scientific: Rural Sociology
has its own concepts, methods and verifications. It has
certain theoretical formulations; it has logic of enquiry
above all it is subjected to verifications. Some of the
characteristics which support the scientific nature of
sociology that are give below:
2. Empiricism: Empiricism is the basic characteristic of any
science, which means that the knowledge acquired from
our experiences. In natural sciences the experiments are
conducted in laboratories and come in a conclusion like
that in rural sociology the researches are conducted in
society in a limited manner because the subject is
individual he has freedom and rights. But the research
conducted in society and accumulates result on the basis
of the data collected from field work. Hence, rural
sociology is an empirical science.
3. Accumulated facts: Science grows on the data
accumulated from field. Robert K Merton very rightly
observes that a sociologist stands on the shoulders of other
sociologists. Whatever, Talcott Parsons or for that matter
Marx, Durkheim and Weber did, was carried forward by
the next generations.
4. Objectivity: Another characteristic of science is its
objectivity. It means the willingness and ability to see
things as they really are to study facts in a given field of
investigation as they exist without personal bias,

prejudices or feelings as to their desirability or

undesirability. The objectivity in social science is very
difficult.
5. Precision and accuracy: Science is also characterized by
accurate and precise observations. When scientific
observations are made it is extremely important that these
describe situations or persons as they actually do exist at
the time of observation- this is accuracy.
6. Methodology: Science must have valid methodology. It
should be valid in sense that other scientists could also
employ the same method and reach to their findings.
7. Reciprocity in theory and empirical research: Theory in
science is constructed out of the experiments made in
laboratory. But approach to laboratory is through the
media of theoretical constructs and hypotheses. Generally
in scientific research we move from theory to empiricism
and empiricism to theory. In any case there is both way
interaction between theory and empirical research. There
is a healthy interaction in the domain of science between
laboratory investigation and theoretical formulation.
Philosophers empirically accepted this relationship
between theory and empirical research. C Wright Mills‘
description states that theory without data is empty and
data without theory is blind.
8. Rural sociology is a social science derived from sociology.
It applied the methods in social science for its
observations. Rural sociology is a science; it follows its

methods for enquiry that is scientific so the nature of rural

sociology is scientific.
Rural sociology is scientific in nature like its mother
discipline. It has following the characteristics of science. In
accordance with time changing, new phenomena are added
with Rural sociology as a branch of knowledge, and hence the
scope of sociology is widens.
Scope of Rural Sociology
In comparison to other social sciences, Rural Sociology
is a novel branch of Sociology and is a separate science that
possesses its own subject matter and method of study. By
scope of the discipline, it is meant that what Rural Sociology
refers to what it studies. To draw attention on the scope, N.L.
Sims says, ―The field of Rural Sociology is the study of
association among people living by or immediately dependent
upon agriculture. Open country and village groupings and
groups behavior are its concern.‖ According to Lowry Nelson,
―The scope of Rural Sociology is the description and analysis
of progress of various groups as they exist in the rural
environment. In the words of Bertrand and his associates: ―In
its broadest definition Rural Sociology is the study of human
relationship in rural environment.‖ On account of the opinions
given by Sims, Nelson and Bertrand, it is observed that the
scope of Rural Sociology revolves around rural people, their
livelihood and social relationship in rural environment.
Though it studies society from the rural perspective, its main
aim is concentrated on rural lives. Because of the boundary of
the area of study is wide so the scope of rural sociology is also

wide, this proves from the analysis of following subjects:

a) Rural society: Rural sociology is the study of rural society.
Apart from studying the rural society, Rural Sociology
also studies its nature and primary components from the
structural and functional stances. The most crucial
objective of rural sociology is to study rural social life.
Rural social life encompasses the behavior patterns, web
of relationship, social interactions, standard of living and
socio-economic conditions of the rural people. Therefore,
the scope of Rural Sociology expands where the boundary
of Rural Society is expanded.
b) Rural population: The population residing in rural area is
the basic essence of rural sociology. The discipline studies
the nature, characteristics, size, density and distribution of
rural population from various angles. Rural sociology also
aims at the study of the factors of growth of population its
effects on rural society. It also analyses the rural-urban
migration.
c) Rural community: Rural community is considered as one
of the primordial organizations of mankind. Hence, rural
sociology is chiefly concerned with the origin, nature,
characteristics and social attributes and human ecology of
rural community. It also studies the homogeneous
trajectory of the rigid and conservative nature of hither to
existing customs, traditions, norms, values and so on in
rural communities.
d) Rural social organization: Social organization is the

backbone of every society as well as social life. The most

important function of rural sociology is to offer
fundamental knowledge about rural social organization.
e) Rural social institution: Social institutions are the building
bloc of every society. Rural social institutions built the
rural society that is family, marriage, kinship, economy,
religion etc. All of these are the subject of the study of
rural sociology. Family is the basic social institution; it
enables the social order in society. Marriage another social
institution helps to maintain rural society in an orderly
manner. It also controls the behaviour of peoples in
society. Rural sociology analyses the rural social
institutions and its relevance in society also studies the
changes in it.
f) Rural social processes: Rural social processes are the
basic structure of rural society. Rural sociology entails the
social processes like social interaction and its types like
conjunctive and disjunctive. Rural conjunctive processes
include co-operation, accommodation and assimilation.
Rural disjunctive processes covers conflict, competition.
g) Rural culture: Culture refers to that complex whole which
includes knowledge, belief, art, customs and other
capabilities acquired by man as a member of society.
Rural culture is firmly rooted in rigid and conservative
dogmas and it is generally very stagnant in nature. Rural
sociology studies cultural complexes, cultural patterns,
cultural changes etc.

h) Rural social problems: One of the important content of the

study of rural sociology is rural social problems like
poverty, unemployment, population growth, illiteracy,
untouchability etc.
i) Rural social control: Social control is necessary for the
wellbeing of society. Social control enables through the
various controlling agencies like family, marriage,
religion, community organizations, etc. these constitute
the rural social structure. Rural social control, its types, its
agencies etc. are the subject of the study of rural
sociology.
j) Rural social change: Change is a universal social
phenomenon. Each and every society being changed.
Rural social change constitutes the subject matter of the
rural sociology.
k) Rural urban contrast: It is an important subject of study in
rural sociology. Rural urban contrast is a relevant topic of
discussion in our society.
l) Rural Planning and reconstruction: Rural planning and
reconstruction are very much necessary for
underdeveloped societies. In this context the poor and
backward condition of Indian rural society requires
planning and reconstruction in a systematic and planned
manner. Rural society entails the plenty of social
problems. Therefore, for the eradication of these problems
and for the betterment of rural life proper planning and
reconstruction should be made by the state as well as

central government. Rural sociology studies all these

subjects and provides guidelines and solution.
1.2 Rural society-Features
The term ‗rural society‘ is used almost interchangeably
with the terms like ‗village‘, ‗countryside‘, or ‗folk society‘.
Of these, the term most commonly used in sociological
literature on rural society is the village. In India the term rural
is defined in terms of revenue. In comparison with urban
society, rural society is a small society with low density of
population; more or less people are engaged in agriculture as a
main stay of livelihood and these societies are the repository of
traditional mores and folk ways. Indian villages exhibit a great
deal of diversity. There have no a unified definition for
villages in India, certain villages are big others affluent due to
high young and working population they are affluent villages
and certain villages are the areas with high elderly population
they are known as grey villages, early writings are referred
these villages. Rural societies have certain characteristics
which are given below:
1. Small in size
2. Simple society
3. Agriculture is main occupation
4. Caste system (Occupational divisioning of people):
5. Low density of population
6. Self-sufficiency
7. Village organization (all disputes are settled by village

Panchayath)
8. Joint family
9. Indebtedness
10. Rural society give importance to tradition:
11. Social and occupational mobility was very low
12. Illiteracy
13. The people are of superstitious by nature
14. Believe in power of magic
1.2 Peasant Society-Features
The term peasant literally means a person working on
the land with simple tools. But the entire rural populations
including the big landlords and the agricultural labourers have
been treated as peasantry. This term is very vague and in fact it
is very difficult to clearly and precisely define it. Several rural
sociologists have tried to define the term in their own way.
This treatment does overlook the differences between and
among the categories both in terms of the land holdings,
technology, employment of labour etc. A peasant is a pre-
industrial agricultural labourer or farmer with limited land
ownership, especially one living in the middle Ages under
feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord.
In Europe, three classes of peasants existed: slave, serf, and
free tenant. Peasants hold title to land either in fee simple or by
any of several forms of land tenure, among them socage, quit-
rent, leasehold, and copyhold. Peasant has strong sentiments
towards land and their main source of income was agriculture

but their land possession is very small. They mainly work in

the field of others as labourers. Different thinkers differently
define who are the peasants or peasantry.
Eric Wolf defines ―peasants are the population that is
existentially involved in cultivation and makes autonomous
decisions regarding the process of cultivation ". Theodor
Shanin defines them as ―consist of small agricultural producers
who with the help of simple equipment and labour of their
families produce mainly for their consumption and for the
fulfillment of obligations to the holders of political and
economic power." Irfan Habib defines peasantry as "a person
who undertakes agriculture on his own, working with his own
implements of his family". George Dalton, ―Peasants were
legal, political, social, and economic inferiors in medieval
Europe.‖
All these definitions conceptualize peasants are
agriculturists and the people with complete freedom in taking
decision regarding the process of cultivation. Peasants are
cultivators but they haven‘t land ownership. Even though they
haven‘t land, they have strong sentiments towards their
working land. Economically they remained in lowered
position; their main source of income was agriculture. Peasant
society is neither small in size like that rural society not big as
urban society, it stand in a medium position. It is neither
completely isolated not absolutely dependent on the others.
They love traditions and passed from one generation to other.
They believe in the philosophy of soul, Karma and re-birth.
Religion plays an important role in their life. They have great

regard for sacred books, have blind faith in religious practices

and are by nature superstition ridden. In economic field this
society depends on other societies because it is to sell its
products in the outside market so that it can earn money both
for paying the taxes as well as for purchasing commodities of
day-to-day use. Because of peasant society does not produce
that much that must essentially be marketed outside the village
this dependence is very low. In many cases surplus is sold in
the market itself.
Peasant societies have political dependence also. It
must depend and accept social and political decisions taken by
political bosses who are political elites. Peasant society is more
or less similar to the rural society.
1.2 Agrarian Society
Agriculture is the main occupation in rural society so
agrarian society is a basic concept of the study in rural
sociology, which means the society coming after the hunting
and gathering or the society evolved after Neolithic revolution.
In this society people are mainly depending on agriculture for
their livelihood and other related activities like animal
husbandry. The study of rural sociology without the study of
agrarian society is incomplete. However, like all other
economic activities, agricultural production is carried out in a
framework of social relationships. Those involved in
cultivation of land also interact with each other in different
social capacities. Not only do they interact with each other but
they have also have to regularly interact with various other
categories of people who provide them different types services

required for cultivation of land. For example, in the old system

of Jajmani relations in the Indian countryside, those who
owned and cultivated land had to depend for various services
required at different stages of cultivation on the members of
different caste groups. In exchange, the cultivators were
obliged to pay a share of farm produce to the families that
served them.
As is the case with other social interactions, all these
exchanges are carried out in an institutional framework. The
most important aspect of the institutional set-up of agrarian
societies is the pattern of land ownership and nature of
relationships among those who own or posses land and those
who cultivate them. Those who owned the agricultural land do
not always cultivate it themselves and often lease it out to
tenants or share-croppers. Similarly, those who cultivate their
own land or leased-in land from others often employ labour.
The term of employment of labour is also varying. Some could
employ labour of regular basis, some on casual basis and some
others could do so on contractual basis. The form of
employment of labour and the nature of relationship that
labour has with employer farmers or land owners are important
aspect of a given agrarian structure. The agrarian structure and
land ownership pattern in a given society evolve historically a
long period of time. Those who own land invariably command
a considerable degree of power and prestige in rural society.
These sets of relationships among the owners of land and those
who provide various services to the land owning group could
be described as the agrarian class structure.

Rural society is an agrarian society; there agriculture is

the main economic activity. In pre-British period the structure
of agrarian society is different, with the coming of British
administration its structure become too complicated. Then
post-independence India agrarian structure changed and a class
system developed.
1.3 Perspectives on Indian Village Community: Historical
and Ecological
Village community is the peculiarity of Indian society,
which is known by two perspectives like historical and
ecological. The former means the understanding Indian village
community through the historical accounts of different
scholars. In early times the East India Company makes report
through their officers for administrative purposes. The others
stricken by Indian village community was the western
philosophers the important among them are Charles Metcalf,
Maine and Mackenzy. The later means the characteristics of a
phenomenon determined on the basis of the relationship
between its characteristics and environment. As per ecological
approach the peculiarities of village community analyzed on
the basis of the feature of the habitation of they still existing.
The Indian village community- Historical aspect
Historical aspects mainly analyses the characteristics of
Indian villages through different historical periods. The early
writers like Metcalf and Maine state that the Indian village
communities being unchanging. The western and Northern
communities are different; due to the fact that the communities

in the North had changed owing to the factors like were not
operating in western India. History shows that both internal
and external forces have been working out changes in our
village communities. The influence of Hindu period and
Muhammedan influence was not powerful on Indian village
communities, so the institutions continued to exist but their
growth was arrested and efficiency weakened. But the British
influence was dominant and all- sided on village communities
it also destroyed most of the village institutions like the
headman lost his importance, the accountant has ceased to be
hereditary, the village council no longer exists, the Panchayath
never heard of the village fund and the funds are vanished.
Village life to a great extent remains the same; people still till
their lands and sow their crops in the old manner.
Metcalf familiarizes Indian village communities as a
republic. In Vedic times it appear as independent republic, but
throughout the historic period, the community was always
subordinate to and a constituent of larger political unit. The
word republic conveys that the notion of democracy and of
equal rights but in village community not exist the idea of
equality so cannot considered it as a republic. Village
communities are administered by the local bodies. In village
communities people used collective approach to solve the
problems there. The Assembly is a part of local bodies and it
conceived as a united body and further it stands for equal
rights and liberties of all its members as the common assembly
of the whole people and hence there should be a sense of
liberty, equality and fraternity in the mind of all. National life

and activities in earlier times were expressed through popular

assemblies and institutions. Such gatherings are referred to as
Samiti, which means ―meeting together.‖ Those bodies are
existed in village communities. In the villages the various
meetings and assemblies are organized for discussing the
problems. Dr. Mookerji has listed the original texts use a
number of terms to designate these popular local bodies Viz.
Kula, Gana, Puga, Vrata, Sreni, Sangha, Samudaya, Samuha,
Sambhuya- Samuthana, Parishal, Charana.
The Ancient Indian Villages
This part mainly analyses the peculiarity of ancient
village officials like Gramani and other officials. The
knowledge about the ancient village official structure is got
from the Ancient accounts like Valmiki Ramayana,
Mahabharata and Manusmrit. In that period villages are not a
well developed settlement system. Valmiki Ramayana
mentions of two types of villages are found in ancient times,
the first was Ghosh and the other was Gram. Ghosh is small
villages generally situated near forests and the officials of there
are known as Ghosh Mahattar. Grams are the second type of
villages, which is bigger than Gosh and the officials in these
villages are called Gram Mahattar. The Mahabharata also
mentioned about the Ghosh and Gram. The Ramayana also
mentions Gramani as another village official, who was a
highly respected man. Manu calls the village official as
Gramik, who was responsible for village administration and he
also collected the King‘s dues from the village inhabitants and
another duty was reporting the maladjustments in the villages

to the next higher official, the one over ten villages. Doshi was
another higher official in village community stands above
Gramik, the one in charge of the administration of ten villages
to whom Gramik reported the maladjustments. Vishanti
another village official responsible for twenty villages, in the
administrative hierarchy who are arranged above Dashi a
village official, who reports the malpractices to Vishanti. Over
him used to be an official responsible for a hundred villages
called Shati or Shati-Gramadhipati and above him way yet
another over one thousand villages called Sahasra-
Gramadhipati. Through these accounts can grasp the officials‘
hierarchical structure in ancient Indian villages.
Village control Over the Gramani
The Ancient historical records maintain that the village
community as a settlement pattern with a collective authority.
Even though the King is a supreme authority, he has no an
independent right to determine all things in that territory, the
right of decision was decentralized. In this section we analyses
the control or authority of Gramani over village community.
Gramani was a village official appointed by King but he has
no right to determine the things himself. He had to work
strictly under the advice of the Village elders, the Gram
Vridhas, who were chosen by an assembly of village. Dr.
Altekar calls Gramani as Village Mukhya. Village Scribe the
record keeper of village, who and Village Mukhya cannot act
as they like. Both of them had to work in accordance with the
advice of the Gram Vridhas. These have functioned from
ancient times as non-official body. The Mukhya was the

executive authority, but he ever acted against the customary

practices, the Gram Vridhas used to correct him.
Functions of the Village Panchayath and the Gramani
Gramani is an official in village community appointed
by King. It is a suitable word to express the relationship
between State and the people. Gramani was like a father,
mother or guardian of village folk and who is responsible to
protect the interest of village folk. Gramani is an important
position in village administration; he has more and more
functions, the two significant functions are conceived here first
one is to look after the village defense and headed the corps of
volunteers and guardsmen organized for the purpose. His
second task was to realize the State dues and keep records of
the realizations. All important papers under is charge and the
entire village community co-operated with him in his task.
Justice in the Village
In above section we discussed the local bodies in
Indian village communities, the judicial functions are fulfilled
by the local bodies such as Gana, Kula etc. The courts in that
society acted as appellate type. The administration of justice
was the primary task of the local bodies in village level. The
laws of Ganas were quite comprehensive which is known as
Samaya. Samaya literally means a decision or resolution
arrived in an assembly, that is the laws of the Ganas were
passes in their meetings.
Indian Villages in Buddhist time
This part conceptualizes the peculiarity of villages

which are existed in Buddhist period. Indian villages are self-

governing and agricultural system is the peculiarity of it.
Various settlement systems are the peculiarity of Buddhist
period such as Ghosa, Kheta, Kharvata, Gram, Pali, Pattana,
Samvaha, Uagara, Matanba etc. At least thousand families
were residing in village communities. The dwellings were
fairly close to another. The village almost invariably had a gate
known as Gram-dwara. Beyond this the village orchard and
the gram-kshetra situated. Gram-kshetra is the cultivated area
of village. Fencas, Snares and field watchmen protected the
crops. Gopalaka a village official, who protect the flocks at
night till its owners come in the cultivated area of the villages,
consisted of individual holdings.
System of land holdings and village organizations
Grass land and the forests are the lands commonly
constitute the villages, its ownership was communal. People,
priests or some dignitaries have no right over village lands, in
spite of they have right to pick up fallen woods.
Maurya Period
During this period the village boundaries are
demarcated by river, hills, forest ditches, tanks, bunds and
trees and the villages situated at distances of one or two
Krosha (one Krosha is two miles). The villages were organized
under the union of 10 called Samgrahana, of 200 called
Karvatika, of 400 called Dronamukha and of 800 constituting
Mahagrama and administratively termed Sthatnuja.
The Villages: administrative staff, Rules for agricultural

promotion
Village was a prominent settlement pattern maintained
by the administrative staffs. These administrative staffs
constitute the administrative structure. The village
administrative staffs are comprised off the Adhyaksha (the
headman), the Samkhayaka (accountant), the Sthanikas (the
village officials in different grades), the Anikasta (Veterinary
doctors), Jamgha Karika (Village couriers), Chikitsaka
(Village sanitation), and the Ashwa-Damak (horse trainer).
Chandragupta Maurya king, in whose period the villages were
divided into three categories on the basis of their population,
1) Jyeshtha- The biggest villages
2) Madhyama- The middle villages
3) Kanishtha- Smaller villages
These villages again divided into four categories on the
basis of the characteristics of paying State revenues. Certain
villages in Maurya period were paying the usual revenues,
which are ordinary villages. Pariharak villages are the revenue
free villages; these villages were constituted by the service
groups like priests and teachers. Their major obligation was to
spread education and help the people in pursuit of Dharma, the
revenue was considered in the form of their salary. Ayudhuja
was another category of villages, which is revenue free. This
village was constituted by other prominent service groups such
as soldiers, their main role was to protect village from external
attacks. Another type of village was constituted by the people

who paid taxes in kind not in cash. The people in this village
were farmers, cattle raring people and other working groups.
They paid revenue into the form of agricultural produce,
animals, forest products, gold, labour, silver, pearls, minerals
etc.
Village communities in South India
The tribal origin and rudiments in Northern and
Southern India were diverse and heterogeneous, but their local
governments belong to same series. There existed several
committees for village administration. The committees, whose
designation gives an idea of the nature of their responsibilities,
a) Annual Committee
b) Garden Committee
c) Tank Committee
d) Gold Committee
e) Committee of justice
f) A Committee styled Panch-Vara
Life in villages was common and based on mutual aid
rather than mutual exclusiveness. In South Indian villages each
village owned a certain number of looms in common and the
weavers who worked them were maintained out of the village
fund.
The social organism
Social organism is an important branch of analysis

similar to the natural science. In this perspective society is

similar to biological organism; its parts are interdependent for
the smooth functioning of system as a whole. In this section
mainly analyses the structure of Indian village community. In
British period Indian society was the main attraction of
administrators and their officers; they were analyzed Indian
villages for administrative purposes.
Up to the advent of British in India her social
organization was pre-dominantly characterized by village
community system. This system was found to be absent or
rudimentary in the south- western extreme of the sub-continent
(such as in present day Kerala), but that in all other parts of
India, it was the dominant institution. Holt Mackenzie reported
that the existence of village communities in northern India.
Likewise Elphinstone noted that the presence of village
communities in Deccan. Baden Powell stated that in eastern
India all land must have some landlord with tenants under him,
the British parliamentary papers recorded quite categorically
that previously the Zamindars were essentially accountable
managers and collectors of revenue and not the lords and
proprietors of the lands, that the sale of land by auction or in
any other way for realizing arrears of land revenue appears to
have been usual, if not unknown in all parts of India before its
introduction by the British government into the company‘s
dominations and that traces still remained to show that the
village community system existed also in this part of India.
Except in south-western tip of the sub-continent, the village
community system flourished practically all over India. East

India company officers published certain general notes in

British parliamentary Papers in 1812 about village community
system which is not an exaggeration as compared to the classic
description of Marx, whose accounts give the best idea of how
these village communities functioned.
Those small and extremely ancient Indian
communities, some of which have continued down to this day
are based on possession in common of the land, on the
blending of agriculture and handicraft and on an unalterable
division of labour, which serves whenever a new community is
started as a plan and scheme ready cut and dried. Occupying
areas from 100 up to several 1000 acres, each forms a compact
whole producing all it requires. The chief part of production is
destined for direct use by the community itself, and does not
take the form of a commodity. Hence, production here is
independent of that division of labour brought about, in Indian
society as a whole by means of the exchange of commodities.
It is surplus alone that becomes a commodity, but a portion of
that not reached in the hands of the State, it reached in the
shape of rent in kind. The constitution of these communities
varies in different parts of India. In those of the simplest form,
the land is tilled in common and the produce divided among
the members. At the same time spinning and weaving are
carried on in each family as subsidiary industries. Side by side
with the masses thus occupied with one and same work, we
find the chief inhabitants, who is judge, police and tax
gatherers, the book keepers (who keeps the accounts of tillage
and registers everything relating thereto), another official who

prosecutes criminals, the boundary man, who guards the

boundaries against neighboring communities, the water
overseer (who distributes water from the common tanks for
irrigation), the Brahmin (religious services), the school master
(teaches children reading and writing), Astrologer or Calendar
Brahmin (who makes known the lucky or unlucky days for
seed time and harvest and for every other kind of agricultural
work), a smith and carpenter, the potter, the barber, the washer
men, silversmith. This dozen of individuals is maintained the
expense of the whole community. The whole mechanism
discloses a systematic division of labour, but a division like
that in manufacturer is impossible since the smith and
carpenter etc. The law that regulates the division of labour in
the community acts with the irresistible authority of law of
nature at the same time that each individual artificer, the smith,
the carpenter and so on conducts in his workshop all the
operations of their handicraft in the traditional way, but
independently and without recognizing any authority over
them. The village communities are autonomous in
administration; the village council was the governing body its
jurisdiction expanded over houses, streets, markets, temples,
wells, tanks etc. The village councils look after the village
defense, settled village disputes, organized works of public
utility, acted as a trustee for minors and collected the
government revenues and paid them into the central treasury
and central government discharged their duties through this
body. Thus while on one side almost all functions of the
government, except that the organizing army, determining
foreign policy and declaring and conducting a war were

discharged through the agency of the local bodies. Village

community system evolved in India due to influence of
geographical features of India on the early stages of India‘s
social development and India‘s agrarian economy. Because of
India‘s peculiar climatic and territorial conditions, artificial
irrigation by canals and water-works had to be the basis of a
flourishing agrarian. However changing the political aspect of
India‘s past must appear its social condition has remained
unaltered since its remote antiquity until the fast decennium of
the 19th century. The handloom and the spinning wheel
producing their regular myriad of spinners and weavers were
the pivots of the structure of that society. The advance of
agrarian village economy over tribal country is the first great
social revolution in India.
The village community came into existence from time
immemorial, which attained stability through two aspects such
as economic and social and ideological. Economic aspects
related to the village community and its outer world, which
includes the characteristics of village community as an
autonomous and self-sufficient as well as the simplicity of its
organization. The second aspect, which influences the stability
of village community, was its social and ideological aspect,
which is closely related with the village community‘s internal
mechanism. Jati-division was the peculiarity of Indian village
community, which is closely related with the social and
ideological aspects. The Jati-division also helps to the stability
of village community to hinter the political clouds over village
community. The Jati-division of society represented by the

immutable social units, demarcated from one another by the

three main attributes of (a) hereditarily fixed occupation (b)
endogamy and (c) commensality and arranged in hierarchical
orders in particular societies in different parts of India. These
Jati truly represented the Indian caste system and showed the
unique character of Indian social organization. The Jati
division of society supplied the social foundation to the village
community system in India by providing an unalterable
division of labour in society whereby the whole mechanisms
discloses a systematic division of labour is regulated with the
irresistible authority of law of Nature.
Moreover, the village community system was further
stabilized by the spiritual sanctions through the doctrine of
Karma and the theory of Reincarnation. Both of these taught
the people that their position in society was the consequence of
their work in the previous birth and their obedience to the
ethics of the society would improve or deteriorate their caste
position in the next life. Following this ideology not enough
force could generate within the society to disrupt the
standardized harmony.
Thus fulfilling the social and economic needs of the
society at a certain stage of its development, the caste system
played the most significant role in Indian social organization
so long as the village community system dominated Indian
life. Simultaneously these two institutions transformed a self-
developing social state into never changing natural destiny, as
it appeared to the people and still appears so to a very large
number of Indian and others.

Victory of village is article prepared by D D Kosambi,

which is analyzed the foundation of a village economy. In the
article he correlates the agrarian economy and the caste system
as a village social organization. Smriti, foreshadowed the
complete victory of village life through the practicing of caste
system in village social life, the influence of caste system was
far deadlier than invasion. The hide-bound caste system
became rigid only within stagnant villages whose chief
intellectual product, the Brahmin was stamped with incurable
rusticity elevated to religious dogma. The passage of years had
little meaning compared with the vital round of the seasons,
because the villagers produced almost all they needed every
year to consume it by the time of the next harvest.
Historical perspective analyzes the historical
emergence of village as settlement pattern in India. Different
philosophers analyze it through empirical experiences.
Indologists, anthropologists‘ sociologists etc are the main
figures of historical perspectives. They discusses the
emergence of village community through the development of
various factors like economy, social structure, political system
etc. all are influenced by the geographical factors and social
factors.
Ecological Perspective
Ecological approach means the approach based on the
relationship between environment and the specific phenomena.
Various sociologists try to analyze village community on the
basis of historical perspective and others try to analyze
ecological basis such Irawati Karve, O K H Spate, S C Dube,

D S Tyagi etc. are important among those. They try to

conceptualize village community on the basis of physical
characteristics and habitation. It is an approach of study of
rural society as like historical approach.
The structure is something concrete and visual as also
something abstract and conceptual. It is objective and
subjective but the grades of objectivity and subjectivity differ
from people to people depending on their social conditioning.
A structure has a form which may be sharply defined and
simple or indistinct and vague. A casual observer may call the
habitation area as village but objective that may be wrong.
Irawati Karve tries to conceptualize Indian village and try to
identify the base of conceptualization. In Maharashtra there are
appear to be three types of villages which are differently
constituted as regards their gestalt.
a) The one type tightly nucleated village with the habitation
clearly defined from the surrounding cultivated fields.
These villages are situated on high plateau of the Deccan.
In such villages while the habitation area is well marked,
the boundaries of the village together with its fields are
never perceived. The fields owned by one village merge
into those owned by another except where a hillock or a
stream or a highway forms the boundary. Tightly
nucleated villages are commonly found all over the
Maharashtra plateau, and also in other parts of India like
Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra, Mysore and Orissa. Two
types of roads are found in this type village one is the
roads connecting different villages meant for inter-village

communications. And the other is internal streets or

narrow alleys connecting housing areas: sometimes a main
arterial road may pass through or near a village and owing
to modern ribbon development may become the main
street of the village but such cases are very few. One can
generally distinguish between roads connecting, villages
and streets connecting internal habitation area. Even
though well developed forms of roads are existed in
nucleated villages, they show a clear distinction between
communications within one village and communication
within other villages. Modern Marathi words are used for
communication, besides these Sanskrit words are used for
both internal and external communication arteries but
there is a whole series of words which denote various
types of roads inside a habitation area. Ali, Galli, Bol are
some of these words.
b) The second type of village is found on the west coast that
is near to the coast. This type village is generally strung
along length-wise on the two sides of a road. The houses
stand in their own compounds with their fruit and
cocoanut gardens and are fenced on all sides. One walks
or drives through fences on both sides of the road all the
time. There are numerous tiny streams joining the Arabian
Sea and there are also spurs of the western mountains
coming right into the ocean. Where the streams join the
sea they widen considerably are forbidable at low tide and
have on both sides‘ strips of the salt marshes called
Khajana. These natural obstacles divide one village from

the other. Where these are absent one village merges into
the other and a casual traveler does not become aware of
having crossed from one habitatic area into another. The
gestalt has changed not merely as regards form also as
regards the inter-relation of the background and the
gestalt. In such villages the exploitation of land is of two
types such as horticulture and agriculture. The gardens of
cocoanut and areca nut palms and plantain, jack fruit and
cashew nuts are planted near the houses and fenced in
while the rice field may lie a little away from the houses
though in some areas they come right to the steps of the
houses. There is no sharp distinction between the
habitation area and the cultivated area. In this type village
the main roads generally and also the main arterial road
joining the villages of the coast for miles and miles in one
linear direction. The road from Cape Comorin to
Trivandrum is the best example of such roads.
c) The third type of village was found in Satpura Mountains
on the north-western boundary of the Marathi speaking
region. The houses are situated in their own fields in
clusters of two or three huts, all belonging to a single close
kinship group. They are either the huts of a father and
grown-up sons or brothers or their wives. Sometimes and
her husband may have a hut in the same cluster as that of
the father and brothers of the woman. The next cluster of
huts may be as far as a furlong or two away depending on
how big the holding of each cluster is. The village
boundaries are not defined by streams or hillocks because

the houses belonging to one village are situated on

separate hillocks or divided by streamlets. In this area the
village lost its gestalt completely on all four sides. The
habitation area is not distinguished from the cultivated
area and the widely scattered houses of such villages are
many times nearer to the houses in the next village than to
the houses of its own village. In third type village there is
no village streets because no houses are aligned along
streets. There are only footpaths leading from one house
cluster to another and the continuation of these leads to
houses in the next village.
Indian villages are more complicated in its structure
and which is reflected in the way houses are built and roads
existed. A village is multi-caste in its structure, in North and
sometimes even in Maharashtra there may be only one lineage
of a caste, but generally in North and almost as a rule in the
Dravidian South each caste in a village made up of more than
one lineage and clan. The habitation area of each caste in
village is separated from that of the other by a greater or lesser,
distance they were the untouchables, their habitation area has
generally a distinct name. Maharwada, Mang, Mahars, Mala,
Madiga Wadi etc. are certain untouchable caste living in end of
a village. A few castes may live in houses situated side by side
but others live apart. Brahmins and weavers are another caste
groups in Indian villages both of these groups living in their
own areas, they were not mingled with each other. This
tendency to have separate sub-areas for habitation within a
larger unit called a village, which can be explained in various

ways and on different grounds like caste hierarchy, ideas of

impurity and pollution, the need for certain occupations to
have room for carrying out the different processes needed for
their craft. The first reason that is caste hierarchy applies to the
house complexes generally, the second reason impurity and
pollution applies to the distance found between the
untouchable quarters and the rest. The third reason is the need
for certain occupations, which is applied to the castes like
potters, brick makers, weavers and dyers, shepherds, wool
carders and blanket makers etc. These proves that the inherent
tendency of Indian culture to form separate groups and remain
separate, in India villages caste was rather a direct tendency of
separation than a hierarchical structure. Family is a primary
group that may be unilateral or bilateral; this group extends up
to the caste. The family as well as the caste is based on
territory. The smallest territorial unit is the area in which the
house and the family land are situated and in largest territorial
unit in that part of linguistic area through which a caste has
spread. The castes and tribes are not living in mingled.
Through which sociologist Karve tries to prove the
relationship between the geographical area and the social
institutions like caste, family and economic activities. It is
necessary to the study of ecological approach of village
community.
O K H Spate an English geographer explains Indian
village community on the basis of ecological perspective. The
great majority of the country folk live in small or large
nucleated settlements, and areas of dispersed habitations are

few. The Himalayan zone is the only extensive area of true

dispersal, even in the hills the normal unit is the small hamlet
rather than the homestead. In the arid west this is enforced by
the paucity of water-points and the needs of defense. These are
anomalies; in the great homogeneous plains nucleation is
almost invariable. In the past defense played big role in areas
open to constant disturbance. In these type nucleation villages
are often grouped around a petty fort with close packed houses
and with blank outer walls, low doorways etc. Often there is
not much in the way of site selection; one place is as good as
another and the village rises are as often as their own creation,
the rubbish of generations. But any discontinuity, any break in
the almost imperceptible slope, produces linear settlement
pattern such as bluffs above flood-plains and the margins of
abandoned river courses. The bluffs are notable and larger than
the drier interfluves. Settlement lines tend to occur also at the
marked break of slope where steep residual hills grade into a
fan, which has usually a fairly high water table.
Caste and community largely govern the layout of the
village. Lingayaths (agricultural caste), Muslims, Jains and
Brahmins are the important caste groups. In Inam (landlord)
village most of the people belonging to the Desai (Jain) and
Deshpande (Brahmin) families whose Wadas stand on the best
sites within large compounds. The Desai provide the village
patel or headman. Besides those, the Talwars (domestic
servants and agricultural labourers), Harijans, and Wadars
(quarrymen) are lived in the circumference of the village or
beyond the old moat. Occupations likewise are still mainly on

caste basis. The higher caste people lived in big and well
planned making houses. The poorest castes live in wretched
one room wattle huts with thatched roofs. The aspect of the
village varies not only with the general regional setting, with
build materials and house-types, but with social factors. The
generally greater emphasis on caste in the South takes social
fragmentation allied with spatial separation to the extreme,
segregating the untouchables in outlying cherries or sub-
villages, sometimes located several hundred yards from the
main villages which they are service components. A typical
and is indeed the climax of geographical differentiation;
apartheid. A typical cheri may consist of two rows of huts with
a narrow central street in the middle this widens to make room
for tiny temples. Social factors are no less important that
environmental. The houses of the lower caste people are not
only dependent on the basis of cultural factors but
geographical factors.
Indian village is infinitely depressing in the plains
where so much ground is cultivated that the scanty village site
cannot grow with its growing population, or where a few
miserable huts cling to shade less stony rises in the drier parts
of central India. Peasants often display an astonishing
resilience and refuse to be broken by his bitterly hard
geographical and social environment.
S C Dube a well known Indian sociologist who outline
the social structure of Indian village communities, list some of
the important factors of change and attempt a broad analysis of
the major trends of change. For understanding the structure

and problems of Indian village society, it is necessary to

analyze the village both as a distinct isolable entity and as a
link in the chain of a wider inter-village organization. An
individual village derives some of the characteristic features of
its organization from the great national tradition of India. The
Indian village is sufficiently isolable, but it is not an isolate,
and has therefore to be viewed as community within a larger
community. The interplay of several different kinds of
solidarities determines the structure and organization of Indian
village communities. Kinship, caste and territorial affinities are
the major determinants that shape the social structure of these
communities. Most of the sub- caste grouped together as a
caste. Non-Hindu religious groups in villages tend to function
as separate castes. Most of the Hindu castes are fitted into one
of the four major divisions of Hindu society called Varna.
Solidarities provided by kin and caste tend to merge but those
of territorial affinity belong to a different level. An individual
and his family belong also to a village, which is often multi-
caste in its composition. The village itself is a part of a
network of neighboring villages, the region and the nation.
Indian peasant communities are constituted by the structural
elements like individual, family, group of near kin lineage,
relatives, sub-caste or caste and Varna, those elements are
organized in terms of kin and caste. Individual, family, village,
inter- village organization, region and Nation are the other
organized elements of village structure in terms of territorial
affinities. Caste is the most important single organizing
principle in these communities, and it governs to a very
considerable degree the organization of kinship and territorial

units. In this system of segmentary division of society the

different segments are kept apart by complex observances
emerging from an all pervading concept of ritual pollution.
The caste divisions are regarded as divinely ordained and are
hierarchically graded. The difference between the different
segments is defined by tradition and is regarded as permanent.
In inter- group relations the caste structure works according to
a set of pattern of principles: hierarchy and social distance
manifest and express themselves in rules and regulations that
are calculated to avoid ritual pollution and maintain ritual
purity. Marriage and the physical contacts between community
members are governed by strict rules. It has been pointed out
earlier that castes are endogamous. Caste exogamies are forbid
by tradition. Food is different on the basis of the rule of purity
and pollution. Caste determines the occupation. Within a
village the caste system manifests itself a vertical structure in
which individual castes are hierarchically graded and the
horizontal ties of a caste are important for a village caste group
has strong links with its counter parts in other villages and in
several spheres of life they tend to act together. The basic unit
of social organization in Indian peasant communities is not the
large joint family, after minor attain maturity and a degree of
economic self-sufficiency when the large joint families breaks
up into nuclear family. Informally the local group of near kin
functions as an effective agency of social control. Sometimes
the village as a unit of social structure worked passing the
boundaries of caste, kin and integrated multi-caste community.
Structurally the village communities can be divided into three
main groups first is single settlement village, in which the

community shares a common and compact settlement site, and

the second is nucleated village which has a central settlement
as the nucleus around which there are a number of smaller
satellite settlements and the third is dispersed village
community in which the community consists of a series of
dispersed homesteads having well-defined ties with one
another. The people are mainly engaged in agriculture as the
main economic activity other non-agricultural occupations are
subsidiary to agriculture. A large proportion of India‘s
population lives in villages. The inhabitants of a village may
be farmers or trader or artisans or scholars or priests and
village can be classified according to the occupation of the
majority of its inhabitants. Villages may belong to a single
tribe or may differ from one another in caste or religious
persuasion and this give another means of classification of
types. The orders of clusters are different the orders are given
below:
a) Shapeless clusters or agglomerate with streets not forming
an integral part of the design. These may be massive or
dispersed type, in which the village is reckoned to consist
of an assemblage of discrete clusters of comparatively
small size.
b) Linear cluster or assemblage with a regular open space or
straight street provided between parallel rows of houses.
c) Square or rectangular cluster or agglomerate with straight
streets running parallel or right angles to one another.
d) Village formed of isolated homesteads, a number of which

are treated together as a mauza for convenience of

collection of rent or taxes.
Various factors are involved in the origin and character
of a rural settlement. The social structure is not singly
determined the village structure and it determine mainly on the
basis of ecological factors.
1.4 Nature and changing dimensions of Village society,
Village studies-Marriot & Betteille
McKim Marriot was an American Anthropologist; he
was the student of Robert Redfield in Chicago University. He
was the Professor in the Department of Anthropology in Social
Sciences Collegiate Division of the University of Chicago. He
conducted field works in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and
authored varied studies on rural social organization and
change. Even though he was an American whose studies
mainly concentrate in Indian villages. Kishan Garhi is a village
in Uttar Pradesh where who conducted the field work and
described about the nature and the changes in village society.
He applied structural-functional approach in his study of
village India. His contributions mainly influenced in the
development of sociology and Anthropology in Indian society.
His important works include- Village India-Studies in the
Little Community (1955), Caste Ranking and Community
structure in the five regions of India and Pakistan (1960), India
through Hindu Categories (1990). He conducted various
studies about the social change and try to l conceptualize these
changes through certain conceptual framework. Andre Beteille
a well known Indian sociologist famous for his study of caste

as village phenomenon. His major works include Caste, Class

and Power: Changing Pattern of Stratification in Tanjore
Village (1695), Social Inequality, Studies in Agrarian Social
Structure (1974), Marxism and Class analysis and Inequality
and Social Change (1972). He mainly analyses the interplay of
caste, class and power in village social change. His studies
mainly concentrate on caste system.
India still lives in villages as more than sixty percent of
the population even today reside in rural areas and depend on
agriculture and related professions. Early studies conceptualize
the village society as social economic and political unit, along
with the caste system. Even though growth of urbanism and
rise of cities attracted rural population to shift to cities, village
as an entity continues to be important in the social, cultural,
political and economic landscape of India. The centrality of
village in Indian society can be gauged from the number of
village studies in the 1950s and 60s. These studies give us
some insights on village as social unit. India‘s village can be
traced far back in history which creates a sense of
timelessness and continuity. The Arthashastra (400 BCE-
200AD) provides us with a classification of the king‘s duties
related to the administrative affairs of the village. In the
medieval times Al Biruni‘s Kitab al Hind (early eleventh
century) gives us an account of the caste occupation based
organization in the village. British colonial administrative view
of India was based on the category of ‗village‘. The
perspective developed and forwarded was that India was
primarily composed of villages which were self- sufficient and

independent. The writings of James Mill and Charles Metcalfe

and their notion of the Indian village community influenced
the later scholars of Indian village. Metcalfe in 1810 had said
that, ‗the Indian village communities were little republics,
having nearly everything they wanted within themselves and
almost independent of foreign relations.
In the colonial discourse, the Indian village was
described as a self-sufficient community which had everything
within its periphery. Caste system through its division of
labour provided this view a practical functionality which
meant communal ownership of land was marked by a
functional integration of various occupational groups in the
village. The famous attributes of Indian civilization of timeless
continuity, simplicity and social harmony were attributed to
the village. ‗Each village was an inner world, a traditional
community, self-sufficient in its economy, patriarchal in its
governance, surrounded by an outer one of other hostile
villages and despotic governments. Village social life is
organized around caste, kinship, economy, politics and
religion. People‘s social lives are mostly confined to their
villages, their livelihoods and lives revolve around the rural
environment and resources. The world of caste society is based
on hierarchy. People were divided into higher or lower groups
based on birth, their food, their dresses, ornaments, customs
and manners were all ranked in an order of hierarchy. The first
three Varna, namely, Brahmins (the priests or men of
learning), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors) and Vaishyas
(traders) were regarded as dvijas or the twice born. The fourth

category was that of Shudras, composed of numerous

occupational castes that were regarded as relatively ‗clean‘ and
were not classed as ―untouchables‖. In the fifth major category
were placed all the ―untouchable‖ castes. Within each category
there were several sub-groups (jatis or sub-castes), which
could be arranged in a hierarchical order within them.
Attempts to claim a higher ritual status through, what
Srinivas called sanskritisation, was not a simple process, and
could not be achieved only through rituals and life-style
imitation. The group had to also negotiate it at the local power
structure. Similarly, stressing secular factors, ‗There was a
certain amount of overlap between the twin hierarchies of caste
and land. The richer landowners generally came from such
high castes as Brahmins, and Lingayats while the Harijans
contributed a substantial number of landless labourers.
Any study of the religion of Indian village show double
processes working simultaneously between the religious
beliefs and practices of the village and the wider Indian
civilization. McKim Marriott, takes the concepts of ‗great
tradition‘ and ‗little tradition‘ from Robert Redfield (1955) and
has given the terms Universalization (elements of village
culture being incorporated into a wider regional or even larger
society) and Parochialization (cultural elements of a pan-
Indian nature filtering down to the village level through
various modes of communication such as story-telling and folk
drama) respectively to refer to the two aspects of this double
process of interaction between the little and great traditions.
M.N. Srinivas‘ (1950) concept of Sanskritisation also

shows the interaction between religion at the local level and all
India Hinduism which is Varna based. Orthodox sanskritic
elements travel from the higher castes to the lower castes.
Modern western technology — railways, printing press, radio,
films and now, television have also helped in the spread of
Sanskritisation. Sanskritisation is also about ‗universalization‘
or identification with the larger religion, the identification of a
local God or Goddess with some deity of the Hindu pantheon.
Thus among the Coorgs, Ketrappa is identified with the Vedic
deity Kshetrapala while the local cobra deity is identified with
Subramanya or Skanda, the warrior son of Shiva. This helped
the Coorg‘s religious community to become incorporated in
the wider Hindu religious community. Apart from festivals and
deities, another important aspect of the religion of the village
community is pilgrimage. Pilgrimage centers have attracted
people from distant places in India. In traditional India, temple
towns and sacred cities like Gaya, Mathura, Ajmer, Varanasi,
Puri, Tirupathi and Amritsar attracted pilgrims even though
roads were very poor and unsafe. Thus we see a continuous
interaction between the little and great tradition in the religion
of the village. Caste endogamy (marriage within caste) and
village exogamy (marriage outside village) were widely
practiced. Relations outside the village meant travel to those
areas where kins/ relatives lived at the time of festival or
special occasions. Social networks of the village through caste,
kinship, marriage meant social relations with the outside world
and thus, villages were not isolated units socially.
Beteille had argued that his study of village ‗Sripuram

as a whole constituted a unit in a physical sense and, to a much

lesser extent, in the social sense‘. The village in pre-British
India was economically self-sufficient was created by the
existence of the Jajmani system (relationship of reciprocity of
economic exchange between landlords and peasants over
generations), where payment was in kind/grains (absence of
monetization), and the poor communications which limited the
flow of goods. Andre Beteille‘s study of Tamil village of
Sripuram demonstrates that how the structures of traditional
caste hierarchy were getting replaced by class based categories
of stratification.
Village markets that are to be distinguished from
capitalist markets not only serve an economic purpose but also
political, recreational and social purposes. The weekly markets
or Haats that exist all over rural India from ancient times form
major links with neighboring villages and towns. The
institution of weekly markets is cultural institutions with
significance beyond mere economic exchange. The institution
of caste based specialization means that only some people can
do certain tasks, like only those of potter caste can make pots,
those of blacksmith caste can make iron implements and so on.
All the artisan and servicing castes did not live within a single
village, especially in the case of the smaller settlements.
Certain castes provide services to a number of villages and
were shared amongst the villages like, barbers, priests, doctors,
etc. The village market became linked to the formal market
networks when the capitalist system penetrated the rural areas.
The availability of new economic opportunities differed in
different villages especially with processes of industrialization
and urbanization, which made the village a part of the wider

economic system. The early studies on village society states

that village economy is self-sufficient, many ethnographic
studies, based on fieldwork, have explained that the Indian
villages have always been a part of the wider society and
civilization and not self- sufficient units.
The villages in pre-British India were autonomous
political unit. There were several duties performed by the king
towards his subjects. Roads, tanks and canals for irrigation
were built along with temples. He also granted gifts of land to
learned and pious Brahmins. The king was the head of all caste
groups and Panchayaths. Any disputes regarding mutual caste
rank and other inter-caste conflicts were ultimately settled by
him. This task was not confined to just the Hindu rulers but
even the Mughal kings and feudal lords settled questions
affecting a caste. The relationship between the village and the
ruler changed with the British colonial rule. British established
an effective administration as development of communications
followed the political occupation. Power of the village
Panchayath was greatly reduced by the system of modern law
courts as major disputes and criminal offences were now
settled there.
Both of these social theorists analyzed village as an
entity with specific social structure. Even though the works of
Beteille concentrates on caste, village is a topic of analysis of
him. He also highlights the interplay of caste, class and power
in change of village social structure. Marriot analyses the
change in village social structure with a special reference to the
influence of the forces within society and outside of society.

MODULE 2
CHANGING RURAL SOCIETY
Rural society is the peculiarity of Indian society. It is
the society of simplicity and low densely populated agrarian
and caste ridden. Today this society was in transition with the
interference of the external factors like British administration,
independence movements, industrialization, emergence of
capitalism, urbanization etc. This module gives an idea about
the changing structure of rural society. Agriculture was the
main economic activity in rural society, so this module mainly
concentrates on the analysis of agrarian social structure, and
how it is changed with the advancement in world. This module
mainly provides a historical understanding about the rural
society.
2.1 Agrarian social structure, land ownership and
agrarian relations
India is the land of village, which is the unit of rural
society. In early period agrarian economy was the backbone of
Indian society, when agriculture is the major economic activity
in rural society. So the agrarian social structure had become
the major topic of analysis of Rural Sociology. Before
analyzing agrarian social structure, it is necessary to make an
idea about agrarian structure, which means the institutional
framework of agriculture. This institutional framework relates
to the distribution, control and use of land. In other word it is
related to land tenure, forms of agricultural employment, social
organizations, trade unions etc. and it also includes the

infrastructure of agriculture Viz. irrigation schemes, road,

railways etc. Rural sociology mainly analyses the social
aspects of the agrarian structure that is agrarian social
structures. Torner denotes agrarian social structure is the
relationship obtaining among the groups engaged in
agricultural operations. Agrarian social structure in India is
very complex. More and more sociologists, especially Indian
sociologists deeply analyses the agrarian social structure in
India, A R Desai, Betteille etc. are important among those.
Agrarian social structure in India is different from region to
region.
Tenants are an inevitable part of agrarian social
structure, who cultivates the land on certain conditions. Most
of the agriculturists in India are tenants. The emergence of
tenant goes back to the British period when in 1793 the
Permanent Land Settlement was made. The Jamindari system
which emerged from land settlement was an intermediary
system, which created the class of tenants who suffered from
operation at the hands of the Jamindars. It was a historical
emergence found for the first time in Indian agrarian history.
In the native states, also known as princely states, the jagirdar
worked as an intermediary between the tenant and the central
princely rule. In these States Jagirdar was the counterpart of
jamindar. The status of tenant in pre-independent India was
highly deplorable.
In course of time, a series of intermediaries developed
between the jamindar and the cultivating tenant, whose
condition, thereby, increasingly deteriorated. The Bengal

Tenancy Acts of 1859 and 1885 aimed at ameliorating the

position of the tenants. However, the legislation did not
accomplish much. The mass of tenants continued to live in an
increasingly worsening condition.
Peasant proprietors another category included in India
agrarian society, who are quite like tenants. They are land
owners. The landowners were sub-divided into upper
landowners, middle landowners or peasant proprietors. As a
result of the operation of factors like heavy land tax, small
holdings, fragmentation of plots, growing heavy indebtedness,
this class had been increasingly impoverished since it came
into existence. It had been in a state of permanent
disintegration. The woes of the peasant proprietors during this
period were altogether new. These land proprietors suffered
from their disintegration. However, a few of them who owned
larger patches of land rose to the level of rich peasants while a
large number of them were reduced to the status of poor
peasants, tenants of absentee landlords or land laborers. This
process of differentiation of the peasant proprietors grew at an
accelerated rate since the rate of impoverishment of the
peasantry increased. The colonial period witnessed, on one
hand, the impoverishment of the tenants and, on the other
hand, differentiation and disintegration of the peasant
proprietors. As a result of this process, there emerged, in rural
India, the class of absentee landlords, one hand, and the lower
peasantry and agricultural laborers, on the other.
It must be observed that in India the agricultural sector,
constitutionally, is the subject of the State. Land taxation, thus,

is determined by the State government. Because of this

statutory position, there is much variation in agricultural
tenancy in India is that it is shaped by the historical and
cultural forces of a particular region or part of the country. For
instance, we have certain castes which are actually agricultural
castes; e.g., Patidars of Gujarat, Jats of Haryana and Sikhs of
Punjab. This is purely a cultural phenomenon. It also affects
the size and pattern of agricultural practices. Historically,
variation in tenancy could be explained by the fact that the
colonial forces in British India and feudal forces in princely
states also determined the form and extent of tenancy.
However, at a broader plane, it could be said that there are five
variations of tenants in India:
1. Cash tenants: They pay fixed cash rent for the use and
occupancy of their land.
2. Share-cash tenants: They pay part of their rent in cash and
part in the share of crops.
3. Crop share tenants: They pay a share of the crops only.
4. Croppers: They pay a share of the crops but usually work
under the close supervision of landlord or his agent.
5. Other and unspecified tenants
There is much variation in agricultural tenancy. The
classes of tenants which given above are not exhaustive. As a
matter of fact, the sharecropper is both a tenant and also
landowner of a patch of land.

2.2 Emergent class relations, Decline of Agrarian economy

Traditional Indian society is a caste society; the class
system was not prevalent there. In Pre- British period agrarian
society peasants, landowners and middle class are the three
classes comprised in, the class structure in different regions are
different. Commonly communal ownership of land was found
in early society. During the colonial period a complex class
system started to emerge in Indian rural agrarian society.
While the same the dominant caste were probably also
cultivating caste in the pre-colonial period, they were not the
direct owners of land. Instead, ruling class such as Kshatriyas
or Zamindars controlled the land. The peasants or cultivators
are worked in the land, which provided by Zamindars. When
the British colonized India in many areas they ruled through
these local Zamindars. They also granted property rights to the
Zamindars. Under the British, the Zamindars were given more
control over land than they had before. Since the colonizers
also imposed heavy land revenue (taxes) on agriculture, the
Zamindars extracted as much produce or money as they could
out of the cultivators. One result of this Zamindari system was
that agricultural production stagnated or declined during much
of the period of British rule. Many districts of colonial India
were administered through the Zamindari system. In other
areas that were under direct British rule had what was called
the Ryotwari system of land settlement, in which Ryot means
peasant. In this system, the ‗actual cultivators‘ (who were
themselves often landlords and not cultivators) rather than the
Zamindars were responsible for paying the tax. Because the

colonial government dealt directly with the farmers or

landlords, rather than through the overlords, the burden of
taxation was less and cultivators had more incentive to invest
in agriculture. As a result, these areas became relatively more
productive and prosperous. After India became independent,
Nehru and his policy advisors embarked on a programme of
planned development that focused on agrarian reform as well
as industrialization. The policy makers were responding to the
dismal agricultural situation in India at that time. This was
marked by low productivity, dependence on imported food
grains, and the intense poverty of a large section of the rural
population. They felt that a major reform in the agrarian
structure, and especially in the landholding system and the
distribution of land, was necessary if agriculture were to
progress. From the 1950s to the 1970s, a series of land reform
laws were passed — at the national level as well as in the
States — that were intended to bring about these changes. The
first important legislation was the abolition of the Zamindari
system, which removed the layer of intermediaries who stood
between the cultivators and the State. However, Zamindari
abolition did not wipe out landlordism or the tenancy or
sharecropping systems, which continued in many areas. It only
removed the top layer of landlords in the multi- layered
agrarian structure. Among the other major land reform laws
that were introduced were the tenancy abolition and regulation
acts. They attempted either to outlaw tenancy altogether or to
regulate rents to give some security to the tenants. In most of
the States, these laws were never implemented very
effectively. In West Bengal and Kerala, there was a radical

restructuring of the agrarian structure that gave land rights to

the tenants.
The land reform rules and green revolution change the
existing class structure in rural agrarian society and these also
destruct the rural agrarian economy. Green revolution is a
prominent factor leading to destruction of agrarian economy. It
motivates the big farmers the traditional agriculturist could not
compete with the big farmers. Industrialization is another
factor of destructing rural agrarian economy.
De-peasantization
De-peasantization is a serious challenge facing by India
in contemporary society. Agriculture is the major economic
activity in rural society so the de-peasantization strongly
affects the rural society and vice versa. De-Ruralization,
migration of rural to urban society, etc. are the main factors of
de-peasantization. Because it is a rural phenomenon; it
becomes an important area of analysis in Rural Sociology.
This process mainly starts with industrial revolution, and then
with the passing of time the process accelerates. Urbanization,
liberalization, government policies related with agriculture etc.
are the other factors of de-peasantization.
The process of shifting of peasants from agricultural to
non-agricultural sector for an alternate source of livelihood is
known as de-peasantization. De-peasantization is a specific
form of de- agrarinization in which peasants lose their
economic capacity, social coherence and demographically
shrinking in size. Thus, it can be said that de-agrarinization is a

broader term which means moving of societal social structure

from farming to non-farming sector whereas; de-
peasantization is specific form of de-agrarinization in which
peasants lose their size demographically. De-peasantization is
the shrinking size of peasant‘s practices or small producers
from the land. De-peasantization refers to the erosion of
agrarian way of life that combines subsistence and commodity
agricultural production with an internal social organization
based on family labour and village community settlement. De-
peasantization measured through the rate of urbanization. A
Farshad in his work ―Global Depeasatization, 1945-1990‖
refutes the fact that urbanization of the planet is a key indicator
of the death of the peasantry. Johnson considers that it is too
narrow a view to parallel the trend that sees a decrease in the
rural population to a decrease in the peasantry. It is argued that
the de-peasantization is contested at the most basic level the
utter destruction of the peasantry is challenged he argued that
the peasant way of life will always exist in some form. If the
peasantry is a unit engaged in a form of production based
solely on agriculture, the world is witnessing a process of
widespread de-peasantization.
Capitalism is an important factor which leading to de-
peasantization, over-urbanization leading the widespread rural
urban migration it also leading to de-peasantization. The
transformation of workforce from farming to non-farming
sector can be divided into two categories namely growth- led
shift and distress induced shift. The former is related to
developmental factors like mechanization of agriculture,

increasing employment, income, high education level, rampant

urbanization, development of secondary and tertiary sector and
State intervention for generating employment opportunities
and so on. These factors are known as pull-factors which
attract the workforce from farming to non-farming activities.
On the other hand distress induced transformation is based on
hardship or crisis driven factors like falling productivity,
increasing cost, decreasing returns, unemployment,
underemployment, unproductive land, market problem, no or
less subsidy provided by government etc. these factors are
known as push-factors.
De-peasantization means due to certain causes of
hindering the livelihood, people shift their occupation from
agricultural sector to non-agricultural sector. This is very
common in contemporary society. Over-urbanization,
population explosion, Government policies, climatic change,
environmental exploitation etc. are the factors leading to de-
peasantization.
2.3 Land reforms and its impact on rural social structure
with special reference to Kerala
Land reform usually refers to redistribution of land
from the rich to the poor. More broadly, it includes regulation
of ownership, operation, leasing, sales, and inheritance of land.
In an agrarian economy such as India, with great scarcity and
an unequal distribution of land, coupled with a large mass of
the rural population below the poverty line, there are
compelling economic and political arguments for land reform.
It received top priority on the policy agenda at the time of the

Indian Independence in 1947. Land reforms have been a

national agenda of rural reconstruction since independence.
They refer to attempts by the Government to achieve social
equality and optimum utilization of land by redistributing the
land holdings. These reforms are also intended to reorder the
agrarian relations in order to achieve a democratic social
structure, to eliminate exploitation and social injustice within
the agrarian system and thereby enlarging the land base of the
rural poor, to provide security for the tiller of the soil and to
remove obstacles arising from the agrarian structure that has
been inherited from the past and to increase agricultural
productivity and infusing an element of equality in local
environments. But despite this vision of the Nation, there was
inertia, lack of sincerity by governments and pressure tactics of
powerful land owning class discouraged land reforms in most
of the States. Land reform legislation in India mainly consisted
of four main categories—tenancy reform, abolition of
intermediaries, land ceiling, and land consolidation. The first
category of land reform, namely tenancy reform, imposed
regulation that attempted to improve the contractual terms
faced by tenants, including crop shares and security of tenure.
Under the British land-revenue system, large feudal
landowners (Zamindars) received the rights to collect tributes
from peasants in exchange for a land tax paid to the State.
Almost half of the land was under this system at the time of
Independence. This system was considered exploitative, and
abolition of intermediaries was aimed at curtailing the power
of these large landowners and ensuring that the cultivator of
the land was in direct contact with the government, which

minimized unjust extraction of surplus by the landowner. The

third form of land reform was the imposition of a ceiling on
landholdings that aimed to redistribute surplus land to the
landless. Finally, consolidation of landholdings constituted the
fourth kind of land reform, which ensured that small bits of
land belonging to the same small landowner but situated at
some distance from one another could be consolidated into a
single holding to boost viability and productivity.
Kunjan Pillai also examined the emergence of Brahmin
landlordism in Kerala. Under the influence of the settlers,
Hinduism became the most powerful religion. Temples began
to be constructed by about 750 AD, which performed the all-
in-one functions of school, library, seminary, theatre and
Public Park. When a temple was built it was usual to endow it
with property the revenue from which would cover expenses of
daily worship, festivals, schools and feeding places. Kings,
Naduvazhis (governors) and even ordinary cultivators donated
land to the temples. Management of temple property was
vested with a council of Uralar (local leaders). Kunjan Pillai
associates the term janmi with the office of trustee. In the
beginning prominent persons were appointed for a fixed time.
At a later period, it became the custom for them to hold office
for lifetime. The lifetime right of trustees over property was
called the janmam (lifetime) right.
Ownership of land was vested with the Chera king
whose feudatories, the Naduvazhis and chieftains enjoyed land
rights in the districts in return for paying tribute. Lands of the
king or of the feudatories inhabited and cultivated by the

native population were known as Cherikkal lands. Three kinds

of rights, Kanam (proprietorship) Karanmai (tenancy) Kutimai
(occupancy) were in existence during the period. An important
development was the gradual acquisition of thousands of acres
of land by Brahmin village corporations through Attiper (from
landowners placing land under temple or Brahmin protection,
or by outright purchase from them). Narayanan is of the view
that the acquisition of large areas of land by the Brahmin
corporations gradually led to the domination of economic and
social life by the settlers who imposed their culture on Kerala.
By the twelfth century the Brahmins were able to establish
themselves as the most dominant group. According to Kunjan
Pillai, their influence was so great that they even succeeded in
persuading the royal families to accept the myth of Brahmin
blood alone being capable of producing good kings. There
were instances of Brahmins making the kings at one for the
cardinal sin of giving them offence. They succeeded in
introducing a hierarchical system with themselves at the top as
the most superior caste. By virtue of religious leadership and
temple management, Brahmins became powerful landlords by
a gradual process of converting management rights to
ownership rights. Kings and governors also possessed vast
tracts of land as landlords. The feudal system in medieval
Kerala showed a hierarchy of land rights and caste which
displayed somewhat the following pattern: Janmam - Rajas,
Brahmins, Temples and Naduvazhis. Kanam- Nairs and sub-
groups of Nairs Verumpattom Nairs, Moplahs (Muslims),
Syrian Christians and Ezhavas. Agrestic Slaves- Pulayas,
Cherumars, Parayas and others. Kerala is one of the few Indian

States which implemented land reforms.

Land mark legislations related with Land reform
The State of Kerala was officially formed in the year
1956. Even before its formation, there had been endeavors at
land reforms in the State. The Restriction on Possession and
Ownership of Lands Bill (1954) being the best example of the
same. The first democratically elected government assumed
office on 5 April, 1957. The first elected government issued
the Stay of Eviction Proceedings Ordinance to afford interim
protection to tenants, including the 'kudikidappukars' (hutment
dwellers). Reports say that close to two million acres were
transferred to 1.3 million households. In spite of delays in
implementation and circumvention of the legislation, the
abolition of tenancy was a remarkable success. The aggregate
area transferred to the lessee amounted to 36.5% of the net
sown area in the State, or 42.9% of the area excluding
plantation crops. This was followed by the agrarian reform bill,
which was adopted by the Kerala assembly in June 1959. Its
outcome, the Kerala Agricultural Relations Bill (KARB) was a
land mark in the history of Kerala. It contained three important
features.
(1) No holding of land by permanent tenants, including farm
servants and mortgagees, would be subject to resumption
by the landowners. The rent to be paid by tenants was
reduced to a maximum of one fourth of the gross produce,
and to much less, as low as one twelfth, in the case of less
fertile land.

(2) All rights of the landlords in land held by the tenants were
vested in the State which then would act as an
intermediary in transferring (part of) sixteen annual
installments of the fair rent to the landowner. After paying
all installments, the ex-lessee would receive full
ownership of the land. The total abolition of tenancy
involved in this arrangement was an exemplary feature of
the KARB.
(3) All land above the ceiling limit (15 acres of double
cropped land per family, with no additional allowance for
adult or minor family members) was to be distributed by
the Land lords.
The KARB was a radical departure, not in terms of an
anti-capitalist agenda, but in terms of "its democratic
revolution which aimed at breaking the backbone of feudalism
and semi-feudalism of all kinds, and parasitic landlordism,
with a serious concern for development of the forces of
production" .But the implementation of this comprehensive
land reform programme was scotched by the overthrow of the
first government, the verdict of the Kerala High Court against
certain provisions of the bill and the presidential disapproval.
The KARB, after the extended legislative procedure, was sent
to the President of India on 27 July 1959. Four days later, on
July 31, 1959, the government was dismissed by the President,
arguing on the basis of Article 356 of the Constitution that law
and order in the State had been eroded. This argument was
with reference to the prevalence of a violent agitation, the
Liberation Movement (Vimochana Samaram). The ideas which

the first government had introduced in 1957, remained intact,

and the jenmi landlords in Kerala, and the political parties
representing their interests, apparently had changed their
tactics. Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 is the principal land
reform law in the State of Kerala and was included in the
Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
Efficacy of Land Reforms: The major economic problems of
the newly independent nation could be income-poverty,
hunger, illiteracy, lack of schooling, avoidable disease, and
subject to what were among the worst forms of class, caste,
and gender oppression in the world. To solve the agrarian
question is to free the countryside of landlordism, old and new;
to free the working peasantry and agricultural workers from
their present fetters and to guarantee them the means of income
and livelihood; to redistribute agricultural land; to provide the
rural working people with house-sites and homes; to create the
conditions for the liberation of the people of the oppressed
castes and tribes and of women; to ensure universal formal
education; and to achieve the general democratization of life
and progressive cultural development in rural India. Kerala
was one of the few States which took brave step of land
reforms in early years, where the landless agricultural workers
were provided land to settle down. The result was highest
public health and distribution of basic educational facilities
and least slum dwelling.
The Land Reforms Bill of 1959 introduced by the first
ministry had the very clear objective of breaking landlordism.
It wanted to realize the slogan of ―land to the tiller‖ which had

been the promise of the freedom struggle. The idea was to

make tenants the owners of the land they cultivated and to ban
future tenancy in all forms. Resuming land for ―own-
cultivation‖ which was a euphemism for tenancy-at-will or
wage-based cultivation, and which had been the bane of land
reforms undertaken by other governments, was not permitted.
Few political groups have decided to launch agitations
for restructuring the land ownership pattern in the State by
taking up its earlier slogan `land to the tiller.' Agitations,
demanding the continuation of agrarian reforms are also in
operation. A call for a second round of land reforms in Kerala
has also triggered friction within the government and among
various segments of the society. It was pointed out that the
reforms in Kerala had several historic achievements to its
credit. The process broke the backbone of landlordism and
abolished the jenmi system. By 1993 it had conferred
ownership rights / protection on 28 lakh tenants, and 6 lakh
acres had been accrued to tenants. Much of the recent
criticisms have come from economists who argue the reforms
haven't achieved their real purpose as most beneficiaries were
not from the lowest rung of society. According to them, an
impression of success was created as several intermediate
castes and the middle class are benefited from the reforms. The
results of the reforms have been that the tenants (`kudiyans'),
who were actually the middle class sections in the State,
became the owners of the land while the genuine landless
farmers and the poor agricultural workers were driven away to
settlement colonies. It was also argued that while the middle

classes in rural Kerala had gained substantially from land

reforms, these had not substantially benefited the landless
agricultural labourers, the tribal people or the fisher folk. As
land reforms are considered the one outstanding achievement
of the Kerala development experience, the obvious question to
ask is why this has not solved the food problem once and for
all. After 50 years of land reforms, Kerala depend on Andhra
Pradesh for rice Tamil Nadu for vegetables and Karnataka for
meat. It proves that the land reform did not increase
agricultural production or rural employment in the State. In
fact, one of the most visible results of the land reform
legislation was the extreme fragmentation of land, In
Travancore; tenant-friendly regulations came into effect from
1829 onward, and were strengthened through subsequent
reforms. Land was concentrated under royal control, and
tenants in effect became tenants of the state, with permanent
occupancy rights and low rents.
In Kerala a clear caste structure was existing early
period, in the higher portion of hierarchy arranged by
Namboothiris, Nairs, Ambalavasis and other groups come in
Brahmanic category, they are the real owners of the land in
Kerala and they are the dominant caste group, and below these
groups arranged the intermediaries they are the service caste of
Brahmin category in their land the tenants worked as peasants
of agricultural labourers, they have no a direct connection with
the owners of land. The family members of tenants worked in
the land of a jenmi traditionally for low wages. System of
tenants and share-cropping system was the peculiarity of

Indian agrarian society. With the evolving of land reforms

more and more changes coming in Kerala rural social structure
such as the lands of dominant castes are distributed to the
tenants and stopping the sharecropping system. Besides
these, the power structure of rural society also changed, with
the loss of land the dominant position of higher caste also
lowered, and the power structure of the basis of principle of
Democracy such as Panchayath Raj, adult Franchise etc. In
post-land reform period the agriculture occurred in land of
dominant caste with the help of peasants but some time that
was not profitable to them when they do farming with family
member, but they haven‘t an agricultural tradition so their land
remaining as fallow.
2.4 Migration, Globalization and rural social
transformation
Indian society is primarily a rural society though
urbanization is growing. The majority of India‘s people live in
rural areas that are 67 per cent, according to the 2001 Census.
They make their living from agriculture or related occupations.
This means that agricultural land is the most important
productive resource for a great many Indians. Land is also the
most important form of property. But land is not just a ‗means
of production‘ not just a ‗form of property‘. Nor is agriculture
just a form of livelihood. It is also a way of life. Agriculture is
the single most important source of livelihood for the majority
of the rural population. But the rural economy is not just
agricultural economy. Many activities that support agriculture
and village life are also sources of livelihood for people in
rural India. For example, a large number of artisans such as

potters, carpenters, weavers, ironsmiths, and goldsmiths are

found in rural areas. They were once part and parcel of the
village economy. Their numbers have been steadily lessening
since the colonial period. Rural life also supported many other
specialists and crafts persons as storytellers, astrologers,
priests, water-distributors, and oil-pressers. The diversity of
occupations in rural India was reflected in the caste system,
which in most regions included specialist and ‗service‘ castes
such as Washer men, Potters, and Goldsmiths. Some of these
traditional occupations have declined. But increasing
interconnection of the rural and urban economies has led to
many diverse occupations. Many people living in rural areas
are employed in, or have livelihoods based in, rural non-farm
activities. For instance, there are rural residents employed in
government services such as the Postal and Education
Departments, factory workers, or in the army, who earn their
living through nonagricultural activities. Community land
ownership is another feature of rural society; it is a simple
society with low density of population. A simple stratification
system based on caste is the peculiarity of rural social
structure.
Migration and globalization are the two factors, which
brought changes in rural social structure. Both of these are the
result of a bundle of social changes like industrial revolution,
urbanization, development of science etc. Even though
migration occurred in earlier societies, the modern period
migration had made total changes in rural social structure.
Migration means the permanent or temporary movement of
people from place of destination to place of origin. Mainly the
rural urban migration is occurred in society. Urbanization is a

social condition which provides more and more opportunities

like more choices in employment, education; open and
untouchable free society etc. Rural society is a caste ridden
society there people have no freedom to choice the occupation
on the basis of skill, education etc. the occupation was earlier
determined by their caste, unemployment, poverty,
untouchability etc. are the face cut of rural society which push
the rural population to urban society and the above mentioned
conditions found in urban society worked as pull factors of
migration. Globalization also leads to migration. Globalization
means the growing interdependence of the world‘s economies,
cultures and populations, brought about by cross- borders in
goods and services, technology and flows of investment,
people and information. Both of these factors made more and
more changes in rural social structure that are summarized
below:
1. Transformation of caste society to class society: Rural
society is a caste ridden society; globalization and rural-
urban migration destruct the caste society and emerge the
class society. Rural society displayed a fourfold caste
stratification system such Brahmins, Kshtriyas, Vaisyas
and Shudras, besides more and more sub-castes also found
in rural society. After globalization and rural urban
migration there can be see the emergence of class society,
the class status is achieved status and individual can
change his class status at any time, which is fixed on the
basis of economic status.
2. Decline of agrarian economy: Rural economy was
agrarian economy, globalization shrinking the agrarian

sector. The international norms imposed by WTO (World

Trade Organization) and other multilateral organizations
have reduced government support to agriculture. Greater
integration of global commodities markets leads to
constant fluctuations in price. The high dependence on
seeds and fertilizers sold by the MNCs also destruct the
rural agriculture.
3. Transformation of joint family to nuclear family: The
increasing migration coupled with financial independence
has led to the breaking of joint families into nuclear ones.
The western influence of individualism has led to an
asprational generation of youth.
4. With the rapid urbanization the rural society also covered
by urban society: With the rapid urbanization the rural
people are highly migrated to urban areas when the urban
society also widens so it covers the land of rural area so
the migration destructs rural society.
Rural social structure was the peculiarity of Indian
society, which is transformed with the effect of the factors like
migration and globalization. These two factors are produced by
the industrialization, urbanization, growth of science and
technology etc. These made social, economic, political
changes in rural society. Certain important changes are
explained above.

MODULE 3
GOVERNACE IN RURAL SOCIETY
Governance is the peculiarity of each and every
society, which means the controlling of the behaviour of
individuals for smooth functioning of society. Since the human
life started in society primitive form of the governance system
was existing society. In accordance with time changing the
society also developing, a developing from of governance
system started to develop. In early societies the behaviour of
individual was controlled by the informal agencies of social
control like family, caste organizations, village communities,
and other community organization for controlling the
behaviour of its members. India is the society of villages where
more and more controlling organizations are existed for the
comfortable lives of people. Panchayath raj is a governance
agency evolved in post-independence period. This module
mainly analyses the historical emergence of the rural
governing system till present society. It provides an idea about
the evolutionary emergence of rural governing system with
special reference to the relevance of governing system in
rural society.
3.1 Rural governance: Village Panchayath, Caste
Panchayath, Dominant Caste
Rural society is a type of society predominantly found
in India during early period. It is a simple society low density
of population, caste system and agrarian economy etc. are the
peculiarity of rural society. Rural governance simply means to

control the bahaviour of people in rural society through formal

and informal agencies such as dominant caste, Caste
Panchayath and village Panchayath. Only the governance is
not the function of these organizations but the developmental
activities and planning of development are the other functions
of these organizations. This part provides an idea about the
historical emergence of the rural governance system. First
known rural governance system in India was Dominant caste,
and then caste Panchayath developed, at last the village
Panchayath take the charge of rural governance.
Dominant caste
Dominant caste is a structural component and the
governing body of rural society so become an inevitable
concept in the study of rural society. The concept dominant
caste in sociology was introduced by a well known Indian
sociologist M N Srinivas in his study of Rampura Village in
Mysore. This module depicts the concept dominant caste as a
governing body of rural society. M N Srinivas analyzed
dominant caste as critically the traditional conception of
dominant caste. In traditional conception of higher caste means
the caste groups who are arranged on the top of the caste
hierarchy, they are Brahmins or other groups similar to
Brahmins which is different from State to State in India. But
they may not numerically higher. They have large amount of
land. Srinivas criticize this conception and define dominant
caste as a caste dominates when it wields economic and
political power, it has a high rank in caste hierarchy, high
numerical strength as compared to other caste groups, it should

own a sizable amount of the arable land locally available, have

strength of numbers, and occupy a high place in the local
hierarchy. When a caste has all the attributes of dominance, it
may be said to enjoy a decisive dominance.
Caste is a stratification system existing in India which
is based on the fourfold classification of Varna. The Brahmins
are arranged on the top of hierarchy, they are purified caste and
twice born. Generally Brahmins, Khatriya and Vaishya are
known as purified caste and twice born; they are arranged on
the top of hierarchy they are considered as the dominant caste
in India they determine the governance of Indian rural society.
Shudras and untouchables are the polluted and impure. The
higher position of governing body not democratically fixed,
which is based on caste status and this position traditionally
handed over to other members on the basis of seniority of
members. Then caste Panchayath or Jati Panchayath emerged
as a governing body in rural society.
Caste Panchayath
India is a caste ridden society. Caste simply means a
hierarchical stratification system, which is the peculiarity of
Indian rural society. Mainly castes in Indian rural society are
arranged in a fourfold hierarchy such as Brahmins, who are
arranged on the top of hierarchy, then Kshatriyas, then Vaisya
and then Shudra. Untouchables or Panchamam are at the
bottom of hierarchy. Even though the caste system started in
India as a division of labour, in accordance with time changing
it controls all spheres of life like governance, birth, death, food
habits, inter-dining, social interaction etc. In India, most

indigenous local consultative bodies have had a caste origin.

The term Panchayath is closely related with the term Pancha
in Sanskrit, meaning a council of five members. Caste
Panchayath is also called caste council or Jati Panchayath. It is
a traditional judicial system based on caste. It is simply the
caste specific juries of elders for villages. Before the
introduction of British courts, justice was administered by the
masters, or one‘s caste fellows.
There is no precise evidence to show how and when the
caste councils came into existing. However, there is a general
agreement that these were created only after settled village life
became possible. Since each village is composed of more than
one caste, each caste has been following the norms, rules and
behaviour pattern vastly different from other castes. The
source of these norms and rules are the cultural scriptures and
ethnic or cultural callings maintained by the caste councils.
The term Jati Panchayath is used to denote the idea of caste
Panchayath. Jati and caste are the two terms interchangeably
used to denote the same idea of caste. Within most castes there
were Panchayath meeting to hear cases and arbitrate between
fellow caste members involved in disputes and punish
offenders against caste rules and customs. Inter-caste
Panchayath were also formed to hear disputes between
members of different castes. There were also regional caste
courts in some places hearing cases in which the people
involved were from different villages.
The caste Panchayath commonly exists in all parts of
India then with the emergence of village Panchayath in post-

independence period, it gives way to village Panchayath. But

in certain States of India we can see the evidences of caste
Panchayath. In northern India, the caste Panchayath is
generally composed of five elder members of the renowned
families, persons of acknowledged qualities of leadership,
wealthy and capable of impartial judgement. These five people
are called Panchas. Head of the caste council is called
Mukhiya or Pradhan. Theoretically the meetings of caste
Panchayath can be summoned whenever there is a breach of
the caste rules and such breach is brought to the notice of the
caste Panchayath. Some of the major offences which the caste
Panchayath takes cognizance are as follows:
 Reach of the caste rules.
 Marriage that violates the caste norms and rules.
 Breaches of rules of endogamy and exogamy.
 Inter-dining with those who are outcaste.
 Failure to fulfill marriage agreements or conditions.
 Refusing to pay community subscription.
 Divorce without mutual consent.
 Disputes between in-laws.
Apart from the above, there are many petty offences
which are brought into cognizance of the caste Panchayath.
The nature of punishment depends on nature of the offense and
perpetrators are generally asked for either apology or some
other kind of punishment. The highest punishment given to
accused of excommunication. Jurisdiction of the caste council
may be limited to one village or may be extending to a cluster
of villages such as four, eight, sixteen, and twenty four, thirty

and so on. In older times, the area of influence of caste

Panchayath extended to eighty four villages.
For centuries, the caste Panchayaths have worked
effectively as judicial-cum-social institutions with mandatory
sanctions issue writs over its members. In fact the writ or order
of caste Panchath ran supreme in all spheres of life of its
members. However, with changing times the effectiveness of
these bodies has waned. Neither these bodies nor their verdicts
are legally recognized by modern courts of law. The reasons
ascribed to their gradual disappearance include- change in
circumstances; improved mobility and interaction among
people; establishment of statutory courts; introduction of
secular village Panchayath with legal as well as constitutional
backing. Modern laws banning the evil practices, government
support or protection to inter-caste marriage, stringent
government action over honor killing, abolition of
untouchability, no legal sanction on excommunication etc.
Nevertheless, these developments have been hardly able to
undermine some of the Panchayaths such as Khaps in Northern
India. In Villages, still people are fearful of excommunication.
Village Panchayath
Village Panchayath is a statutory institution, emerged
for the first time under the British rule. Before village
Panchayath, the traditional village councils are worked as a
governing agency, it is experienced a decay as a result of the
village administration by the agencies of the Central
Government, extension of jurisdiction of Civil and Criminal
courts to the rural areas, growth of modern education,

communication, introduction to the new land revenue system,

police organization and such other factors during the British
period. The British government with a view to preserve and
stabilize its political control over rural areas gradually adopted
various measures for recognizing the village Panchayath. They
passed various laws for the establishment of local self
governing bodies.
This is the basic or grassroots level of Panchayath Raj.
It is constituted by the components like Grama Sabha, Grama
Panchayath and Nyaya Panchayath. Gramasabha consists of
all adult residents within a village or group of village,
generally two meetings of Gramasabha held in a year and in
these meetings Gramasabha as a General Body of the people
hear Annual Statement of the Account, Audit or administrative
report of Panchayath. It recommends new development
projects to be under taken by Panchayaths. It also helps in
identifying poor people of the village so they may be given
economic assistance. Gram Panchayath is another part of
village Panchayath, the members of it is directly elected
people. The number of members of Grama Panchayath is fixed
on the basis of population. Grama Panchayath held election on
the basis of single member constituency, 1/3 of seats are
reserved for women. Chairperson of Gram Panchayath are
called President/Pradhan/Sarpanch, these names are used in
different States of India. Gram Panchayaths generally held
their meetings once in a month. Nyaya Panchayath is another
part constitute the village Panchayath, it is the set up to
provide speedy and inexpensive justice. One Nyaya

Panchayath is set up for 5 or more Gram Panchayath for tenure

3 to 5 years. It is generally deal with petty civil and criminal
cases and can impose fine upto Rs.100.
The above mentioned bodies are the oldest governing
organizations in India. India is a caste ridden society, so the
dominant caste was a governing body in India, it is regionally
different. Each caste groups have their own governing body
but the serious problems are handled by the dominant caste in
a rural region. Then castes Panchayaths are organized as a
governing body, then the village Panchayaths are organized
with the coming of British administration in India. The growth
and spread of a well developed judicial system occurred with
British administration, which leading to the decline of
dominant caste and caste Panchayaths as governing bodies.
3.2 Panchayath Raj- Decentralization of power in Village
society
In early times village societies are controlled by
various governing bodies like dominant caste, caste
Panchayaths, Village Panchayaths etc. With the coming of
British administration in India and the post-independence
period more and more changes are coming in governing
bodies. Caste Panchayaths exists in village society during the
time starting of settled life, then village Panchayath emerged
with the coming of British administration then in post-
independence period Panchayath Raj came into prominence as
a democratic political institution.
Panchayath Raj in India owes its origin to the findings

and recommendations of the Study Team on the working of

Community Projects and National Extension Services (NES)
under the auspices of the Committee on Plan project, which is
popularly known as Balwantrai Mehta Committee. From the
point of view of Mehta Committee the major shortcomings of
the Community Projects and National Extension Service lies in
its failure in generating the necessary enthusiasm among rural
people for the programme and its implementation. According
to the Committee each development block has an Advisory
Committee composed of official and non-official
representatives but they have no roots amongst the people and
have no powers and responsibilities. All planning and
execution is done by the block staffs, they are responsible for
the proper and timely utilization of the block funds. The
Committee opined that the block administration functions
more bureaucratically and has not identified the spirit behind
the programme. For generating people‘s enthusiasm for the
programme the Committee recommended that all development
programmes in the block areas should be entrusted to
representative institutions that can be evoke local interest and
initiative and the block staff and other officials should be
placed at the disposal of those institutions. The Study Team
also recommended for the provision of sufficient funds and
sources of revenue for these local institutions to enable then to
discharge their new duties. With this view in mind, the
Committee suggested the formation of the three-tier system of
local Government that is at village, at block and at district
level. The three-tier system consisted of directly elected
Panchayaths at village level, Panchayath Samiti at block and

Zilla Parishad at district level. The Panchayath Samiti should

have a life of five years and should posses the power to
scrutinize and approve the budgets of village Panchayaths. Its
function should include the development of agriculture,
improvement of cattle, promotion of local industries, welfare
work, public health and administration of primary schools etc.
As almost the entire rural development work would come
within the purview of the Panchayath Samiti, the Study Team
suggested the following resources should be assigned to them.
(1) The percentage of land revenue collected within the block,
which should not be less than 40% of the State‘s net land
revenue (2) Cess on land revenue (3) tax on profession (4)
surcharge of duty on transfer of immovable property (5) rent
and profit accruing from property (6) net proceeds of tools and
leases (7) pilgrim tax, tax on entertainment, primary education
Cess, proceeds from fairs and markets (8) share of motor
vehicle tax (9) voluntary public contributions and (10)
government grants. To ensure the necessary coordination
between the Panchayath Samitis, a Zilla Parishad should be
established consisting of the presidents of Panchayath Samitis,
members of the State legislature and of the Parliament,
representing the area and the district level officers. The
Chairman of the Parishad would be the Collector. The
Parishad would have the power to examine and approve the
budgets of the Panchayath Samitis. It would also generally
supervise the activities of the Panchayath Samiti but it would
not be invested with any executive functions. Ashok Mehta
committee was a committee closely related with Panchayath
Raj, which was appointed in 1977 to suggest measures to

revive and strengthen the declining Panchayath Raj system in

India. The committee suggested that the three-tier system
should be replaced with two-tier system: Zilla Parishad
(district level) and Mandal Parishad (a group of villages). The
committee‘s another recommendation related with the
appointment of district level as the first level of supervision
after the State level. Zilla Parishad should be the executive
body and responsible for planning at the district level. The
institutions like Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayath to have
compulsory taxation powers to mobilize their own financial
resources. G V K Rao committee was another committee
related with Panchayath Raj. The committee critically
evaluates the Panchayath Raj system, due to bureaucratization
the developmental activities were not reach to the people in
lower level of society.
The modern Panchayath Raj system was introduced in
India by the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1993, although
it is based upon the historical Panchayath Raj system of the
Indian Subcontinent and is also present in Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nepal. The system came into prominence
following a proposal submitted in 1986 by the L M Singhvi
Committee to make certain changes to the Panchayath Raj
institutions which had already existed in early Indian history
and which had been reintroduced in 20th century, the modern
Panchayath Raj system was formalized and introduced in India
in April 1993 as the 73rd Amendment to the constitution. In
India, the System now functions as a system of governance in
which Gram Panchayaths are the basic unit of local

administration. The system has been three levels; Gram

Panchayath at village level, Mandal Parishad or Block Samiti
or Panchayath Samiti at block level and Zilla Parishad at
district level. The Panchayath Raj System exists in all States
except Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram and in all Union
territories except Delhi.
The Panchayath Raj System was first adopted by the
State of Bihar by the Bihar Panchayath Raj Act of 1947. It was
a continued legacy of the local self government started by Lord
Ripon in the British era. Later, it was implemented by
Rajasthan in Nagpur district on 2nd October1959. Rajasthan
was the first State to introduce the Panchayath Raj system in
India after independence. During the 1950s and 60s other State
governments adopted this system as laws were passed to
establish Panchayaths in various States. Maharashtra was the
9th State to implement the Panchayath Raj system.
On 24th April 1993, the constitutional (73rd
amendment) Act of 1992 came into force in India to provide
constitutional status to the Panchayath Raj institutions. The
amendment was extended to Panchayaths in tribal areas of
eight states namely: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal
Pradesh, and Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and
Rajasthan beginning of 24th December 1996.
Panchayath Raj system has certain objectives which are
given below:
i) Increasing agricultural production.
ii) Development of rural industries.

iii) Fostering cooperative institutions.

iv) Full utilization of local manpower and other resources
v) Assisting the weaker sections of the community
vi) Progressive dispersal of authority and initiative with
emphasize on the role of voluntary organization.
vii) Fostering cohesion and encouraging the spirit of self-help
within the community.
These are the functions of Panchayath Raj system,
besides these, the three tier system has different functions at
village level, block and district level. The three-tier of
Panchayath Raj institutions are of a supervisory nature. The
district Panchayath acts as the agency of the State, the taluk
Panchayath acts as the agency of the district Panchayath and
the village Panchayath as that of the taluk Panchayath for
fulfilling certain previously laid down targets. At village level
the main functions of the Panchayath are provision of a water
supply, maintenance of minor irrigation, school buildings,
family planning, development and cooperation, construction of
wells and latrines etc.
Functions of the Panchayath Samiti
Panchayath Samiti is the second layer of three-tier
system of Panchayath Raj system, which is worked in block
level. It works through Standing Committees for production
programmes, social service and finance, taxation and
administration. Block Development Officers are regarded as
on deputation to the Panchayath Samiti and are liable to be
transferred in consultation with the Pradhan. The Samiti
Pradhan exercises administrative control over the Vikas

adhikari and staff within the block. Panchayath Samiti has

certain functions for the development of rural society suck
agricultural improvement, development, cooperation,
sanitation, primary education, social education, cottage
industries and emergency relief.
Functions of Zilla Parishad
Zilla Parishad is the third layer of three tier system of
Panchayath Raj, which is worked in district level. Their major
function is the coordination and consolidation of the plans of
the Panchayath Samiti, supervision of the activities, and
distribution among the Panchayath Samitis of the adhoc grants
allotted to the district by the State Government etc. Pramukh
of Zilla Parishad can visit, guide and advice the Panchayath
Samiti. Coordination between the work of the various
departments is secured through the District Development
officer, who is normally the Collector and he is responsible to
see that the amount placed at the disposal of the Panchayath
Samiti are being properly utilized and that the Vikas adhikaris
of this team are discharging their functions adequately as
extension staff.
Panchayath Raj system is a well developed form of
governing system still existing in India. Even though certain
criticisms have to the system, which is more or less better. The
system was now running in Indian rural society and which are
leading to the development.
3.3 Community Development Programme in India
Community means a group of people who live in a

geographical area and have an interest in each other for the

purpose of making a living. Community development
programme simply means the movement designed to promote
better living for the community with the active participation
and or the initiative at the community. It is a method by which
people of villages are involved in helping to improve their own
economic and social conditions and thereby they become more
effective groups in programmes of their national development.
It is the process of change by which people‘s efforts are united
with those of group authorities to improve their economic,
social and cultural conditions of communities, into the life of
the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programmes.
Community Development programme (CDP)
Based on the experiences within the country and
abroad, the recommendations of the Fiscal Commission (1949)
and the Grow More Food Enquiry Committee (1952) the CDP
was launched on October 2, 1952 the birthday of Mahatma
Gandhi. At the initial stage in 1952 there were 55 community
projects in 3 blocks. Each of the community development
projects covered an area of about 450-500 sq.miles with about
300 villages and a population of about 2 lakhs. Each project
area has been divided into three development blocks. A
development block consisted of about 100 villages with about
150-170Sq.miles and a population of about 60-70 thousands.
Each block was further divided into groups of 5-10 villages.
Each such group formed the area of operation for a village
level worker (Gram Sevak) who was the basic level extension

functionary in the community development programme.

Objectives of community development in India
The main objective of Community Development
Program in India was the village development. Its broad
objectives are the economic development, social justice and
democratic growth. It attempts to secure as good a balance as
possible among these three objectives and inter-relate them in
a manner that they support one another. More specifically,
objectives of the Community Development Programme are:
i) To assist each village in having effective Panchayath,
cooperative and school.
ii) Through these village institutions, plan and carry out
integrated multi-phased family, village, block and District.
a) Increasing agricultural production.
b) Improving existing village crafts, industries and
organizing new ones.
c) Providing minimum essential health services and
improving health practices.
d) Providing required educational facilities for children and
an adult education programme.
e) Providing recreational facilities and programmes.
f) Improving housing and family living conditions and
g) Providing programmes for village women and Youth.
Administration of CDP prior to Panchayath Raj
For implementation of CDP at the national level there

was a central committee with prime minister as Chairman.

This committee was to lay down broad policies and to provide
general supervision. It was also responsible for economic
development. The committee was assisted by an Advisory
Board consisting of the secretaries of developmental
departments of central ministries. Under Central Committee
there was Community Projects Administration (CPA). At the
beginning CPA was very small and it grew up as a big
organization. Therefore from September 20th, 1956 a separate
central Ministry was created known as ministry of community
development. This Ministry has overall in-charge of the
programme. This department prepared national basis
programmes, budgeting, directing and coordinating throughout
the country.
For implementation of CDP at the State level there was
a State Development Committee or a similar body. This body
was entrusted with the extension of CDP and NES. This
committee was presided over by the chief Minister and
consists of all Ministers of development departments. The
development Commissioner acted as Secretary to this
committee, who has three fold functions such as i) He had two
functions in the centre first is to receive programme guidance
from the centre and report progress and second is give
suggestions to the centre.
ii) He coordinated the programme at block levels. He also
assures proper and adequate supervision.
iii) He maintained an administration relationship with the
District Collector who in turn is responsible for planning,

coordination, executing and evaluating the work of each

block in his district.
For implementation of CDP at District level there was
district collector is the chairman of the district planning of
Development Committee. He is assisted in carrying out this
development responsibilities by BDOs. The district
development committee consists of all Heads of Department in
the district. It has both officials and non-officials as members.
The responsibility of implementation of CDP at block level is
vested in BDO, who is assisted by a team of experts in
agriculture, cooperation, animal husbandry, cottage industries
etc. These technical personnel were assigned with the
development works at block level. Block Development
Committee consists of representatives of Panchayath,
cooperatives, progressive farmers, social workers, MPs and
MLAs of the area. In Village level Community Development
Programme was implemented by Gram Sevak who acts as a
multi-purpose man at village level. Each Gram Sevak has in-
charge of about 7 or 10 villages. He is in-charge of both village
and family development. He is guided and assisted by various
technical specialists at the block level. He is the last official
administrative person in the administrative chain for carrying
out this nationwide programme for village development.
As seen at every level along with the official set up,
non-officials participation has also been emphasized. This
programme is often called as peoples‘ programme. There is
great stress on the peoples‘ participation not merely in the
execution of the programme but also in its planning.

National Extension Services (NES)

National Extension Services was a developmental
programme implemented in rural areas of India, which is
implemented in the areas not covered by CDP, so that entire
country would get the benefit of development. The NES was
implements from 2nd October 1953. When compared to CDP,
the NES was less intensive in character. Since CDP and NES
had the same basic ideas, they were integrated both at the
centre and State. With effect from April 1958 there was no
distinction between CD blocks and NES. All NES blocks
became CD blocks was achieved by October 1963. NES
covered almost all the villages in the country. For this national
programme apart from the existing system, a new
administrative organization was built. A central level planning
commission itself headed by Prime Minister acted for direction
and coordination of development. It was assisted by an
advisory board comprising of secretaries of several Central
Ministries concerned. An administrator for CDP was appointed
to work under the control of the Central Committee for the
overall management of the Programme. As part of the
implementation of NES at State level, a State development
committee under the chief minister was set-up with several
ministries as its members. It was assisted by the State level
advisory abroad with development department secretaries. A
development commissioner was responsible for management
of the programme. As like CDP, NES implemented through
different levels like Centre, State, District, and Block and
village level. It has a complicated organizational pattern prior

to Panchayath Raj such at Centre the programme was

implemented by the officials as Ministry of community
development and cooperation and the non-officials in Central
level was parliament through central committee the Prime
Minister as chairman. At the State level the NES was
implemented with State development commissioners and
which is implemented by the State legislature through State
Development
Committee, the Chief Minister as Chairman. At district
level NES implemented by District Planning Officer or District
collector with the District Development Committee, district
collector as its chairman. At block level Block Development
officer implemented this programme with the support of Block
Advisory Committee. At village level it is implemented by
Gram Sevak through Village development councils or Village
Panchayath.
Even though the NES was similar to CDP, it has its
own objectives which are given below:
a) To change the outlook of village people.
b) To make the people participate effectively in development
programmes.
c) To develop village leaders accepted by all and
d) To increase the employment and production.
Even though NES are implemented through a wider
organizational pattern it has certain defects which are
mentioned below:

1. Uneven distribution of benefits

2. Absence of clear cut priorities
3. Lack of self reliance and mutual aid and
4. Inadequate emphasize on development of cottage and
small scale industries and agriculture.
3.4 People’s Planning Programme: A critical appraisal
Peoples planning programme was launched by the state
government on 17th August 1996 by ensuring people‘s
participation in the decentralized planning process starting
from the stage of preparation of plan it. Seventy Third and
Seventy Fourth amendment‘s in the Indian Constitution put
forward the objective of democratic decentralization. The
government decided to implement the ninth Five year plan as
People‘s Plan, giving the local self Governments powers in the
process of plan formation and implementation, with a view to
realize the true spirit of the constitutional amendments.
People‘s Planning also known as Janakeeya Asoothranam. It is
conducted through different phases like, in the first phase gram
sabha were convened and people at the local level mobilized to
asses felt needs. In the second phase, development seminars
were held in every village Panchayaths followed by formation
of task forces for the preparation of development projects.
12,000 task forces were formed that worked out to around 12
task forces per village Panchayath. In the third phase
development reports were prepared according to a format
suggested by the State planning board, giving details such as
the nature of activities envisaged and financial and

organizational aspects.
Stages
A yearlong campaign spanning six stages marked the
planning process leading to the formation of the first annual
plan (1997 – 98) of the Ninth five year plan (1997 – 2002).
The state Planning Board played an active role in helping the
local self governments to formulate the plan with people‘s
participation. Several training programmes were organized by
the Planning Board for the education and capacity building of
people‘s representatives, officials and voluntary activists and
experts. Above half lakh individuals participated in this
massive learning programme. Many handbooks and training
manuals were published as the part of the training programme.
The six stages of People‘s Plan campaign are summarized
below
One - Gramasabha meetings
People‘s representatives and voluntary activists were
provided training in organizing Gramasabhas and Ward sabhas
(in Municipalities) to discuss the developmental issues.
Gramasabha meetings were convened in each ward of the local
body in which hundreds of people attended and discussed local
development issues by forming different sectoral groups.
Practical solutions were also suggested in these discussions.
Two - Development seminars
The local self governments prepared detailed
development report which analyzed local development issues
and the local resources available. Development seminars were

held at the Panchayath / Municipality level to discuss the

development report and the suggestions of the Gramasabhas.
Local level plans and project ideas were formulated in these
seminars.
Three - Task Forces
Task Forces including experts selected at the
development seminars held meetings and prepared detailed
project proposals for the annual plan.
Four - Plan document
The local self government institutions held their
council meetings in which annual plan document for the local
bodies were finalized by prioritizing the projects based on the
funds devolved from the state government and locally
available resources.
Five - Block and District Panchayath Plans
Block and District Panchayath samities finalized their
annual plans by integrating and supplementing the project
proposals from below.
Six - District Planning Committee
District Planning Committees which are statutory
bodies formed as per the constitution examined the plan
proposals of each local body in the district, duly recommended
by technical expert groups in various sectors, and gave
approval to the plans which fulfilled the guidelines. Funds
were made available for the implementation of the projects
approved by District Planning Committees.

Just as the different stages in the planning process the

implementation of the plan projects was organized through a
series of stages. These included selection of beneficiaries in
the Grama sabha, formation of local beneficiary committee for
implementation and monitoring committee for supervision, all
of which were aimed at ensuring people‘s participation and
transparency in the development process.
Criticism
This program was not fully a success in Kerala, which
is highly criticized by the thinkers. The main criticism was
about its officials, the task forces did not function as
effectively as was expected. The main weakness was that
adequate number of experts could not be attracted to the task
forces. The participation of officials was also far from
satisfactory. The training given to the task forces was also
inadequate. The weaknesses of people planning program also
displayed in technical details and financial analysis. The
program was being politicized to suit partisan interest. This
program has not a sound administrative support which led to
conflicts between an inexperienced political executive and an
experienced administrative executive.

MODULE 4
TRIBAL SOCIETY IN INDIA
The module mainly analyzes who are the tribes in
India, their demographic features, their problems, approaches,
planning and programmes for tribal development and the tribe-
caste continuum. Through analyzing these, the students get an
idea about the early Indian society. the module also provide an
idea about the problems facing by tribes in real life. Tribal
groups in India are considered to be the earliest inhabitants of
the country. Indian constitution called them as Scheduled
Tribes, in common parlance they call as Adivasis, in which
‗Adi‘ means first or earliest ‗vasis‘ means the residents.
Adivasis means early inhabitants of the earth. Tribes are a
group of people, they are living in a common territory and
claims that derived from a common ancestor, and believe in a
common religion, which is different from the religion of non-
tribes, tribes‘ religion is simple and closely related with nature,
they speak a common dialect which may not have a written
form, and they are following a common culture. The
Constitution Order 1950 declared 212 tribes located in 14
states as ―Scheduled Tribes. The Government of India today
identifies 533 tribes with 62 of them located in the state of
Orissa.
4.1 History of Indian tribes, Demographic features
Tribes are a social group of local communities, which
lives in a common area, speaks a common dialect and follows
a common culture. Various sociologists and Anthropologists

define tribes but these definitions are not sufficient to denote

the tribes fully. It is too difficult to give a suitable definition.
Their conceptualizations highlights certain characteristics of
tribal groups like they are a collection of people living in a
common territory, they have a common name, common
language, common ancestor, a simple form of religion,
common culture etc. Tribes are known in various names like
adivasis, aborgins, and Scheduled tribes.
The tribal populations in India have a long history.
They have migrated to distant places in pre- historic and
historic times. Guha states that Indian tribes mainly derived
from three racial groups such as the Proto-Australoids, this
group is characterized by dark skin color, sunken nose and
lower forehead. These features are found among the Gond
(Madhya Pradesh), the Munda (Chotanagpur), the Ho (Bihar)
etc.), the Mongoloid, this group is characterized by light skin
color, head and face are broad, the nose bridge is very low and
their eyes are slanting with a fold on the upper eye lid. These
features are found among the Bhotiya (Central Himalayas), the
Wanchu (Arunachal Pradesh), the Naga (Nagaland), the Khasi
(Meghalaya), and the Negrito, this group is characterized by
dark skin color, round head, broad nose and frizzle hair. These
features are found among the Kadar (Kerala), the Onge (Little
Andaman), the Jarwa (Andaman Islands). The present popular
meaning of a ‗tribe‘ in India is a category of people, included
in the list of the scheduled tribes. Tribal populations are
relatively isolated and closed groups, forming homogeneous
units of production and consumption. Being backward in

economic terms, they were exploited by the non- tribals. In

none of the Indian languages there was a term for tribes. In
earlier times, they were known by their specific names such as
the Gond, the Santhal, the Bhil etc. In modern Indian
languages, new words like Vanyajati, Vanvasi, Pahari,
Adimjati, Adivasi, Anusuchit jati, have been coined to
designate the people called as tribe. Though much work on the
history of tribes has not been done, the names of tribes like the
Kurumba, the Irula, the Paniya in South India; the Asur, the
Saora, the Oraon, the Gond, the Santhal, the Bhil in Central
India, the Bodo, the Ahom in North-East India, occur in old
classical Indian literature. Some of the tribal populations, like
the Gond in Central India, the Ahom in North-East India, had
large kingdoms. In brief, in ancient and medieval periods of
India it appears that the so-called tribal populations interacted
with other populations in a variety of ways in the region of
their habitation.
The modern phase of the tribal history begins with the
advent of the British. The British have keen interest to
establish their rule in all parts of the country and were also
looking for resources for their industries. In the process, vast
areas of India were opened up and brought under centralized
administration. They not only levied new rents for land but
also made new land settlements. The areas, which were
relatively secluded but rich in natural resources, experienced
entry of a new variety of people, namely forest contractors,
labourers, officials, neo-settlers, moneylenders etc.
At this stage for a variety of reasons, the British

thought of protecting the indigenous populations by bringing a

regulation in 1833. Certain parts of Chotanagpur were declared
as non-regulated areas, which meant that normal rules were not
applicable on such areas for example; outsiders were not
allowed to acquire land in these areas. The administrators of
such areas acquired vast discretionary powers. Later on this
policy was extended to other areas too. In 1874, the British
passed Scheduled Area Regulation Act and in due course the
idea of a distinct and special arrangement in such areas got
accepted. In the meanwhile, the concept of a tribe as a social
category was emerging, which was meant to distinguish them
from the Hindu, the Muslim, and other organized religious
groups through an over simplified assumption that the tribes
were animist while the latter were not. By the Act of 1919, the
idea of wholly excluded area and partially excluded area
emerged for some of the areas where tribal populations were
concentrated. These areas were excluded from the application
of normal rules. The 1935 Act incorporated these provisions
and a policy of reservation emerged for the people so notified
for it. While these policies were emerging, the British
Government was still not sure how to classify the people, who
were neither Hindu nor Muslim. Their confusion is apparent
from the terms they used to classify tribal populations in their
decennial censuses. In different censuses the terms used were
animists, hill and forest tribe, primitive tribes, and tribe.
Following Independence, the policy of protection and
development for the population identified as tribe has been
made into a constitutional obligation. A list of tribes was

adopted for this purpose. In 1950, this list contained 212

names, which was modified by successive presidential orders.
In 2003, the list contained 533 names. The Constitution,
however, does not provide a definition of a tribe. The people
who have been listed in the Constitution and mentioned in
successive presidential orders are called scheduled tribes. This
is the administrative concept of a tribe.
Tribes have been defined as a group of indigenous
people with shallow history, having common name, language
and territory, tied by strong kinship bonds, practicing
endogamy, having distinct customs, rituals and beliefs, simple
social rank and political organization, common ownership of
resources and technology.
Scheduled Tribe (ST) population represents a
heterogeneous group scattered in different regions of India.
The differences are noticed in language, cultural practices,
socio-economic status and pattern of livelihood. The STs are
confronted with problems like forced migration, exploitation,
displacement due to industrialization, debt traps and poverty.
The scheduled tribe (ST) population is 104.2 million, which is
8.6 percent of the total population of India (Census 2011).
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and
Karnataka are the States having a large number of ST
populations. The overall areas inhabited by the tribal
population constitute a significant part of the underdeveloped
areas of the country. About 93 per cent of them live in rural
areas and are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. The

sex ratio among the STs is 990 which are relatively better than
the general population i.e. 940 (Census, 2011). The infant
mortality rate among the ST children is 62.1 which are 57 for
the other social groups. The child mortality rate among the
tribes is 35.8 which are much higher than the other social
groups i.e. 18.4 percent. The demographic figures reveal that
the tribal population is the most disadvantaged, exploited and
the neglected lot in India. Majority of the tribes used to reside
in the remote forest areas, remain isolated, untouched by
civilization and unaffected by the development processes. This
situation has changed to a great extent over the years. The
Infant mortality rate of STs in India is 84%, in rural areas it is
85% and in urban areas it is 61%.
Regional Variations of Tribes in India
North Eastern Region
North East India comprises the States like Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,
Tripura and Sikkim. The region is surrounded by foreign
territories like Bhutan, Tibet-China, Burma, and Bangladesh
on the north-south and the east. The long narrow passage in the
west connects the region with West Bengal and the rest of
India. It represents a kind of ethnological transition zone
between India and the neighboring countries. This region is the
homeland of about 145 tribal communities of which 78 are
larger groups; each with a population of more than 5000
persons. They constitute around 12 per cent of the total tribal
population of India. In Mizoram, the tribes constitute 94.75 per
cent of the total population of the State. The percentages of

STs to the total population in the States like Assam, Manipur

and Tripura, is 12.4, 35.1 and 31.8 respectively (Census,
2011). The PTGs in Tripura include Riang and Maram Naga in
Manipur. This region depicts extreme heterogeneity in terms of
distribution of tribal populations in different areas including
their social structures and culture. The sex ratio in the States
like Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland and Manipur is much
higher compared to other regions (Census, 2011).
Eastern Region
Eastern India comprises of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar
and Jharkhand. The diversity of East India is evident from its
population, nature and the types of tribes residing in this
region. Multinational corporations are attracted to exploit the
natural resources and reserves at the cost of tribal livelihood.
This is leading to involuntary displacement of people
from their homeland.
Development projects in the eastern India particularly
in the State of Orissa are initiated in the areas with tribal
dominated populations due to rich natural resources. Due to
these projects the tribal lands continue to be passed on to the
hands of non-tribals in Orissa and some of the investors in the
area of Niyamgiri hills in Rayagada district. The same trend is
witnessed in other districts like Kalahandi, Koraput,
Malkangiri, Kandhamal and Balasore district. Tribals are
alienated from their land and land alienation is one of the
important reasons of poverty and dispossession of tribals in
Orissa. Consequently some other problems exist like
deforestation, loss of agricultural land, environmental

degradation, and marginalization of the STs. There is low pace

of development in Jharkhand, at the same time the state has
one of the richest mineral reserves in India. The major tribes in
Orissa are Birhor, Gond, Juang, Khond, Korua, Oraon,
Santhal, Tharua, etc. and the tribes like Asur, Birhor, Korwa,
Lepcha, Munda, Santhal, are found in West Bengal. The major
tribes in Bihar are Banjara, Birhor, Korwa, Munda, Oraon,
Santhal, etc. and the tribes like Biga, Banjara, Chero, Chik
Baraik, Gond, Ho, Kisan, Kora, Lohra, and Santhal etc. are
found in Jharkhand. Santhal is the common and most
populated tribe in the eastern region. It is important to note that
the maximum number of tribes i.e. 62 in Orissa and large
number of PTGs reside in eastern India; with 13 PTGs in
Orissa, 9 in Bihar and Jharkhand and 3 in West Bengal. The
PTGs in Orissa are Chuktia, Bhunjia, Birhor, Bondo, Didayi,
Dongria Khond, Juang, Kharia, Kutia Khond, Lanjia Saura,
Lodha, Mankirdia, Paudi Bhuyan and Saura. Many PTGs live
entirely on forest resources, but have adopted settled
agriculture since more than a decade. Shifting cultivation used
to be their main economic pursuit but now their livelihood
source has been transferred to stable farming and noticed
among Chuktia Bhunjia. Some of these PTGs are losing their
identity and even some of them are getting extinguished due to
the rapid urbanization.
Central region
The central India tribal belt is rich in natural resources.
Stretching from Madhya Pradesh (MP), and Chhattisgarh, it is
one of the poorest regions of the country. More than 90 per

cent of the STs belong to rural area and they are directly or
indirectly dependent upon agriculture. Though some of them
have small land holdings, agricultural practices are quite
primitive and productivity is low. Central region also depicts
high rate of infant mortality among ST population and
situation is worse among the PTGs like Birhor, Korwa,
Abhujmaria, Kamar and Baiga in Chhattisgarh.
Western region
The States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and
UTs like Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli represent the
Western part of the country. Bhil is a common tribe found in
all three major States of Western India. The other tribes found
in Gujarat are Dhodia, Gond, Siddi, Bordia, etc. The major
tribes in Rajasthan are Damor, Garasia, Meena, Sahariya etc.
The common tribes residing in Maharashtra are Bhunjia,
Chodhara, Dhodia, Gond, Kharia, Nayaka, Oraon, Pardhi and
Rathwa. The PTGs in Gujarat are Kolgha, Kathodi, Kotwalia,
Padhar and Siddi. PTGs residing in Maharashtra are
Katkari/Kathodi, Kolam and Maria Gond.
Northern Region
North India includes States like Himachal Pradesh
(HP), Jammu & Kashmir, UP and Uttarakhand (previously
known as Uttaranchal). The tribes found in UP and Uttaranchal
are Bhoti, Buxa, Jaunsari, Tharu, Raji, etc. The major tribes
found in Himachal Pradesh are Gaddi, Gujjar, Lahuala,
Swangla, etc. and tribes in Jammu & Kashmir (J& K) are
Chddangpa, Garra, Gujjar and Gaddi. The PTGs in U.P and

Uttarakhand are common and they are Buksa and Raji.

Southern Region
States like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil nadu and
Karnataka are included in the Southern region. The main
occupations of the tribes in the Southern region are settled
agriculture, podu (shifting) cultivation and collection of Non-
Timber Forest Produce. The tribes in Andhra Pradesh are Bhil,
Chenchu, Gond, Kondas, Lambadis, Sugalis etc. The major
tribes in Kerala are Adiyam, Kammar, Kondkappus, Malais,
Palliyar, etc. The common tribes residing in Tamil nadu are
Irular, Kammara, Kondakapus, Kota, Mahamalasar, Palleyan
and Toda. The tribes residing in Karnataka are Bhil, Chenchu,
Goud, Kurumba, Kammara, Kolis, Koya, Mayaka, Toda, etc.
Higher number of PTGs resides in southern India; with 12
PTGs such as Chenchu, Bodo Gadaba, Gutob Gadaba, Dongria
Khond, Kutia Khond, Kolam, Konda Reddi, Kondasavara,
Bondo Porja, Khond Porja.
4.2 Integration of the Tribals with the Non-tribals: Tribe-
caste continuum
Tribe is a collection of people who living in
geographically isolated areas like hilly areas, deep forests,
mountains etc. and they are speaking a common language in
pre-literate form, they followed a common culture, they have
common religion, which is simple and closely related with
nature. The term tribe firstly used by the British administrators
then Constitution receives and follows this term till today. The
concept of tribe is totally different from the concept of caste.

Caste is the peculiarity of Indian social structure, which is a

stratification system. It‗s origin is closely related the Varna
system. Caste is a collection of families, bearing a common
name, claiming a common descent from a mythical ancestor
human and divine, professing to follow the same hereditary
calling. It is generally a segmental division of society, and it is
hierarchically arranged, it follow certain rules such as
restrictions on feeding, restrictions on occupational choice and
restriction on marriage. Even though these two concepts are
different, we can see certain similarities. The concept of
continuum was initially coined by Robert Redfield, in his work
The Folk culture of Yucatan. Hitherto, he projected a serialized
transformation from one cultural form and social system to the
other end of another cultural form and social system. Here he
adopted the ‗Folk-urban‘ continuum model. This
conceptualization provided the tenacity for tying evolutionary
trends. Influenced by this schematic model, other scholars
borrowed this conceptual framework and rechristened it as
‗Tribe-Caste Continuum‘. F.G. Bailey, while studying ‗Kondh‘
and ‗Oriya‘ political system, used this concept. He suggested,
―We view caste and tribe as the opposite ends of a single line.
At different points along the line the particular societies may
be located according to their proximity to either the organic
caste model or segmentry tribal model.‖ Bailey labeled ‗Oriya‘
caste society as organic and tribal ‗Kondh‘ society as
segmentry and argued that their kinship values and religious
beliefs are not far detached from one another. Thus we see that
the tribe-caste continuum studies in India bear the roots of
imperialism from the school of American Cultural

Anthropology. Terms like Great and Little tradition,

Universalization and Parochialization are modeled for India.
Tribe-caste continuum means transformation of a tribal
group into a caste group. In the ancient society caste originated
on the basis of division of labor. The tribe evolved on the basis
of community feeling of communities inhabiting a definite
geographical area. Several differences between tribe and caste
are known but there is trend in a gradual change from tribe to
caste. A tribe can enter the Hindu society by adopting the clan
and name of the caste. The Toda tribes in Nilgiri Hills there are
a certain amount of specialization of functions as in the caste
system. Some tribes manage to settle down at the peripheries
of villages accept menial jobs from caste Hindus and
eventually get into the Hindu fold. Members of the tribal
groups may adopt the surname or gotra of a caste and also
marry into the caste. Tribes when enter the caste fold lose their
identity. Historians say that tribe caste continuum is part of
epoch change. The tribe-caste continuum in India may be
viewed as part of the general process of acculturation which
has been continuing since ages.
Scholars of tribe-caste continuum have often used
social manifestations of religion, broadly referred to as ritual
and belief while describing the transition from one polar
category to another. People identified tribal religions as
founded on psychological fears rather than on philosophical
explanations of unknown. It is also argued that movement
from simple to complex forms of religion is without any
obstacles or social contradictions. Under this thought the

exponents of tribe caste continuum argue, the transition was

spread over a long span of time. About 70% of the tribal
people have been characterized as Hinduisized without being
Hindus and as indistinguishable from the inferior ranks of
caste order. The range of variations in this category of tribals is
immense and the polar categories of tribe and caste do not any
longer prove useful.
It is felt that through culture contact and diffusion of
cultural traits, the guiding principles of socio- religious change
are determined. As Sachidananda argues, ―In India, however,
most of the groups, which are how regarded as tribal have been
in contact with Hindu society for many centuries past. Directly
or indirectly, they have imbibed influences from Hinduism.‖
Apparent empirical similarities are analyzed as continuities.
The transition shows change from segmentry to hierarchical
societies. Some scholars also feel that the movement from the
tribal pole to the caste pole involves progress in ethnic
heterogeneity, roles specialization, and social stratification,
emergence of the elite and increased interaction with network
of civilization centers. These features or specific characteristics
are said to be completely missing in tribal societies.
M.N. Srinivas and Redfield may be considered as the
pioneers for making others believe in tribe- caste continuum in
the context of India. They contend that acculturation defines
the tribe-caste mobility in India. It seems that the primary
concern of these scholars is the social mobility of the group
and not of the individual. In the process of restructuring
normative content of social organization, individuals accept

dominant trends of the group to which they belong. This trend

can be exemplified by relevant references as follows:
Michael York writes, ―the Gond, Kolam and Naikpod
are basically equivalent tries though separate. The equivalence
is affected by the fact that the Naikpod can now be marginally
included in the Telugu caste ideology and can claim greater
ritual purity by not eating beef and pork.‖ Sachidananda says,
―The tribe caste situation in Bihar is interesting. Out of a total
population of 42,40,770 enumerated as belonging to the fold of
scheduled tribes, as many as 30,30,195 reported their religion
to be Hinduism‘. D.N. Majumdar writes, ―The transformation
of a tribal group into a group in the greater Hindu society with
a distinct position in the caste hierarchy may come about
without any occupational specialization within the group or by
the group as a whole. It will also be shown that admission into
the caste hierarchy has been achieved entirely through the
process of Sanskritisation.‖ Another feature of this argument is
that the tribes are interacting with a caste category and not with
individuals in a society. As the importance is attached to rank,
hierarchy, ritual, pollution and purity, they dominate all other
considerations of modalities of interaction. People are adapted
to the dominant trends visible in the society in which they
participate. This phenomenon is described as neo-caste system
in which a traditional model which was based on a series of
dyadic relationships and was without any overall organizations
and covering ideology, now becomes more systematic and
caste-like. Thus commentators on social exchange on the tribe
caste continuum find the presence of the process of

Hinduisization and Sanskritisation. The position claimed or

achieved by a tribal group in the caste hierarchy is determined
by the ownership of land, possession of wealth and past or
present rank in tribal structure. In a situation where these status
resources were lacking, a tribe gravitated towards that caste
group in the hierarchy that was compatible with its economic
and occupational level.
There are many tribes in Bihar and Jharkhand such as
the Bhumij, Kherwar, Chero, Gond etc. They belong to that
category whose members have adopted the Hindu faith. They
retain their clan and totems and some elements of their tribal
belief. To a great extent, the Gonds are absorbed to Hinduism.
The transformation of a tribe into a caste is subsumed in the
wider phenomenon of the absorption of that community into
Hinduism. The different communities of Gond in Bihar and
Jharkhand can be seen at different stages of assimilation. Their
movement on the tribe-caste continuum scale may be viewed
as the common process of transition taking place in India.
4.3 Tribal problems in India
The tribals, who constitute 8.6% of the total population
of India, are distributed in various States of the country and are
facing many problems. Some of these problems are peculiar to
some areas while some others are common to tribals of all the
areas. Many of these problems are the direct outcome of the
changes that are taking place in the tribal community. Tribes
are generally live in hilly areas that is the forest, they have
peculiar culture, language etc. Following are the problems
suffering by tribal people are given below:

1. Geographic isolation: Most of the tribes in India are in a

way geographically isolated from the rest of population.
Some of them are living in the unapproachable physical
areas such as deep valleys, dense forests, hills, mountains
etc. It is difficult for them to establish relation with others
and hence socially they are away from the mainstream
society. This kind of seclusion has retarded the tribal
development. Displacement due to industrialization or any
other cause of regional development compels the tribes to
displace them from their own land.
2. Social problems: They are suffering from various social
problems due to their blind belief in their traditional
customs. More and more inhuman customs are followed
by tribes in India, they are not bothered about the
harmfulness of that customs, child marriage, infanticide,
rising number of unmarried mothers, homicide, black
magic etc.
3. Cultural problems: Tribes have a peculiar culture which is
different from the culture of mainstream society. Their
language and culture are different so they are suffering
from various cultural problems. Due to Hinduisization and
Christianization the tribes have lost their genuine culture.
They maintain a close relationship with their land and
forest areas, with the intervention of outsiders destruct
their original culture. They have a specific language,
which is pre-literate, government provides various
developmental programmes like compulsory education,
free food etc. to tribes which makes certain cultural

confusions among them.

4. Economic problems: The tribal people are economically
the poorest people of India. Majority of them live below
poverty line. The tribal economy is mainly based on
agriculture and they collected forest product as part of
their livelihood. The complex forest laws and modern
agricultural system, the exploitation of outsiders etc.
leading them to poverty. Unemployment and
underemployment are the other problems which are
leading to economic problems. The peculiarity of land
ownership, there has some limitations to hand over the
lands to non-tribes, which is a big barrier of economic
development.
5. Problem of health and sanitation: Health and sanitation are
a big challenge in tribal society. They are mainly
dependent forest products for their livelihood, with the
emergence of complex forest laws they cannot freely use
the forest products, and due to lack of nutritious food more
and more health problems are suffering by them. Sickle
cell anemia, cancer, other infectious diseases etc. are
suffering from lack of nutritious food. They are not
bothered about the advanced treatment system. Due to
lack of sanitation they are suffering from various
dangerous diseases.
6. Educational problems: Illiteracy is a major problem of the
tribes. More than 80% of them are illiterate. Literacy
among them has increased but compared to general
literacy rate in country, which was very low. Tribals who

are far away from the contact of the civilized world have
no faith in formal educational organization. Many of them
do not know anything about education, schools, colleges,
universities, degrees etc. They feel no urge to educate their
children. In early period children help their parents in
agriculture. The tribal speak their own language, which is
not similar to the civilized society‘s language. This
language difference was another serious problem of
hindering tries from education.
7. Indebtedness: It is a serious problem suffering from tribes
in India. Their income was not sufficient to fulfill their
needs, when they borrowing money from money lenders
or any other persons. Besides for their basic needs, they
borrow money for marriage of their daughters, delivery of
their daughters etc.
8. Poverty: Poverty is a serious problem suffering from
tribes. Due to traditional form of agriculture, high
exploitation of forest by non-tribes, complex forest laws
etc. leading to the poverty of tribes.
These are the major problem suffering from tribes.
Besides these, tribes suffering more and more problems like
sexual exploitations, displacement, discrimination etc.
4.4 Approaches, planning and programmes for Tribal
Development
Tribes are a group of people living in hilly areas, deep
forest and mountainous regions; they have their own
languages, culture, religion etc. They are living in secluded

from the mainstream society. They have equal right with men
in mainstream society, so Indian Constitution and government
following a positive approach to bring them in mainstream
society, due to lack of proper planning they still remaining in
undeveloped condition.
The Constitution of India envisages that the State shall
promote with special care the educational and economic
interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular
the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes and shall protect
them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. A
period of 10 years was set initially to achieve the goal but as
the problem was deep rooted and many faceted a single decade
was bound to persist through decade. Since independence India
has been actively thinking for the upliftment of her tribal
people. Jawaharlal Nehru, a nationalist leader of India who
sought the tribes to develop along the lines of their own genius
and further assured that in caste should there be and imposition
in the name of their development. Nehru respects their culture,
which was proved his addressing speech in all India
Conference of Tribes in Jagdalpur in March 1955.
In a democratic State, one group of people should not
remain outside the mainstream society. Brief account of tribal
population distribution speaks about the need and significance
of bringing them into the mainstream. Out of the total
Scheduled Tribe population of 67.76 million, about 49% of the
Scheduled Tribe population lives in three States, viz. Madhya
Pradesh (27.73%), Maharashtra (10.80%) and Orissa (10.3
8%), while Hariyana, Punjab, Chandigrah, Delhi, Pondicherry

do not have a single Scheduled tribe.

About 93% of the Scheduled Tribe population is rural
based. Out of the major 15 States, only three states, viz.
Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had more than 10%
of the Scheduled Tribe population residing in rural areas, the
respective percentages being 14.94, 12.47 and 12.01. The
percentage share of Scheduled Tribe population in the total
population of the following States is: Andhra Pradesh (7.6%),
Assam (3.4%), Bihar (7.0%), Gujarat (8.I %), Kerala (3.5%),
Madhya Pradesh (4.8%), Orissa (5.1%), Rajasthan (4.6%),
Utter Pradesh (5.9%) and West Bengal (5.2%). After
independence, planned development started and broadly three
different approaches:
1. Isolationist,
2. Assimilationist and
3. Integrationist - were advanced. These approaches are
presented, in brief, below.
1. Isolationist Approach
The first approach was a legacy of the British regime,
and is usually described as 'leave them untouched'. The policy
was to isolate the tribal population from the masses. The
British took deliberate efforts not to develop communication in
the tribal areas. Tribals were kept away from the rest of the
population. Verrier Elwin (1934) supported the establishment
of a sort of 'National park' or 'specimens in a human Zoo' of
the tribals and advised that their contact with the outside
should be reduced to the minimum. But, this approach was not

followed for long.

2. Assimilationist Approach
The 'Assimilationist' approach is the approach which
paved the way for the tribal people to mingle with the
neighboring non-tribals. In India, the process of assimilation
took place in different parts of the country, resulting in the
gradual acceptance of Hindu culture by the tribals. The main
criticism against this approach was that, this tried to change the
tribals by imposing upon them the non-tribal customs and
traditions. The advocates of this approach supported a direct
assimilation without waiting for a slow and long-drawn
change-over. The approach is also considered to be a failure.
3. Integrationist Approach
The past experience of the policies of isolation and
assimilation, forced the planners to take the middle way
between the two; which is called the integrationist approach.
This approach was mainly the brain-child of Jawaharlal Nehru.
The policy of integration consists of two types of measures for
tribal development such as i) Protective measures, and ii)
Promotional measures.
i) Protective Measures
It means the measures taken by the authority for
protection of tribal people through protecting their culture,
tradition, land etc. It mainly consist of land polices, forest
policies and the policies to protect tribal culture and traditions.
Though the policy of protection and development is
undoubtedly same in itself, it is difficult to say that whether

development is possible without upsetting the harmony that

exists in the placid tribal life. The protective measures are
provided in the Constitution of India as mentioned in the
preceding section. All these provisions provide for protection
of tribals as well as for promotion of their development and
welfare. These provisions not only put an end to the policy of
indifference which had been followed during the pre-
independence period but also gave testimony to tribal
development and welfare programmes, making them a
Constitutional obligation for the future governments of the
country. In nutshell, the broad areas covered by the
Constitutional provisions in respect of tribal development
include the following.
1. Statutory recognition of tribal communities
2. Creation of scheduled areas for the thorough development
of the tribals.
3. Special representations in the parliament, in the legislative
assemblies and the local bodies.
4. Special privileges in the form of reservation of a certain
percentage of posts in government services and seats in
educational institutions.
5. Recognition of the right to use local language for
administration and other purposes and to profess one's
faith.
In addition to the above, three provisions of the
constitution deserve special mention. According to the Fifth
Schedule, Union Executive is given the power of giving

direction to the States in matters relating to the administration

of scheduled areas. The Sixth Schedule designates tribal areas
in Assam and Meghalaya where Autonomous District Councils
and Regional Councils have been constituted with powers to
make laws for management of land, forests, shifting of
cultivation, appointment or succession of chief and headman,
inheritance of property, marriage and divorce, social customs
and matters relating to village or town administration. Article
275(1) of the Constitution provides for grant-in-aid from the
Union to the States for promoting the welfare of the Scheduled
Tribes or for raising the level of administration of the
Scheduled Areas. The Constitution also provides for making
institutional arrangement for appointment of the National
Commission for Protection of Scheduled Tribes under Article
338 of the Constitution of India. This is because with the
Constitution (89thAmendment)Act, 2003 the erstwhile
National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes was later replaced by two separate Commissions,
namely, i) the National Commission for Scheduled Castes
(NCSC), and ii) the National Commission for Scheduled
Tribes (NCST).
iii) Promotional Measures
These measures include development and welfare
programmes undertaken by the government after independence
(through plans) and implemented by different agencies
including the voluntary agencies to make the tribal life better
through the integrationist. All these protective and promotional
measures aim at advancing their social, economic, educational,

linguistic, cultural, political interests and rights of STs. Thus,

tribal development, in the true sense and in the present context
of India, is in fact a post-independence concept and draws the
spirit from the constitution itself. These efforts have, thus,
become part and parcel of well planned process of
development.
Policies and Programmes of Tribal Development
Tribal communities have been geographically,
ecologically and culturally linked to forest habitats. In India,
there are several local communities who depend on forest for
primary or supplementary nutrition, ethno-medical practices,
energy and various other life supporting needs. Communities
have been affected by restrictions to forest access under
protection laws. Most often, these laws draw their validation
from a western perception of nature, very unlike the reciprocal
relationship perceived by these communities. Most forest-
dependent local communities in India are either marginally
settled cultivators or shifting cultivators who supplement their
nutritional sources with some hunting and gathering. A few
communities depend almost exclusively on hunting and
gathering from forests. Large tracts of forest are essential to
their survival strategies.
Special Policy Measures
India's forests are home to millions of people, including
many Scheduled Tribes, who live in or near the forest areas of
the country. Forests provide their sustenance in the form of
minor forest produce, water, grazing-grounds and habitat for

shifting cultivation. Moreover, vast areas of land that may or

may not be forests are classified as "forest" under India's forest
laws, and those cultivating these lands are technically
cultivating forest land. The reason for this latter phenomenon
is India's forest laws.
Rights of Forest-Dwelling Tribes on Forest Lands
The 1952 forest policy classified forests into protected
forests for ecological balance, national forests for commercial
use, village forests for community use and tree lands to
improve the physical condition of the country. It was in fact
retrogressive as the earlier, colonial policies left some space
for subsistence use and did not touch the private CPR
(common pool resource) forests. The only silver lining was a
soft approach to conversion from shifting cultivation. India's
forests are governed by two main laws, the Indian Forest Act,
1927 and the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The former
empowers the government to declare any area to be a reserved
forest, protected forest or village forest. The latter allows any
area to be constituted as a "protected area", namely a national
park, wildlife sanctuary, tiger reserve or community
conservation area. Under these laws, the rights of people living
in or depending on the area to be declared as a 'forest' or
'protected area' are to be "settled" by a "forest settlement
officer." This basically requires that officer to enquire into the
claims of people to land, minor forest-produce, etc. and, in the
case of claims found to be valid, to allow them to continue or
to extinguish them by paying compensation. Studies have
shown that in many areas this process either did not take place

at all or took place in a highly faulty manner. Thus, 82.9% of

the forest blocks in undivided Madhya Pradesh had not been
settled as of December 2003.
While all the hilly tracts of Orissa were declared
government forests without any survey. In Orissa, around 40%
of the government forests are "deemed reserved forests" which
have not been surveyed. Those whose rights are not recorded
during the settlement process are susceptible to eviction at any
time. This "legal twilight zone" leads to harassment, evictions,
extortion of money and sexual molestation of forest dwellers
by forest officials, who wield absolute authority over forest
dwellers' livelihoods and daily lives; The Scheduled Tribes and
other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of-Forest
Rights) Act 2006.
The 1988 forest policy was some improvement in that
it conceived people's involvement and some protection for
customary access rights, though with some riders like linking
the access rights to the carrying capacity of the forest. There
was also some conception of capacity building among forest
communities and regenerating forest through planned
silviculture. This is how the concept of Joint Forest
Management (JFM) came into being as a participatory model
for managing forest. Planned silviculture and JFM sounded
better on paper than they have actually been at the ground
level. Eucalyptus monocultured forest has replaced precious
native biodiversity in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Orissa and categories of protected areas include
national parks, reserved forests, forests and biosphere reserves.

In some places, Community forest Management (CM),

intended to be a more participatory model, is used instead of
JFM. National parks have been exposed to eco-development
models, supposedly to build capacity among local
communities: the models include eco-tourism and Non-Timber
Forest Products (NTFP) extraction. National parks typically
have a core area with mega fauna and a fringe area which is
administered like a JFM forest. Many of the national parks
have human populations in their core areas. Protection
practices, however, vary from one State to another, though
there is some standardization by the central government.
In the age of globalization, the question of ensuring
justice to local communities by restoring their access to the
forest is something that has enormous implications, larger than
just the issue at hand.
Equally, it is a very contentious issue when seen in the
context of protecting biological diversity, and it involves many
different collectivities and interest groups. The protection
accorded to the forest to the exclusion of local communities
has been seen as a violation of human rights, while conflict
between the State machinery and the people is detrimental to
wildlife protection. The ethical implications of environmental
protection and the responsibility of the human species to the
rest of nature also require thorough consideration. In such
situation, the link between forest and peoples is, thus, not just a
contested ground within India, far less a theme that touches the
lives of only the beneficiaries of forest-access legislation. The
key issues here are: the survival of a shared wealth of

biological and cultural diversity; a necessary rethinking of the

link between human beings and the rest of nature in terms of
cultural values; and also, an issue of conceptualizing the
relations between the global and the local. It is, therefore,
necessary to interpret the local realities in anthropological
terms to evolve the best and most locally compatible
conservation practices that will protect and enhance biological
and cultural diversity. The key lies in identifying those modes
of indigenous discourse that, to use the words of Jeffrey
McNeely (1993), "support diversity as a value". What is called
for is, in essence, an informed dialogue. To protect biological
and cultural diversity in India, we propose a larger and more
inclusive dialogue at a very basic level, between local cultures
and communities, their civil society institutions and those
representing them in advocacy, i.e. the academic fraternity,
public intellectuals, Local scholars and the government. One
form of dialogue very important to conservation practice is the
interaction of indigenous or local knowledge with western
science. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Forest
Rights Act describes it as a law intended to correct the
"historical injustice" done to forest dwellers by the failure to
recognize their rights.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006: It is a key
piece of forest legislation passed in India on December 18,
2006. It has also been called the "Forest Rights Act", the
"Tribal Forest Rights Act‖, the "Tribal Bill", and the "Tribal
Land Act." The law concerns the rights of forest-dwelling

communities to land and other sources, denied to them over

decades as a result of the continuance of colonial forest laws in
India. Supporters of the Act claim that it will redress the
"historical injustice" committed against forest dwellers, while
including provisions for making conservation more effective
and more transparent. The demand for the law has seen
massive national demonstrations involving hundreds of
thousands of people. However, the law has also been the
subject of considerable controversy in the English press in
India. Opponents of the law claim it will lead to massive forest
destruction and should be repealed. A little over one year after
it was passed, the Act was notified into force on December 31,
2007. On January1, 2008, this was followed by the notification
of the Rules framed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to
supplement the procedural aspects of the Act. The new
Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognize The new Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Bill needs to be contextualized in the cultural
specificities of forest dependent peoples, particularly "tribal"
peoples, their indigenous knowledge systems, and the need to
revive a supportive relationship between local communities
and the native biodiversity. The main shortcoming of the bill is
its insistence on recognizing the rights of people scheduled in a
particular area, which is typically a state level list. Maharashtra
has set a benchmark of best practice in recognizing "tribal
land", based on more practical and credible criteria than
''documentary evidence", but the bill should evolve a standard
practice mandatory for all States. Civil society institutions
could catalyze consensus between peoples on land occupation

with the help of academia and governance and informed by

anthropological knowledge of the cultural link with forest.
Mechanisms of land transfer should ideally target collectivities
rather than individuals as beneficiaries, given especially the
communal nature of customary landholding in many of the
forest areas. Distribution of forest lands also raises another
pertinent issue: to what extent the administration can ensure
that the lands distributed would not be put to uses incompatible
with conservation of biological diversity.
Programmes for Tribal Development
The tribal majority areas in the country are broadly
divided into three categories, viz.
1) Predominantly tribal states/union territories,
2) Scheduled area, and
3) Non-Schedule areas in the States.
All the tribal-majority States and Union Territories are
placed in a special category for availing funds. The
development and administration of tribal areas is accepted as a
special responsibility of the central government even though
they are integral parts of the concerned States. Several
programmes and schemes have been divided into two
categories, viz.
I) Central sector programmes which are fully financed by the
central government, and
II) The centrally sponsored programs which are partly
financed by the central government and rest of the

expenditure meted out by the concerned State government.

According to D. Sharma financial resources for
developmental programmes in a State may comprise the
following elements:
1. Investment in the central and centrally sponsored schemes;
2. State revenues; and Share from certain central revenue;
3. Plan assistance from the central government; and
4. Grants under Article 275 (1) on the basis of the
recommendations of the Finance Commission. The
utilization of State funds is broadly classified under two
categories, viz. Plan and non-plan. The plan technically
covers all those items which are included in the State or
the Central plan. The non-plan includes expenditure on
general administration as also on the maintenance of
development schemes.
The Special Central Assistance (SCA) for tribal sub-
plans is allocated between different States on the basis of three
criteria: 1) tribal population of Sub-Plan area; 2) the
geographical area of the Sub-plan; and 3) the per capita gross
output of the state.
The weightage for these three elements has been fixed
in a certain proportion. While the first two criteria are simple,
the quantum of assistance on the basis of the third criterion is
determined with reference to the difference between the
inverse of the State's per capita gross product and the inverse
of the per capita gross national product. The financing
agencies rendering their services in the tribal areas are Central

Government, State Governments, and institutions such as

commercial banks, co-operative banks, NABARD and
voluntary organizations. Tribes are suffering from poverty its
causes are illiteracy, unemployment, under-employment and
low productivity in agriculture and allied areas. Since farmers
in TSP area have land-holding mostly on hill slopes, the
fertility of land is very low. Further, droughts and soil erosion
are now recurring features in the tribal areas. This has reduced
employment opportunities of the tribals. Therefore, for
improving the economic status of tribals, special programmes
was launched, during 1980s they are given below:
a) The Asset Programme, and
b) The Employment Programme.
The Asset Programme aims at the overall integrated
development of rural life through the removal of poverty and
unemployment in rural areas. In this programme, productive
assets are directly given to the poor. It is believed that income
generated from these productive assets would not only be
sufficient to repay the bank loans but will help the assisted
families to cross the 'poverty line'. This programme is
popularly known as Integrated Rural Development Programme
(IRDP). The Employment Generation Programmes, on the
other hand, aim at providing employment through public
works during the adverse agricultural season. The employment
programme asserts that poverty persists because of the lack of
employment opportunities. The earlier employment schemes
were ad hoc in nature but the employment programme
launched from 1980 onwards became popularly known as

National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and

considered as permanent plan programme. A number of
employment-oriented and developmental programmes for
tribals have been introduced by the government of India. In all
the major programmes of country emphasis has always been
laid on tribals among other weaker and backward sections of
the society. These include Integrated Rural Development
Programme (IRDP), Jawhar Rosgar Yojana (.TRY), Prime
Ministers Rosgar Yojana (PMRY) and Training of Rural
Youth for Self- Employment (TRYSEM). IRDP scheme is
absolutely for rural people those belonging to below poverty
line and other programmes are for both rural as well as urban
youth. All these schemes are implemented in the state by
District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA's) in
collaboration with Commercial and Co-operative Banks. The
main thrust of the development strategies has been on the
removal of poverty in tribal areas.
Mainstreaming of Scheduled Tribes: Five Year Plans and
Tribal Development
The Government of India through planning
commission, among others, formulated strategies and
programmes for tribal development as part of Five Year Plans
of India. A brief account of the tribal development and welfare
programmes during different plans is presented below.
First Five Year Plan (1951-1956)
The First Five Year Plan outlined a positive policy for
assisting the tribals as under.

1. Assisting them to develop their natural resources and to

evoke a productive economic life wherein they will enjoy
the fruits of their own labour and will not be exploited by
more organized economic forces from outside.
2. It is not desirable to bring about changes in their religious
and social life, except at the initiative of the tribal people
themselves and with their willingness or consent.
3. It is accepted that there are many features in tribal life
which should not only be retained but also developed.
4. The qualities of their dialects and the rich content of their
arts and crafts also need to be appreciated and preserved.
Taking into consideration the conditions of the tribal
people, the First Planning Commission quoted that "There may
be a good deal of justification for such (isolation) a policy of
non- interference; but it is not easily practicable when tribal
life has been influenced by social forces from without, and
tribal communities have reached a certain degree of
acculturisation accompanied by the penetration of
communications in the tribal areas, and of social services for
the betterment of their lives." In the First Five Year Plan,
Community Development Projects for all round development
of rural areas especially the weaker sections were started.
However, the fact is that the first five year plan did not pay due
special attention toward. The development of tribal areas,
because only certain isolated piecemeal attempts such as
educational schemes, welfare schemes, etc. were introduced.

Second Five Year plan (1 956-1 961)

During this plan the Ministry of Home Affairs provided
fund to the Ministry of Community Development to establish
Special Multipupost7 Tribal Blocks (SMPT) in areas with
prominent tribal population. During the second five year plan,
recognizing the socio-economic conditions prevailing in the
tribal areas, concrete development schemes were planed.
Novel administration systems were introduced, with creation
of multi-purpose tribal projects in certain selected tribal areas.
Third Five Year plan (1 961 -1 966)
Based on the recommendations of review (Verrier
Elwin Committee) of SMPT Blocks, during the Third Plan
period SMPT Blocks were renamed as Tribal Development
Blocks (TDB) and suggested that theory be opened in all areas
where over 60% of the population were tribals. Thus, based on
the recommendations of Verrier Elwin committee, tribal
development block system had been implemented under third
five year plan.
Three Annual Plans (1 966-1 969)
During this period no special funds were provided for
tribal development. However, in 1969-70 a decision was taken
to extent the total life of TDBs to 15 years.
Fourth Five Year Plan (1969-1974)
During the Fourth Five Year Plan, a series of
programmes were conceived and launched to address specific
target groups. The Small Fanners Development Agencies
(SFDA) and Marginal Fanners and Agricultural Labourers

Development Agencies (MFAL) were the first two in the

series. In these cases, attention was shifted from area
development to development of identified individuals who
qualified for special attention according to certain objective
criteria. The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) was
another measure in the same direction, but with a difference.
Here, the attention was given to the problem faced by an entire
region which is depressed because of its agro-climatic
situation. The specific target-group approach, however, was
adopted to pay greater attention to the weaker sections of the
society. Tribal Development Agencies (TDAs) were
established on the pattern of SFDA to address the problems of
the tribal population. Six tribal development agencies were
started during the Fourth Plan. Each Tribal Development
Agency covered a group of TD Blocks. Tribal Development
Agencies were expected to comprise elements of economic
development, social services and prospective measures.
On the eve of commencement of fourth five year plan,
489 tribal development blocks had come into existence for the
economic betterment of scheduled tribe areas with large
concentration of tribal populations. As one of the drawbacks of
the functioning of TDBs it became clear that their activities
were, however, not properly integrated with the general
development plans for the region. The Fourth Plan tried to
rectify the drawback by adopting the integrated area
development approach.
Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79)
During the middle of the Fourth Five Year Plan, i.e. in

the year 1972, tile Planning Commission set up a "Task Force

on Development of Tribal Areas" with Vidyarthi as the
Chairman. The task force observed that, the problem of the
tribals reflected in primitive methods of agriculture, land
alienation, indebtedness, adverse effects of industrialization,
low rate of literacy, poor health and nutrition, etc., had not
been solved (Rhownick). The committee opined that one of the
important factors for the lack of impact so far was that
development of Scheduled Tribes and tribal areas had been
looked upon as a problem of 'welfare' as distinguished from
'development'.
Taking into account the recommendations of the task
force and other previous committees, during the Fifth Five
Year Plan, an altogether new approach was adopted towards
tribal development in the form of Tribal Sub-plan. It envisaged
the total development of the tribal areas and provided the
mechanism for integrating the developmental activities of the
government and the semi- government organizations by
financing through the Integrated Tribal Development Project
(ITDP). The Sub-Plan aimed at narrowing the gap between the
levels of development of tribal and other areas, and to improve
the quality of life of the trihd4communities in general. The
First Sub- Plan (974-79) accorded the highest priority to
elimination of exploitation. For each Integrated Tribal
Development Project (ITDP), an Integrated Area Development
Plan focusing attention on the specific problems of the area
and the tribal people has been formulated. The Sub-Plan areas
in each state, thus, comprised a number of viable projects. In

view of weakness of earlier area-based programmes viz. tribal

development blocks and tribal development agencies a new
strategy was evolved in the fifth five year plan for the
foundation of sub-plan for the area of tribal concentration. This
is intended to achieve an intensity of attention to the tribal
areas and devised measures to suit their local ethos. About 213
of tribal population in the county are estimated to be covered
by sub- plans as were in operation in the fifth plan.
Sixth Five Year Plan (1 980-85)
The Sixth Plan continued the Sub-Plan approach of the
Fifth Plan by supplementing it through target-beneficiary
approach with the objective of narrowing the gap between the
level of development of the tribals and other developed
communities and bringing about a qualitative change in the life
of a tribal community. ; The strategy of development lays
emphasis on consolidation of the gains of protective measures,
programmes of full employment, education and health
services.
The broad objectives of the Sixth Plan were:
i) A progressive reduction in the incidents of poverty and
unemployment
ii) Improving the quality of life through minimum needs
programme
iii) A reduction in inequalities of income and wealth; and
iv) Infra-structure development for further exploitation of
potential of the tribal region. The programmes under
different sectors of development are required to be

intensified with suitable modifications to remove the

present inadequacies in implementation. The States have
to give due importance to the integration of programmes
in the field and effective delegation of powers to the
Project Authorities in ITDPs. The approach in the Sixth
Plan for the development of backward areas in general
was to rely, to a greater extent, on the development of
agriculture, village and small-scale industries, subsidiary
occupations and related services and also the Minimum
Needs Programmes and Area Development Programmes.
Improvement of economic status of the tribals was the
main concern and suitable programmes of horticulture,
cattle development, poultry, piggery, etc. were carried out.
More emphasis was placed on family-oriented progrmmes
than on infrastructure development unlike in the previous
Plans.
In the sixth five year plan, it was noticed that certain
pockets of tribal concentration outside the tribal sub-plan area
were still left out of the tribal sub-plan strategy. It was,
therefore, decided during the sixth plan that pockets of center-
groups villages or pockets having minimum of 10,000
populations of which at least 50 percent are scheduled tribes,
should be covered for Intensive Integrated Development and
Modified Area Development Approach (MADA), under the
tribal sub-plan.
Seventh Five Year Plan (1985 -90)
The basic premises of the Tribal Sub-Plan continued in
the Seventh Plan also. During the Seventh Plan the Tribal Sub-

Plan strategy comprised the following.

 Identification of the Development Blocks where tribal
population is in majority and their constitution into ITDPs
with a view to adopt there an integrated and project-based
approach for development.
 Marking of funds for the Tribal Sub-Plan and ensuing the
flow of funds from the control of State plan, sectoral
outlays and from financial institutions.
 Creation of appropriate administrative structures in tribal
areas and adoption of appropriate personnel policies.
The programme of tribal development with ITDP
pattern was continued in the Seventh Plan also without any
basic or major changes in the approach, pattern or structure but
better co-ordination was sought between various agencies, and
social services were given priorities. For the seventh plan
period (1985-1901), about 40 lakhs scheduled tribe families
below the poverty line were targeted to be provided economic
assistance. In this plan, 3 new ITDPs have been added in
Sikkim, by scheduled tribe population concentration norms as
a special case and by the end of 1987-88 totals of 184 TTDPs
were functioning. ITDP areas covered 3 13.21 lakhs tribal
population.
Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97)
The Eighth Plan largely emphasized the reorientation
of administrative structure at all levels for functional co-
ordination, integration and effective delivery of services. The
strategy specifically aimed at improving the living

environment of the tribals by giving them better social and

civic amenities and facilities, the working group has
recommended that the objective of the Seventh Plan would
continue for the eighth plan period. The objectives for the
Eighth Plan in this regard are detailed below.
 Progressive reduction in poverty and creation of
employer-lent thereby providing reduction in income
inequalities.
 Improving the quality of life through a minimurn needs
programme.
 Development and strengthening of infrastructure for
further economic exploitation of the Tribal Sub-Plan area.
 Development of confidence of tribals along the desired
lines through intensive educational efforts.
In the Eighth Five Year Plan, Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP)
area, Modified Area Development Approach (MADA),
Scattered Development Plans, and Primitive Tribe
Development Plans have been stressed. Despite the effects to
diversify economic activities in non-formal sectors, the
predominant source of livelihood in TSP area continued to be
agriculture. The main thrust was on the development of
fisheries, sericulture, and horticulture, plantation on waste
land, growing vegetables to provide supplemental income and
new avenues of employment to the tribals. Human resources
developments through education, vocational craftsman-training
were taken up to improve the skills of the tribals. Expansion of
irrigation facilities 'and electrification of tribal settlements,

expansion of irrigation wells, fertilizers, improvement of

cattle-breed and mining activities have also been taken up. In
this plan, family-oriented schemes have been also stressed to
uplift the tribal families. The community development
programmes were given second priority.
The eighth plan gave importance to Tribe Sub plan and
the schemes specifically targeted for the welfare and
development of scheduled tribes to ensure that the scheduled
castes and scheduled tribes are able to derive adequate benefits
and felt that a national policy on rehabilitation of people
displaced by large development projects will need to be
evolved. It also emphasized the empowerment of women
belonging to the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes.
Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002)
The strategy in this Plan was to achieve a seven percent
growth rate for the economy. The main objectives of the Ninth
Plan were the generation of adequate productive employment,
eradication of poverty, empowerment of women and socially
disadvantaged groups. It aimed at ensuring food and nutritional
security for all, particularly the vulnerable sections of society.
The principal task of the Ninth Plan was to usher in a new era
of people-oriented planning, in which not only the government
at the Center and the States but also the people at large,
particularly the poor can fully participate.
A participatory planning process is an essential
precondition for ensuring equity as well as accelerating the rate
of growth of the economy. The government of India enacted an

amendment to the constitution of India (73rdAmendment) for

all wing representation of backward and marginalized
communities, e.g. Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and
women in Panchayath Raj institutions. It is now felt that the
hits of development could be multiplied manifold with the
involvement of people at the grass-root level in the process of
development. The approach for the Ninth Five year Plan has
drawn attention to the need for national policy for tribal
development. Effects will be made to ensure that the tribal
economy is protected and supported against threats from the
external markets. The ownerships/patent rights of the tribal
people in respect of minor forest produces vis-a-vis the use of
medicinal plants will be protected as per the provision of
intellectual property rights (IPR). Ninth Plan processes aimed
at fulfilling the ambition of tribals towards the initiation of
21st century and bring them more nearer to national
mainstream.
This plan adopted the following strategies to empower
socially disadvantaged groups like the scheduled castes and the
scheduled tribes, and other backward classes and minorities.
 Creation of an enabling environment that is conducted for
SCs, STs. OBCs and minorities to exercise their right
freely, enjoy their privileges to be able to lead a life with
confidence and dignity.
 Adoption of a three-pronged strategy of: i) social
empowerment; ii) economic empowerment; and iii) social
justice, in empowering these disadvantaged groups.

 Ensuring removal of disparities; elimination of

exploitation and suppression and providing protection to
the disadvantaged groups.
 Ensuring the development and benefits to 'reach the
unreached through equitable distribution and with social
justice.
 Ensuring participation of the socially disadvantaged
groups in the process of planning, not merely as the
beneficiaries but to take part effectively in the formulation
of the need- based programmes I projects, their
implementation, supervision and monitoring.
 Accelerating the ongoing process of improving the socio-
economic status of the disadvantaged groups through
effective implementation of various programmes and,
thus, brings them on par with the rest of the society.
Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007)
Focus was on increasing the forest and tree cover to
25% by 2007 and 33% by 20 12, and tackling the unresolved
problems of the tribes. The tenth plan formulated a
comprehensive national policy for empowering tribes through
their integrated development, which will lay down the
responsibilities of the different wings of the government with
appropriate accountability.
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012)
Its strategy was inclusive growth. In the process of
inclusion, the plan paid special attention to the needs of the
scheduled tribes and other socially disadvantaged groups.

Tribals are the people with same rights as the people in

main stream society, due to various reasons they still exist in
the down trodden position. Government put forward various
measures to uplift them, but owing to lack of planning and
bureaucratization these programs not reach to them so they
remaining in down trodden position in society.
References
1. RAJ, HANS Rural Sociology (1992), Surjeet Publications
2. Shanin (1971), Peasant and Peasant societies, Peguine
books Harmondaworth
3. Desai, A.R. (1961); Rural Sociology in India Popular
Prakashan, Bombay.
4. Doshi, S.L. & Jain, P.C. (2006); Rural Sociology, Rawat
Publications, Jaipur.
5. Srinivas, M.N. (ed.) (1995), India‘s villages, Asia
Publishing House, New Delhi.
6. Ghurye G. S The Scheduled Tribes
********

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SOC1C04: RURAL AND TRIBAL SOCIETIES IN INDIA

RURAL AND TRIBAL SOCIETIES

School of Distance Education

MODULE 1 - RURAL AND PEASANT SOCIETY

MODULE 2 - CHANGING RIRAL SOCIETY

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut

MODULE 3 - GOVERNANCE IN RURAL SOCIETY

MODULE 4 - TRIBAL SOCIETY IN INDIA

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 1

economy which leads to de-peasantization. Land reforms are

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 2

societies facing many socio-economic problems which

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 3

consciously developed, is of very recent origin. Due to

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 4

attempt to analyze and diagnose the defects and deformities of

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 5

Zimmerman, Galpin, Taylor, Kolb, Brunner, Sims, Dwight

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 6

implementation of Community Development Programme in

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 7

efforts made by sociologists and Anthropologists to find out

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 8

1. Rural sociology is multi-dimensional: Owing to the

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 9

and scope of rural sociology is briefly analyzed below.

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 10

prejudices or feelings as to their desirability or

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 11

methods for enquiry that is scientific so the nature of rural

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 12

wide, this proves from the analysis of following subjects:

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 13

backbone of every society as well as social life. The most

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 14

h) Rural social problems: One of the important content of the

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 15

central government. Rural sociology studies all these

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 16

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 17

but their land possession is very small. They mainly work in

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 18

regard for sacred books, have blind faith in religious practices

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 19

required for cultivation of land. For example, in the old system

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 20

Rural society is an agrarian society; there agriculture is

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 21

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 22

and activities in earlier times were expressed through popular

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 23

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 24

executive authority, but he ever acted against the customary

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 25

which are existed in Buddhist period. Indian villages are self-

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 26

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 27

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 28

similar to the natural science. In this perspective society is

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 29

India company officers published certain general notes in

School of Distance Education, University of Calicut 30

prosecutes criminals, the boundary man, who guards the