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Roll No: 32
 A Study on Issues and Challenges of Tribal Women in Present Era

By: Ramya.S.,

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Karnataka State Open University,

Mukthagangotri, Mysuru, Karnataka. Email. Id: ramyaksou@gmail.com

This is a theoretical research study that makes use of secondary data generated by
various writers and academics. The researcher has looked through a number of books,
journals, and websites to gather the knowledge she needs.

Introduction

Despite making up a sizeable portion of the country's population, India's tribal

community is numerically a small portion of the entire population. Scheduled Tribes make up
8.6% of the overall population of the nation, according to figures from the 2011 Census. The
majority of Scheduled Tribe residents reside in rural areas, making up 11.3% of the nation's
rural population.  The term "scheduled tribes" initially appeared in the Indian Constitution,
which granted certain constitutional protections and advantages to a population that was
deemed to be under privileged and backward.

Objectives:

The major goals of this research are to:

1. Determine the social and economic standing of Indian tribal women.

2. To examine the difficulties experienced by Indian tribal women.
3. To research the constitutional provisions pertaining to tribal women

Definition:

According to Oxford Dictionary “A tribe is a group of people in primitive in

barbarous stage of development, acknowledging the authority of a chief and usually
regarding themselves as having a common ancestor”
 Fairchild recognized some more features of the schedule tribes. They are „definite
territory‟, „unique language‟, unique culture‟, simple social structure‟ and collection of
numerous groups‟ and sub groups of blood relatives‟.

Social and Economic status of tribal women in India:

The social structure and the nature of the society have a significant impact on the
status of women. Males prevail in all locations and social scenarios in the patriarchal family
system that is prevalent in Indian society. However, matriarchal families are more prevalent
than patriarchal families in many tribal groups. Matriarchal societies are shown to have
higher prestige for women than patriarchal societies.

According to research on Naga women conducted by Hutton in 1921, they have a

high degree of freedom and social standing. This shows that tribal women's position varies
depending on the tribe and the social system, rather than being uniform everywhere.
However, in tribal societies, tribal women are more significant than women in any other
social groups because they put in a lot of effort and are nearly as active in economic activities
as males are in almost all tribal communities. or works harder than men and the family
economy and income also depend on women. Status is also determined by health conditions.
The tribal group’s health status is lower compared to that of the general population. They
have high infant mortality rate, higher fertility rate, lack of awareness regarding diseases and
health care, drinking water provisions, hygiene. In many parts of India tribal population
suffers from chronic infections and water borne diseases, deficiency diseases. Incidence of
infant mortality was found to be very high among some of the tribes. Malnutrition is common
among them and it has affected the general health of the tribal children. It increases
vulnerability to infection, and leads to chronic illness which sometimes may affect brain their
health status is also related to economic and educational aspects. Their lack of ability to
participate in the industrial economic activities of modern societies has deteriorated their
living conditions. The tribals are mostly engaged in occupations which do not generate much
income such as hunting, crafts making, and agriculture. Industrialization and urbanization
have brought about a change in the life and living of the tribals by uprooting them from their
day-to-day activities and making them dependent on the vagaries of non-tribals.
Challenges faced by tribal women in India:

To elevate their social status, the majority of tribal people must overcome a number of
obstacles. Several that, despite tribe members working women are more prevalent than the
general population and reserved castes, however the indigenous people's means of
subsistence are neither stable nor permanent. The majority of tribes don't live below the
poverty line and have a consistent source of income. tribes of people. Rural residents engage
in a variety of low-level tasks to meet them fundamental needs. Most of their activities are
related to agriculture. Other than that, they are involved in pastoral work, handiwork, and
occasionally industrial labor. a tribe's women generally not involved in any form of ongoing
labor, much like their male counterparts.

Welfare Programs for Tribal:

Prior to Independence, there were no welfare programs deserving of the improved

status for the scheduled tribes. With the assistance of the colonial government, Christian
missionaries established educational institutions and medical institutes in the designated
territories. Of course, for the tribal people, rule was like an oasis in the desert. especially such
of those schedules of tribe homes that became Christians were also provided a job, some
cultivable land, and a place to live are all economic advantages. Some steps have been taken
in the direction of putting the constitutional and legal provisions into effect have been
undertaken to improve the scheduled tribes since Independence. Significant among the
integrated tribal development program is one of them.

Deficiency and exploitation have been perpetrated against the Scheduled tribes. The
number of persons from the scheduled tribes in the population of more than 100 crores is not
negligible. They roughly correspond to the size of a little nation like Sri Lanka in the world as
compared to the overall population. Thus, their issues cannot be disregarded. Their stays in
remote, ecologically challenging environments have aided in their ability to resist the effects
of modern society. They now have access to a number of constitutional, legal, and
development measures as a result of the state governments' attention to their particular
concerns and the particularity of some farmers' common issues. There is now a growing
understanding of the inadequateness of these provisions, which has opened the door for non-
governmental organizations to take care of the needs of the scheduled tribes. However, no
consensus has been reached on whether the scheduled tribes should be treated differently or
should be developed on par with the general population. Both points of view are equally
valid. It is a difficult task to bring indigenous communities into the modern world. It proceeds
slowly. They are unable to adopt contemporary lifestyles due to cultural stagnation. However,
specific privileges could raise awareness of better living conditions and encourage eventual
integration into the civilized community.

Conclusion:

Domestic violence, including rape in marriages, female infanticide, and other crimes
against them are on the rise. Patriarchal oppression, violence, gender discrimination, a lack of
chances, extreme poverty, etc. are other issues that still affect women. The status of woman
in a society is a significant reflection of the level of social justice in that society. In tribal
communities, the role of woman is substantial and crucial.

In India, tribal women's status is often better than that of women in mainstream
society, including in terms of sex ratio and occupational distinction. However, this does not
imply that they do not have issues; in fact, many of these issues are specific to indigenous
women.

Tribal women make up about half of the entire population of the tribes. The
advancement of tribal women's status is crucial to the growth of tribal communities, as it is
for all other societies. Two opposing viewpoints are evident in how the indigenous women
are commonly perceived. When compared to their non-tribal counterparts, some researchers
believe that tribal women have a better social position, while other studies show that they
have a lower status.