ANTHROPOLOGY for BEGINNERS_ Problems of Indian Tribes and Measures From Government of India

7/24/2019 ANTHROPOLOGY for BEGINNERS_ Problems of Indian Tribes and Measures From Government of India

1/32

Study materials on Anthropology

ANTHROPOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS

This is a humble endeavour to collect study materials on anthropology and then share it with interested others. The blog

has different sections (See pages) like " theories ", "Development related " etc. these are meant for broad categorisation ofthe materials available in the blog. One can see materials tog ether by clicking on "pages" or can see it in sections by

clicking archives which is arranged chronologically. I have not tried to be exhaustive, but its just elementary materials

which will help newcomers to build up their materials better.

You can write me about the posts, send materials to make this endeavour better. I wi ll publish them with your name and

details. Feel free to write me at [email protected]

0 More Next Blog Create Blog Sign In
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/https://www.blogger.com/https://www.blogger.com/home#createhttps://www.blogger.com/next-blog?navBar=true&blogID=1296148867303910427https://www.blogger.com/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/p/development-related.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/p/theories.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/


2/32

Best, Suman

Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Problems of Indian Tribes and

measures from Government of India

Problems of Indian Tribes and measures fromthe Government of India

Over the last 20 25 years, the international tribal community hasbeen incessantly trying to draw the attention of the worlds leadingpower blocks to save them from perennial miseries. Currently thereare about 300 million indigenous people in 70 countries (Beteille1998). They have come together to seek help from the UN to put anend to their poverty as well as to social discrimination against them.In response, the UN has taken some decisive steps. Among theseis a series of programmes under the Declairation of theInternational Decade of Worlds Indigenous People, aimed atstrengthening international cooperation on redressal of crises in theareas of humanrights, environment, development, education andhealth. The World Health organisation (WHO) has emphasised thatindigenous people have higher rates of infant mortality, lower lifeexpectancy and more cases of chronic illness than the non-indigenous populations in their home countries. It is argued that theindigenous people are among the poorest of the poor. They suffer from extreme discrimination and lead a life of misery and destitution.

There was an error in this gadget

Total page views

2

5

0

1

7

5

Select Language

Translate

Theories

DEVELOPMENT RELATED

Concepts

Pages

Search

Search This Blog

2014 (6)

2013 (3)

2012 (5)

2011 (13)

2010 (11)

Blog Archive
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=11http://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=13http://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=5http://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=3http://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6http://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/p/concepts.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/p/development-related.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/p/theories.htmlhttp://void%280%29/


3/32

The development discourse, therefore, needs to concentrate onfinding an effective strategy to mitigate these crises.

Following is a presentation of some major problems which presentday tribal people faces. It should be remembered that problemswhich Indian tribes face can be sectorally divided as Problems of Poverty, Health Problems and social problems like lack of

education, however, it is more pertinent to look at each categoriesin to greater details by carefully taking into account the nuances of a problem.

Problems with land alienation

Land as a prime resource has been a source of problem in tribal lifebecause of two related reasons, first, Dependency, i.e. tribaldependency on land and second, improper planning fromgovernment agencies.

Tribal people in India can be classified on the basis of their economic pursuits in the following way:

1. Foragers

2. Pastoral

3. handicraft makers

4. Agriculturist s

5. Shifting hill cultivators

6. labourers

7. Business pursuits

All of these occupa tions involve direct or indirect dependency onland.

September (1)

June (6)

April (1)

March (3)

Problems of Indian Tribesand measures from

Govern...

Functionalism: the basicanthropological idea

Notions of culture

There was an error in this gadget

Suman Nath

A cotraveler whoseats endlessly on achair that we tend tocall world and moves

through wonder places. Try not tomove from the chair, transcendingtime. Try to unearth silences and

capture through multiple lenses.Behind the corner of my eyes thereare things I can not see... things Ido not understand... So here I amwith words to share and become acotraveler from my being. Yes, somany things to express but notgenuinely gifted with skills.

Its Kaleidoscope
https://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998https://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/03/notions-of-culture.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/03/functionalism-basic-anthropological.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010_03_01_archive.htmlhttp://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010_04_01_archive.htmlhttp://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010_06_01_archive.htmlhttp://void%280%29/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010_09_01_archive.htmlhttp://void%280%29/


4/32

Land rights and alienation:

Land rights and changes in rules go unnoticed. Tribal are unawareor are made unaware about the rules which governs Indias landrights.

The Tribals do not have access to land records, not eventhe Record of Rights. This lends them to a higher probability of getting exploited, by the non-tribals and insome cases by the local officials. Wherever lands aregiven yet the pattas are not given, or pattas handed over yet the land is not shown.

There is a discrepancy in demarcation of Scheduled Areas . In some places it is village wise and in someplaces it is area wise. There should be a clear village-wise demarcation of the Scheduled Area to avoidambiguities and exploitation of tribal lands.

There are many tribal villages with populations more than50 percent and contiguous to the existing scheduledareas. Yet they are not declared as scheduled areas. InWest Godavari district in the K. R. Puram ITDA areaprovides striking example for such ambiguities.

Some of the tribal villages surrounding the Scheduled Areas are administratively called the Tribal Sub-Plan Areas , where land alienatio n is high and has numerou spending cases. Land restoration and issuing title deedsto tribals as per Land Transfer Regulation (LTR) Actshould be implemented immediately in all these areas.This issue has to be immediately addressed, since onlyland situated in those villages that fall within theScheduled Areas enjoy the protection under the LTR Act1/70 in Andhra Pradesh.

View my complete profile

My random thoughts

The environMENTAL blog

Photos I take

MY OTHER STUFFS

Join this sitewith Google Friend Connect

Members (67) More

Already a member? Sign in

Followers
http://jpgmag.com/people/signifiershttp://degeneratingworld.blogspot.com/http://sumanparole.blogspot.com/https://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998


5/32

When taluks were divided into mandals in AP in 1986,some of the scheduled villages got included in the plainarea mandals. Land alienation is very serious problem inthese areas and the administration is not implementingthe LTR Act here, as these areas are a fraction of thetotal area of mandals. The mandals and Scheduled

Areas should be co-terminus.

The Agency Revenue Divisional Officers serve as judicialmagistrates and conduct agency courts in the Scheduled

Areas . They are not knowledgeable of judicial mattersand LTR, as they are posted from the RevenueDepartment. Because of their inexperience, numerousland alienation cases are pending in such courts. Somesuch SDCs are given charge of more than one district, or have to deal with both plain areas and scheduled areas,causing all sorts of logistical and experiential problems.

They need to be trained in their LTR and judicial roleseffectively.

The revenue authorities (SDCs) are not restoring landsback to tribals even after High Court issued orders. Theimplementation of the LTR Act seems to be restricted tosmall non-tribal land holdings, while the big landlordswith huge tracts of tribal land remain unaffected.

At the local level some of the land dispute s could besolved and tribals' rights could be settled by the SDC

taking the assistance of the traditional leadership in thevillages who have knowledge of the actual ownership of the lands and who have customary modes of disputeresolution. Oral testimonies could be accepted for settlement of rights where written revenue records arenot available or are distorted by mischief. Such aprovision exists in the Agency Rules of 1870. Thissystem could be adopted both for settlement of rights on


6/32

revenue and forestlands.

The need to recognize traditional legal systems to dealwith civil cases and related matters would strengthen thelegal framework in Scheduled Areas and would beharmonious with the spirit of PESA.

Some lands in the Scheduled Areas are under theEndowments department, like in Bhadrachalam. Theselands are being taken over by non-tribals; while thetribals have no access to their ancestral lands. In fact,The Endowments department has plans to auction suchlands to private bidders. These developments are incontravention of the Fifth Schedule and the LTR Act andtherefore such moves should be withdrawn forthwith.

Non-tribals are using Court stay orders, and evenacknowledgements from the High Court to halt therestoration of lands in LTR cases. Steps need to be

taken to ensure that stay orders do not stall therestoration process. One possibility would be to enshrinethe LTR Act under the IX Schedule of the Constitution.

Non-tribals are taking possession of lands in Scheduled Areas by marrying triba l women. Most often , the triba lwomen, who are legal owners of lands and yields,become concubines and are denied all enjoyment over such rights by the non-tribal men. The children of a non-tribal father should not be given tribal status as most of

the tribal groups in the country follow a patriarchalsystem of identity and ownership over property. It wasfelt that this system should be followed in the tribal areaas well in order to prevent land alienation. Section 3(1)of LTR Act should be accordingly amended prohibitingtransfer of land to children of tribal women married tonon-tribal men.


7/32

Land alienation within tribes is a serious problem in someareas. For example, the recognition of the Lambadas asa Scheduled Tribe in 1977 in Andhra Pradesh, who donot have this status in other states, has led to large-scale migration of this tribe into AP. The Sugalipopulation was 1,32,464 in 1971; by 1981 the Sugali andLambada populations together became 11,58,342, a 774

percent increase. By 1991, they were16,41,897 inpopulation. They have largely spread in the districts of

Adilabad , Khammam, Warangal, Mahaboobnagar,Kurnool, Nalgonda and Prakasam, while scattered inother districts to a lesser extent. They have taken over the lands of the local tribes like the Gonds, Chenchus,Koyas, Kolams, etc. The Chenchus have been worstaffected by this migration. This conflict is serious wherelesser assertive tribes, like the Chenchus, have lost

lands to the Lambadas. Such land alienation should bearrested. A special protection should be provided for thelocal tribes by a process of categorization of tribes bothfor the purpose of preventing land alienation from lesser-developed tribes, and for a more equal distribution of reservations and other constitutional provisions.

Collected from: http://www.arsap.org/land.html

Alienation:

Throughout the history of Indian Civilization tribal people haveincreasingly loose their land because of states encroachment, andalso lack of understanding between tribal mode of relationship andoutsiders interests.

Tribal peoples mode of land ownership is quite different from therest. With cross cultural research three kinds of land ownership is
http://www.arsap.org/land.html


8/32

noted

1. Community based ownership

2. Clan based ownership

3. Family based ownership

As commons are difficult to manage, triba l people have frequentlybeen denied from their rights over land.

The first phase of alienation began with the state formation andincorporation of tribal territory by Medieval rulers. Scholar like Singh(1987) and Dasgupta (1991) have depicted cases from India whereKings actually to earn more resources from the land taken from noagriculturalist tribal people and distributed to caste people. Intripura for example, it is argued that Kings invited outsiders as tribalpeople were not ready to cultivate, in consequence, they became

marginalised.

The second phase of land alienation starts with colonial rule of banning shifting cultivation and promote specific kinds of cultivationby outsiders within tribal territories. Their compulsion lead to asituation where tribals purchased seeds and other componentsfrom local money lenders in loan which ultimately displaced themfrom their lands due to chronic indebtedness.

The third phase of alienation resulted in direct displacement of tribal

people from their homeland because of large project constructionsand outsiders interventions.

Land Alienation as a Concept :-

As per Marx, in a Capita list society an alienated man lives in analienated nature and he performs estranged labour and the productof his labour becomes alien to him. Alienation as a concept is used


9/32

by many social scientists in India, merely as a sociologicalphenomenon. Since land alienation is the crux of thedepeasantization of the tribals, the concept assumes utmostimportance in the analysis of tribal rights as a part of human rightsdiscourse. The problem of land alienation is a much deeplyconnected phenomenon with full of contradictions related to theexisting socio-economic order. The separation of land from the

tribal communities can be understood in a more scientific way withthe assistance of the theoretical formulations of the concept of alienation.

Alienation was defined by Hegel and was used by Marx to descr ibeand criticise a social condition in which man far from being theactive initiation of the social world seemed more a passive object of determinate external processes. Marx says, alienation isfundamentally a particular relation of property, involving involuntarysurrender to autagonistic 'other'. Alienation is inherent inexploitative relations of production and its nature varies with that of exploitation. Hence alienation's manifestations also differs amongsocieties based on slavery, serfdom and capitalism etc. Thus theconcept of alienation may be interpreted to understand a specificproblem of the tribals where land becomes the primordial source of exploitation and results in the creation of a society whereexploitative production relations exit.

Forms of alienation:

The first and foremost is the manipulation of land records. Theunsatisfactory state of land records contributed a lot to the problemof land alienation. The tribals were never legally recognized asowners of the lands which they cultivated.

The second form of land alienation is reported to have taken placedue to 'benami' transfers. The report of the study team of the Union


10/32

Home Ministry (May 1975) pointed out that large scale transfers of ownership of the Adivasis' lands are being allowed to go out of hands through illegal and benami transactions, collusive civilproceedings etc., in which land remains to be in the names of theoriginal owners who are reduced to the level of share croppers.

Another form of land alienat ion is related to the leasing or mortgaging of the land. To raise loans for various needs the tribalshave to give their land as mortgage to the local moneylenders or tothe rich farmers.

Encroachment is another form of dispossessing the tribals of their lands and this is done by the new entrants in all the places wherethere were no proper land records. Bribing the local Patwari for manipulating the date of settlement of land disputes, ante-datingetc., are resorted to claim the tribal lands.

Concubinage or marital alliance is another form to circumvent thelaw and grab tribal lands at no cost at all.

Fictitious adoption of the non-tribals by the tribal families is alsoanother method to snatch the lands of the tribals.

Also the slackne ss in the implementation of the restr ictive provisionsencourages the non-tribals to occupy the tribal lands. Landsalienation which takes place in various ways has assumed alarmingproportion threatening the right to life of the tribal population.

Though the problem lies elsewhere, it is being unfortunately alwaysinterpreted as the handiwork of certain individuals like themoneylender, traders, land lords, etc, without understanding theclass connection of these individuals. The unsystematic landrecords of the pre-colonial and colonial periods was followed by thepresent State. There was collection of 'taxes - (a strangephenomenon for the natives and it was the beginning process of alienation) in the tribal areas.


11/32

In the name of protecting the interest of the tribals stringent lawswere enacted by the government but the non-tribals found theloopholes to their advantage. This double edged nature of Statepolicy in one of the facets of the existing contradictions in the IndianTribal Society. The process of land alienation is not an accidentalone, but it has arisen because of the concerted efforts of theantagonistic class interest that are operating in the tribal areas. This

is not just migration of the non-tribals into tribal areas rather there isa history behind this migration and the State has supported themigrant non-tribals to the settle down in the tribal lands.

However, being the natural owners of forests and its adjoininglands the tribals are being deprived of their rights to own them.They have been relegated from their earlier 'self-reliant' status to a'dependent' one. Coupled with the exploitation by the non-tribals,the State legislations also proved detrimental to their interests.Therefore to understand the root causes of the land alienationprocess of the tribal communities its relationship with the changes inthe socio-economic structures have to be understood properly.

Taken from:

http://www.dhdi.free.fr/recherches/environnement/articles/rout.htm

Protests and voices:

At least three types of protests are found from the triba ls

a) Complete silence of the tribal: partly because of their shockand partly because of their underlying philosophy and belief on the welfare nature of the states there are instances of silence from tribals. Kol tribes of Mirzapur is an example.

b) Violent protest: There are instances, for example in kerala,where gruesome outcome happened as the state had toshot down 16 tribal people.
http://www.dhdi.free.fr/recherches/environnement/articles/rout.htm


12/32

c) Third agent protest: Protest often involves voluntaryagencies. For example in Andhra Pradesh SHAKTI isstruggling against non tribal intruders and to combatsituation at large.

Policy intervention:

Strong tribal movements and protests have resulted is Supreme

Courts decision of forming 6 th schedule and 5 th schedule to protecttribal people from outsiders exploitation.

Forest policy and alienation

Analysis of forest policies show histor ically forest has been seen asa commodity. It was a view primarily related to colonialadministrators. In post colonial period forest is continued to beviewed as a commodity but there was substantive concern for forestprotection. This protection initiative ultimately resulted in forestprotection at the expense of tribal rights.

Forest dependency:

Indian tribes have historical connection with forest. They arefunctionally and emotionally attached to the forest. Functionally theycollect Food, Fuel and Fodder three most vital ingredient of their daily life. These three was designated as Minor Forest Produce asits commercial value is lesser than timbers hence the Major ForestProduce. However, with change in forest policy these vital items of forest are now redesignated as Non Timber Forest Produce.

Colonial forest policy and alienation:

Colonial administrators found Indian forests as commodity as aresult several forest acts gradually denied tribals access to forestland. The forst act 1855 first time put restriction on the exploitation


13/32

of forest by tribal people. Subsequently acts of 1878, 1898, 1927,1935 have systematically reduced tribals access to and commandover forest. While tribes gradually loose their access increasingcommercial exploitation increased.

Post colonial forest acts:

After independence, the natur e of the acts remained large ly the

same until 2006. When the demands of modern industries situatedoutside the tribal areas led to the commercial. exploitation of forests. These became then an important source of revenue in thestate, and to regulate the extraction of timber and other producelarge forest areas were designated as "reserved" and put under thecontrol of a government department. Tribal communities dwelling inenclaves inside the forest were either evicted or denied access tothe forest produce on which they had depended for manynecessities. Thus arose a conflict between the traditional tribal

ownership and the state's claim to the entire forest wealth.Numerous revolts, one of which will be described later in thischapter, were the direct result of the denial of the local tribals' rightin the forests which they had always considered their communalproperty. While they were forbidden to take even enough wood tobuild their huts or fashion their ploughs, they saw contractors fromthe lowlands felling hundreds of trees and carting them off, usuallywith the help of labour brought in from outside. Where tribals wereallowed access to some of the forest produce, such as grass or dead wood for fuel, this was considered a "concession" liable to bewithdrawn at any time. The traditional de facto ownership of tribalcommunities was now replaced by the de jure ownership of thestate, which ultimately led to the exploitation of forest resourceswith total disregard for the needs of the tribal economy. In recentyears many projects have been started which change the character of forests in such a manner that they serve exclusively commercialinterests and no longer benefit the original forest dwellers. The


14/32

natural mixed forests, which provided the tribesmen with the rawmaterials for many of their household implements, cane andbamboo for baskets, and such items of food as mangoes,tamarinds, jack fruits, mahua corollae , and edible berries, arebeing replaced by plantations of teak, eucalyptus, and variousconiferous trees.

An extreme example of such a commercializa tion of forests at theexpense of the local tribal population is a project in MadhyaPradesh where Rs 46,000,000 are to be spent on converting 8,000hectares of forest in the Bastar Hills to pine forests to feed thepaper pulp industry.

In a recent symposium on "Forests, Tribals and Development," Dr.B. D. Sharma, who is Tribal Development Commissioner,Government of Madhya Pradesh, stated the position very clearlywhen he said:

As the ownership of the State gets consolidated and formalised and the decision making recedes farther away from the field, thespecial relationship of the tribals with the forest is not appreciated.Their rights are viewed as a 'burden' on the forests, and animpediment in their scientific and economic exploitation. . . . Sincethe forest produce is treated as nature's gift, the State stakes its full claim over it. At the best, the tribal may be allowed a reasonablewage for the labour which he may put in for the collection of minor forest produce or extractionf major produce. Thus, the de-facto and conventional command of the tribal over resources is completely denied in this perception and he is reduced to the status of merely a casual wage-earner.

Dr. B. D. Sharma included in his exposition a detailed plan for areconciliation of the interests of tribal communities and forestrydevelopment, largely by the economic involvement of tribals in the


15/32

management and utilisation of forest resources. He summarises thebasic principles of this plan as follows:

It is clear that the development of the people and development of the forests, as two co-equal goals, are fully consistent. Certainbasic needs of the local community must provide the solid foundation for rational utilisation of forest resources. The socio-economic conditions of tribal communities must be accepted as animportant boundary condition for determining the level of technology and intensity of operations in an area. . . . The plan for tribal development must take the forest resources as the base onwhich tribal economy can progress with greatest confidence. . . .Planning without participation of the people and their activeinvolvement cannot be expected to be realistic. The tribal should become a co-sharer in the new wealth created in these areas and should become an active participant in their management.

Taken from - http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft8r29p2r8&chunk.id=d0e1668&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e1668&brand=eschol

The national forest policy in 1952 clkearly stated the nationalinterest which much plausibly involved commercialisation. Forestpolicy of 1978, goes even further to classify forest into reserveforest, protected forest and village forest which was based onIndian Forest Act of 1927 that totally curtailed tribals access evenfurther.

However, throughout these phases tribal people protestedfrequently it resulted in killing of tribal people. For example in 2003about 16 people were killed in Muthunga forest in Kerala as a resultof their conflict with state machineries. However, in 2006 Indiareasserted tribals access and rights over forest land on which theyhave depended for centuries. This act is viewed by many as
http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft8r29p2r8&chunk.id=d0e1668&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e1668&brand=eschol


16/32

undoing the historic injustice to the forest dwellers with anemphasis on

Empowerment of local government

Addressing the livelihood secur ities of the people .

Addressing conser vation and ecosys tems management from

participatory perspective exemplified by Joint Forest Management.

Development Induced Displacement

Infrastructural development projects carried out by states, oftenwith the assistance of the international community, frequently resultin the displacement of peoples from homes that stand in the way of dams, highways, or other large-scale construction projects. Newstandards are emerging for states to address the displacementconsequences of development.

World Bank estimates that only in post 1990s the construction of 300 high dams displaced four million people each year, urbanprojects have displaced 6 million people each year world wide eachyear.

Ongoing industrialisation, electrification and urbanisation processesare likely to increase, rather than reduce, the number of programmes causing involuntary population displacement. Causesor categories of development-induced displacement include the

following: water supply (dams, reservoirs, irrigation); urbaninfrastructure; transportation (roads, highway, canals); energy(mining, power plants, oil exploration and extraction, pipelines);agriculture expansion; parks and forest reserves; and populationredistribution schemes.

Situation in India:


17/32

Despite of the abandonment of many high cost projects during1950s and 1960s which displaced about 40 50 percent of thetribal people from their homeland, many of these projects are in theprocess of restarting. In 1994 the government of India admitted that10 million people displaced by dams, mines, deforestation and other development projects were still awaiting rehabilitation, a figureregarded as very conservative by most independent researchers. In

China the government has admitted that 7 million development-induced IDPs lived in extreme poverty in 1989 (International River Network 1998). Estimates suggest that in Andhra Pradesh 27% of the tribal people are displaced. Orissa has a displacement of 22%of her tribal communities. Similar situation prevails in Jharkhand,West Bengal and Kerala.

Protests:

It has been left to NGOs, the media and academics to probe the

government- inflicted human rights abuses related to development-induced displacement and to highlight the plight of millions of IDPsforced off their land. If, as we have seen, the Guiding Principles andbinding international human rights law (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) prohibit forced displacement (conflict or developmentinduced) not justified by overriding public interest,however, due to political or unknown reasons the UN bodies are atcomplete silence. In India some famous example of such peoplesmovement include Narmada Bachao Andolan, and KoelKaro HydroElectric Power Project where protest resulted in death of 9 and

additionally 22 people were injured on 2 nd February 2001.

Impact Assessment:

Michael Cernea, a sociologist, who has researched development-induced displacement and resettlement for the World Bank, pointsout that being forcibly ousted from one's land and habitat carries


18/32

with it the risk of becoming poorer than before displacement, sincea significant portion of people displaced do not receivecompensation for their lost assets, and effective assistance to re-establish themselves productively. Cernea (1999) has identifiedeight interlinked potential risks intrinsic to displacement.

1. Landlessness: Expropriation of land removes the mainfoundation upon which people's productive systems,commercial activities, and livelihoods are constructed.

2. Joblessness: The risk of losing wage employment is very highboth in urban and rural displacements for those employed inenterprises, services or agriculture. Yet creating new jobs isdifficult and requires substantial investment.

3. Homelessness. Loss of shelter tends to be only temporary for many people being resettled; but, for some, homelessness or a worsening in their housing standards remains a lingeringcondition. In a broader cultural sense, loss of a family'sindividual home and the loss of a group's cultural space tendto result in alienation and status deprivation.

4. Marginalisation. Marginalisation occur s when families loseeconomic power and spiral on a downward mobility path.Many individuals cannot use their earlier-acquired skills at thenew location; human capital is lost or rendered inactive or obsolete. Economic marginalisation is often accompanied bysocial and psychological marginalisation.

5. Food Insecurity. Forced uprooting increases the risk thatpeople will fall into temporary or chronic undernourishment,defined as calorie-protein intake levels below the minimumnecessary for normal growth and work.

6. Increased Morbidity an d Mortality. Displacement-inducedsocial stress and psychological trauma, the use of unsafewater supply and improvised sewage systems, increasevulnerability to epidemics and chronic diarrhoea, dysentery,


19/32

or particularly parasitic and vector-borne diseases such asmalaria and schistosomiasis.

7. Loss of Access to Common Property. For poor people, loss of access to the common property assets that belonged torelocated communities (pastures, forest lands, water bodies,burial grounds, quarries and so on) result in significantdeterioration in income and livelihood levels.

8. Social Disintegration. Displacement causes a profoundunravelling of existing patterns of social organisation. Thisunravelling occurs at many levels. When people are forciblymoved, production systems, life-sustaining informal networks,trade linkages, etc are dismantled.

Rehabilitation resettlement:

Indian land acquisition act being non participatory promotes a top-down process which coupled with lack of political will from the

ministry of rehabilitation. Even UN bodies are quite reluctant to takeinitiative for proper rehabilitation and resettlement. Even today theguideline is restricted to affirmation of a few basic rights

Right to participation of local people in decisionmaking.

Rights to life and livelihood

Rights of vulnerable groups

Rights to remedy

However with this passive attitude the mitigation of the problem of displacement largely depends on activists and pressure of civilsociety themselves.


20/32

Indebtedness

Landlessness has been arguably the major cause of indebtednessamong the agriculturist tribals in India. In India 58% of the tribalpeople Below Poverty Line with a high concentration in states like

Andhra , Rajasta n, UP, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal. The landalienation with its long history has natural consequence of indebtedness, which further lead to dispossession of tribal land.The poverty, land alienation indebtedness and landlessness isworking a cyclical way.

Economically indebtedness is an outcome of a) deficit family incomeand b) social compulsions. Since ethnographic study has shows theself contained tribal life among the hunters and gatherers and their lack of concept of loan and interest, it is reasonable to believe thatindebtedness is an outcome of interaction between non tribal andtribal people. The tribals lack of education and understanding of

loan and interests have provided the incentives to the non tribals tosystematically exp loit them.

Clearly for mitigating the issue one or more of the followingmeasures can be taken

1. prevention

2. protection

3. promotion of micro credit facilities through formal and

favourable terms

The immediate steps can be the following

a) spread of banking

b) focus on poverty alleviation


21/32

c) entrepreneurship

d) debt relief legislation

e) legal aid

f) awareness and education

Bonded labour

Slavery convention (1926) and International Labour Organisation(ILO) (1930) argue forced labour, bonded labour is to be definedon the basis of labour and services extracted from a person as apenalty where the person has not involved voluntarily. UnitedNations sees bonded labour as a special kind of forced labour (1956). However in India bonded labour is characteristically morecomplex.

Features in India:

Several features of bonded labour in India is typical in its character and the degree of acceptance level.

Creditor debtor relationship which can spill over toother members of the family

It has an infinite duration

Adverse contr act more frequently illegal

Not purely economic terms. After entry the relationship is

often subjected to multiple asymmetries and reifiedrelationship.

The relationship often has a customery backup whichreinforces the bondage.

Causes of bonded labour:

Though systematic study of the causes and consequences has not


22/32

been done, studies suggest three major reasons

Link between caste, social structure and bondage

Traditional feudal social relations and bonded labour

However, among tribal India, the causes demands multisectoralanalysis.

1. Agricultural sector:

Land alienation.

Denial of access to Common Property Resources.

Socio-economic dominance of certain groups

Changing labour requirement with capitalistinvestment.

Social rituals, illness and substantive absence of cash resulted in indebtedness and bondage (e.g.

Kol Tribal bondage in Mirzapur district of SouthernUP).

2. Brick Kilns:

Employment through middlemen who are paid fromwages of the labourers.

Part of the payment is made on weekly basis and bulkpayment is made on end of the month and seasonas a result labourers become bonded.

3. Stone queries, crushers and miners:

Small scale and localised quarrying and mining invitelabourers from nomadic tribes and rural poor. Theyare irregularly paid and are made bonded withoutproper work place protection. Instances are


23/32

reported from Hariyana, UP, MP, Rajastan,Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

4. Power looms and hand looms:

Especially reported from Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh. The bondage is formed on the basis of capital and material investment by outsiders.

Mitigation:

India has a strong and substantivistic bonded labour abolition act of 1976. It recognises a) overlap between forced and bonded labour,b) contract labour and interstate migration issues, c)embeddedness within social customs. However, since statesshowed reluctance and it is challenging to identify bonded labourssupreme court have tasked National Human Rights Commission for monitoring the implementation of the act.

Issues related to health

Tribal people from their basic ways of living remote places andshyness of mixing with community at large frequently are worstsufferers of health hazards. Leprosy, skin disease, tuber culosis,anaemia and diarrhoea are very common among them. The healthhazards related to pregnancy and malnutrition are faced by morethan 90 percent of the tribal.

Poverty disease nexus:

The percapita health expenditure among tribal is higher thanregular population. Many Scholars have focussed on health andpoverty as maintaining a strong interrelationship where the nexus isfound to work as a double edged sword.


24/32

Figure 1 disease poverty nexus

Maxwells vulnerability model (1999) goes on far to argue thatpoverty determines the choice making capabilities of the people nomatter whatever inputs are gived.

Infrastructure fa cilities:

The available health infrastructure, i.e. number of health carecentres, professionals and distance is considered to bedeterminants of the quality of health care facilities available.However, many recent studies have shown that sometimes even if health care facilities are available tribal tend to depend on their traditional system (Kumar 1974). The World Health Report (2000)

h f h d h i f h l h d li i


25/32

therefore have stressed on the importance of health delivery inhealth outcomes, also stressing on the awareness generation abouthygene and available health infrastructure. Case (2002)emphasised more on the role of indirect intervention where removalof chronic poverty and a culture change was thought to be theprime factor for improvement of health and hygene.

Policy regarding service delivery:

At the time of indepe ndence the gover nment system of health carewas wholly urban centred. The rural areas depended on traditionalfaith healers and voluntary agencies especially those of missionaries. The health survey development committee headed byBhore (1946) has argued that the importance of making healthservice facilities available at micro level with more emphasis ontribals.

However, India since 1952 is following a pyramidal structure of health service delivery. It has primary health centres andsubcentres at the local level and hospitals at district level. Since1970s the multi sectoral and intertwined nature of issues is wellunderstood. As a result the health issues are dealt by clubbingthem together with nutrition, sanitation, family planning, healtheducation, awareness generation etc. The village community healthworkers chosen by village people it now follows a decentralisedagenda.

Education

Traditionally tribal communities have undergone drastic changesdue to large scale migration, encroachment by outsiders andincreasing vulnerability of the resources on which they havetraditionally depended. Though many measures like scheduling of tribal areas, creasing land transfer and recognition of the rightsover resources is encouraged by the Government of India. Yet,

t ib l f i g bl f l d li ti di l t


26/32

tribal are facing problems of land alienation, displacement,indebtedness and bonded labour. Many of the problems are rootedfrom their increasing attachment with dominant culture and lack of basic competence in education. As Walter Fernandes (2005)argues that their attachment with the dominant culture thoughchanged their expenditure but never empowered them truly fromwithin.

The e xistential need:

Neheru advocated for adopting a non-isolation strategy for tribalbut failed to build capacity for tribal to cope with challenges putforth by modern culture. The capacity building initiatives quiteclearly must involve a high emphasis on the education sector, i.e.education for tribals to gain the power and self reliance and to copewith and transform their material reality. The unversalisation of primary education in India since 1950 is emphasised but yetremained underperformed.

National Policy of Education (NPE) in 1986 and 1992 havetherefore stressed on

1. Making provisions for primary education by formal andnon formal techniques

2. Retention of all children and increase enrolment rate.

3. Provisions of quality.

In recent decade a number of incentives are provided, e.g. SarbaSiksha Mission in 2003 providing elementary education to allchildren in the age group of 6 14 by the year 2010. Mid day mealscheme 2001, which gives a mid day meal to school going childrenthat dramatically increased the enrolment rate.

th l l l d d


27/32

However, in 9 th plan special provision including pre and post matricscholarship and hostel facilities are initiated exclusively for tribals.

Housing

Housing facilities being most fundamental requirement of humansurvival and a question of identity requires special attention. InIndia in 1996, 28% of the tribals were without houses (Economic

Survey 1998). The situation is even more dreadful while trials aredisplaced and/or affected by development projects or naturalcalamities.

Initiatives:

For the first 25 years of independence, the problem of rural housingdid not receive special attention from the government excepting therehabilitation of 5 lacks refugees till around 1960s. and part of Community Development Programme in 1957, which resulted only

in formation of 67000 houses.

However, major initiative was started in 1980s when theconstruction of houses becomes major activities of the EmploymentGuarantee Programme which began in 1983. The major schemewhich provided an integrated approach on rural housing started in1985 launched under rural Landless Employment GuaranteeProgramme (RLFGP), which further gets integrated to Jwahar Rojgar Yojna (JRY) in 1989. This scheme is known as Indira AwasYojna which targets

Below Poverty Level people in rural areas belonging toSCs and STs.

Freed bonded labourers

BPL who are general castes.

Widow and single women


28/32

Posted by Suman Nath at 20:45

Labels: Scheduled Tribes , Tribal Problems in India , Welfare measures for

ST

Widow and single women

SC/ST victims of atrocity or natural calamities

Physically handicapped.

Replies

Reply

12 comments:

Dip Mondal 14 March 2011 at 01:39

Helpfull.

Reply

PARNIL YODHA 28 April 2012 at 22:16

incredidbly written!bravo!

Reply

Suman Nath 7 November 2012 at 12:18

Thanks a lot for these encouraging words

siddhi 9 September 2012 at 02:11

informative!
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1347181899882#c6190451846230163166https://www.blogger.com/profile/08136132138952995918http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1352319522612#c1763084986320992691https://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1335676587812#c7391932039630445078https://www.blogger.com/profile/02154022085652148553http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1300091987352#c2054273214183711599https://www.blogger.com/profile/10641248309403813366http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Welfare%20measures%20for%20SThttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Tribal%20Problems%20in%20Indiahttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Scheduled%20Tribeshttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.htmlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998


29/32

Replies

Reply

Replies

Reply

Reply


thanks a lot... :)

Jeyapandi 18 September 2012 at 16:13

ITS INCREDIBLY USED FOR MY Ph.D THESIS

Reply


Good to know that it helped you... :) all the best withyour thesis

SOOFI 21 17 December 2012 at 01:12Gr8..., a vry gud job, itz really informative..,keep it up.

Reply

pinaki 27 February 2013 at 22:34

dear- suman
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1362033268525#c8784280975400400342https://www.blogger.com/profile/09448732588372437817http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1355735577073#c8116041408869380285https://www.blogger.com/profile/12835921182099741456http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1352319580436#c3712016663199867587https://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1348010013338#c3149461673368696512https://www.blogger.com/profile/03244128733944361980http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1352319546130#c6108937846558542641https://www.blogger.com/profile/12171916970696619998


30/32

thanx a lot for the entire effort and your attempt to brief theanthropological concepts for the beginners of anthropology. it isvery helpful to me to enrich my students at the light to thetheoretical issues of anthropology.great.

regardspinaki

Reply

Vanumu Chittabbai 16 April 2013 at 08:29

Well don, Super collection . I sure that You should moreinformation about tribal development and measures. I hope youwill send the data. Presently I am doing my ph D at andhraUniversity. Please help meSri Chittabbai

Assistant P rofessor Department of CommerceGOVERNEMNT DEGREE COLLEGENARSIPATNAM

Andhra UniversityVisakhapatnam

Andhra PradeshEmail- [email protected]

Reply

Vanumu Chittabbai 16 April 2013 at 08:31

sorry my email [email protected]

Reply

Sumiti Puri 7 June 2015 at 23:33
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1366126285082#c2225753375557630448https://www.blogger.com/profile/14823542870258643660http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1366126185225#c7053322163641371925https://www.blogger.com/profile/14823542870258643660http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1433745199360#c7510443350127360473https://www.blogger.com/profile/15218232164970711168


31/32

Newer Post Older PostHome

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Notify me

Sign out

Enter your comment...

Comment as: Unknown (Goo

Publish Pre view

Solutions????

Reply

anthropology (13) Anthropology and development (3)

Civil society (3)

Labels
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/04/scheduled-castes-scheduled-tribes-and.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Consciousnesshttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Complex%20Holehttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Cognitive%20Anthropologyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Bureaucracyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/British%20social%20anthropologyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Bourdieuhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Auguste%20Comtehttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Applied%20anthropologyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Anthropology%20of%20Public%20Policyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Anthropology%20of%20Powerhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Anthropology%20of%20human%20rightshttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Anthropology%20of%20Developmenthttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Anthropology%20and%20Holismhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/AGIL%20schemehttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Civil%20societyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/Anthropology%20and%20developmenthttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/search/label/anthropologyhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2010/03/problems-of-indian-tribes-and-measures.html?showComment=1433745199360#c7510443350127360473https://www.blogger.com/profile/15218232164970711168http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/logout?d=https://www.blogger.com/logout-redirect.g?blogID%3D1296148867303910427%26postID%3D2210862834971628891http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/feeds/2210862834971628891/comments/defaulthttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/03/functionalism-basic-anthropological.htmlhttp://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.in/2010/04/scheduled-castes-scheduled-tribes-and.html


32/32

Documents

ANTHROPOLOGY for BEGINNERS_ Problems of Indian Tribes and Measures From Government of India