TRIBALS IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW

By Chhote Lal Shaw

Research Scholar, Department of Political Science, Sunrise University,
Alwar, Rajasthan, India.
PGT (Political Science) Teacher in Assam Rifles Public School (Sports),
Shillong-793010, Meghalaya.
E-Mail: chhotelalshaw89@gmail.com, Mobile No: 9073734682

ABSTRACT

The central theme of my paper is to know about the real position of

development of education of both rural and urban tribals in post independence India.
India is a not only multi-cultural country in the World, but also she has a vast
democracy in the World where different types of backward community are living all
together. Though, India has taken many programmes, policies and also has provided
constitutional safe guard for the development of the weaker section of the population
of the country, especially for the tribes and due to that not only literacy rate of urban
tribes are increasing per day but also literacy rate of rural tribes are also increasing.
So, we can lead to the conclusion that effective implementation of all tribal
developmental programme and policies are required to increase the development of
literacy rate of both urban and rural tribals in India. So, today, with the effective
implementation of all tribal’s developmental programme and policies, not only we can
develop the literacy rate of both urban and rural tribes in India but also we can protect
their culture and identity also.

Keywords: Rural tribal; Urban tribal; Development of literacy; Tribal developmental

programmes; weaker section.

Page 1 of 10
INTRODUCTION

Although, India is a not only multi-cultural country in the World, but also she
has a vast democracy in the World, it is India, where different types of backward
community are living all together. Tribal is one of them. Though, India has taken
many programmes, policies and also has provided constitutional safe guard for the
development of the weaker section of the population of the country, especially for the
rural tribes. But in spite of rural tribal areas are still identified as is lands of extreme
poverty, illiteracy and exploitation. Above 85% of rural tribal people are living below
poverty line and 48% are still illiterate (1991 Census). Most of them are living mere
subsistence economy.

TRIBAL LITERATURE

Tribal literature is made up of the tribal community's folklore, oral traditions, apoems.

Every country has rich tribal literature, which is referred to as 'Adivasi' literature in
India. Although names like ataxia, vanavsi ("forest dwellers"), and Girya ("hill
people") are often used to describe Indian tribes, Adivasi refers to the original &
autochthonous residents of a given place and was coined for that reason in the 1930s.
Unlike the conditions "aborigines" or "tribes," the term "Adivasi" has acquired an
undertone of past autonomy that was disrupted during the British colonial era in India
but has yet to be restored. In India, there is a wide range of opposition to the term's
use and has been tried to argue that the "initial inhabitant" claim is driven by the fact
that they lack land and thus seek land reform. They argue that they have been
oppressed by a "superior group," and that as a result, they deserve and demand
recompense, specifically land reform. In North-eastern India, the word Adivasi refers
only to Tea-tribes brought from Central India all through colonial times, whereas all
tribals refer to themselves collectively by using the Actual word "tribes." Tribal
people require special attention as evidenced by their low social, economic, and
participatory indicators. Tribal communities lag well behind the general population
in terms of maternal and infant mortality, agricultural holding size, and access to
having drink water and power. These indicators highlight the importance of

Page 2 of 10
livelihood-generating activities local feed available resources to create gainful
employment opportunities for tribal people.

So, above this situation of rural tribe, lead me to identify the following
research questions which are follows-

i. Why the development of rural tribal is going on very slow way?

ii. Why the gap of development of literacy rate of rural and urban tribals in post
Independence India is increasing today?
iii. How many factors are responsible for it?

MEANING AND DEFINATION OF TRIBE

In general sense the word "Tribe' means Adivasi. The rural tribes
population consist of 62.1% and urban tribal population consist of 71.9% of total
India's population of 121 crore (2001 census). Regarding the meaning and definition
of the term 'tribe' different dictionary has defined it in a different way. According to
the Oxford Dictionary tribe is "a race of people; now applied especially to a primary
aggregate of people in a primitive or barbarous condition under a headman or chief".
According to Indian Dictionary it is "a social group usually with a definite area of
living dialect, cultural homogeneity and unifying social organization. It may include
several sub-groups as sibs or villages." Thus tribe means indigenous,
autochthonomous people of the land, in the sense that they had been long settled in
different part of the country.

NATIONAL AND STATE LEVEL DIFFERENT TRIBAL DEVLOPMENTAL

INSTITUTION

A) National Level

Oversees Agency: There are a number of agencies to oversee the

implementation of tribal welfare programmes and schemes. At the Government of
India level, there are at least five agencies, viz., Welfare Ministry, Commissioner for
Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled castes
and Scheduled Tribes, Secretary in Cabinet Secretariat and Planning Commission.

Page 3 of 10
 Religious Agency: The different religious agencies like the Christian
missionaries, the Ramakrishna Mission, the Arya Samaj and other local religious
institutions is also engaged in the welfare work for the tribals.

Voluntary Agency: The other voluntary organization which deserve mention

are the Bhartiya Depressed Classes League, Servants of India Society Indian Red
Cross Society, All-India Backward Classes Federation and Indian Council for Child
Welfare.

Anthropological Agency: Some anthropologists like Dube (1949),

Chattopadhyay (1949), Majumdar (1958), Bose (1960), Vidyarthi (1960) and a few
others highlighted the various problems of the Adivasis and suggested ways and
means to ameliorate their economic and social conditions.

There are 11 tribal research institutes or wings and 17 institutions which are
engaged in conducting researches on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

National Forest Policy: The National Forest Policy of 1952 laid down that
the area under forests should be increased steadily to 33 per cent of the total area the
proportion to be covered ultimately being 60 per cent in the hilly regions and 20 per
cent in the plains.

Investigating Agency: The parliament has appointed the Director General for
Backward Classes at national level with special duties of investigating into all matters
related to safeguards given to the tribal people The Director General with the help of
Regional Directors virtually handles funds and controls all the tribal welfare activities.
He submits his report annually detailing all that has been observed by him personally
and through his Regional Directors.

From time to time the Government has constituted different commissions to

assess and analyze the welfare work from 1949 to 1970 altogether 18 commissions /
committees / working groups / study teams on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes have been instituted by the Government.

B) State Level
Development Agency: Various consultative agencies in the state with a large
number of tribal representatives on them such as State Legislature Committees.

Page 4 of 10
District and Project level Committees, Tribes Advisory Council in all the eight states
with Scheduled Areas and two non-Scheduled Area state of West Bengal and Tamil
Nadu are very effective.

Investigating Agency: At the State level the Governor has been made
responsible and on his behalf the Chief Minister and the Welfare Minister are in
charge of the special schemes to be implemented in the tribal areas. In some major
concentrated tribal area the State has an independent Tribal Welfare Ministry. The
Welfare Ministry is advised by two bodies The Tribes Advisory Council and the
Tribal research Institute in framing the policies and programmers for tribal welfare.

CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARD

After independence, the Indian Constitution provides proper safeguards for the
tribal people. Though the prohibition of discrimination of grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth (Article15) equality of opportunity in matters of public
employment (Article16), abolition of untouchability (Article17), prohibition of traffic
in human beings and forced labour (Article 23) and protection of interests of
minorities (Article 29) are of general nature, they still incorporate in themselves the
tribal people. Securing a social order for the promotion of the welfare of the people
(Article 38) the articles of the Constitution which are directly related to the tribal
safeguards offer them promotion in respect of education and economy (Article 46)
other special provisions, like the appointment of Ministers to look after the tribal
interest exclusively (Article 164), special administration of Scheduled Areas and
Tribal Areas (Article 244), truants from the Union to certain States (Article 275),
reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People (Article 330) and
in the Legislative Assemblies of States (Article 332), reservation of seats and special
representation (Article 334), special claims to services and posts (Article335), the
administration of Scheduled Areas and the welfare of Scheduled Tribes (Article 339)
and Article 342 of the Constitution is on the Scheduled Tribes themselves. Special
provision is there for Nagaland (Article 371 A).

METHODOLOGY: For this I have used the Analytical Method.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ALL PROGRAMMES AND ITS EFFECTS
A) Urban Effect:

Page 5 of 10
 If we see the positive effect of all programmes and policies, we shall find that
different tribal developmental agencies are working in a very effective way in most of
the urban part of India. So the urban tribe are able to develop themselves because they
are able to take advantages of all facilities of tribal development in all field eg, social,
political, economic and cultural also in educational field we can see the education
development of urban travels by the following bar diagram which are below:
Table -1 : Literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes by sex in Urban Area.
Urban Area
Year Scheduled Tribe
Scheduled Tribe Male
Female
1961 37.09 13.45
1971 37.09 19.64
1981 47.60 27.32
1991 66.56 45.66
2001 77.77 59.87

80

70

60

50

40 Scheduled Tribe Male

Scheduled Tribe Female
30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

(Source: Census of India, 2011, office of Registrar General, India)

So today they are facing very less problem and also they are able to live very
happy life and able to protect their culture. So, today they are not participating in any
rallies or movement of backward rural tribes.
B) Rural Effect :
Nominated bodies including Regional Autonomous Development Authorities,
Project Implementation/ Advisory Committees are also handicapped by the absence of

Page 6 of 10
statutory reservation in favor of the tribals. For instance, in Bihar, 3 Regional
Autonomous Development Authorities, namely (i) North Chhotanagpur, (ii) South
Chhotanagpur and (iii) Santhal Parganas Autonomous Development Authorities have
been established by law for ensuring effective implementation of programmes in
tribal areas. The Act which set up the Regional Autonomous Development Authorities
does not stipulated that the Chairmen or Vice- Chairmen or majority members of
these bodies shall be nominated from among the Scheduled Tribes. As a result, key
position in many of the nominated bodies and elected bodies under Panchayat Raj
namely, Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti, Taluka Mandal, Gram Pranchayat are
captured by the influential non-tribals.
In spite of this the state-sponsored programmes had limited success, because
only a small fraction of tribes reached the target level. The well-placed tribals have
created a new process of social differentiation. The tribal social identity is moving
towers tribal class mobility. Tribals are now found in almost every stratum of our
society, from administrators to agriculture labourers. There is also evidence of
successful caste mobility through Sanskritisation. Now the tribals are imitating the
habits of non-tribal. However, the tribal problem in India is characterized by the
process of institutionalized exploitation and socio- political marginalization, produced
by the twin historical process of unequal incorporation and exclusion. For example a
tribal boy tying the shoes of minister in Madhya Pradesh on 19th may 2012.
In spite of this the rural tribals are deprived of the agricultural land which was
the main source of their livelihood. But they are getting the very less benefits of all
development projects. Only the non-tribals are getting more benefits in terms of
availability of irrigation facilities and power as well as job opportunities. If today we
would try to see the real position of tribals in rural part of India, with special reference
to literacy rate of both male and female tribal of rural area we shall find that in spite
of many tribal development programmes as was taken by the government of India.
The child sex ratio of rural tribe is also declining today and also one declining picture
of literacy rate of rural tribals are seeing today we could see by the following bar
diagram which is below:

Table -2 : Literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes by sex in Rural Area.

Year Rural Area

Page 7 of 10
 Scheduled Tribe
Scheduled Tribe Male
Female
1961 13.37 2.90
1971 16.92 4.36
1981 22.94 6.81
1991 38.45 16.02
2001 57.39 32.44

60

50

40
Scheduled Tribe Male
30
Scheduled Tribe
Female
20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5

(Source: Census of India, 2011, office of Registrar General, India)

They are still victims of various exploitative methods. The gap between the
urban and rural regarding the different tribal development schemes is widening
beyond control. The rural tribal feels that he is being blackmailed in the name of
welfare.

DIFFERENT RESPONSIBLE FACTORS

If we try to see the responsible factor for the creation of the big gape of the
development between urban and rural tribe these are follows:
i. Inadequate implementation of Constitutional safeguards
ii. Denial of participation to tribals in development process
iii. Lack of accountability

Page 8 of 10
 iv. Lack of tribal leadership
v. Land alienation and displacement without adequate rehabilitation
vi. Exploitation in forestry and other economic activities and
vii. Socio-cultural factor
viii. Corruption

CONCLUSION

So, in the light of the above discussion, we can lead to the conclusion that if
our government will not take a stern steps for the protection of the life, liberty,
property and culture of the rural tribe, there will come a day when these tribes might
lose their identity and at that time, they might be joined some of more dangerous
terrorist group e.g., today Naxalite and Maoist group in India and its result might be
dangerous for our India in future. During that period, we shall be unable to take any
developmental strategy for them. So, today, we have needed to take stern steps for the
protection of their life, liberty. property, culture and also identity of then with the
proper means by the proper person. So, the first Prime Minister of India Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru while addressing a conference in 1952 said, "The tribals are integral
part of Indian civilization and possess a very first cultural heritage. So we should
avoid imposing anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their own
traditional arts and culture."

REFERENCES

(A) Books:

1. Dr. Kapoor A.N., Gupta V.P., Gupta Mohini. "Knowledge: A dictionary of

scheduled tribe". Vol. VI (New Delhi: Radha publications,
2008) P-148.

2. Verma R.C., "Indian Tribes: thorough the ages". (New Delhi Ministry information
and Broadcasting. Govt. of India, 1995), p-174.

3. Vidyarthi L.P., Rai B.K., "The Tribal culture of India". (New Delhi: Concept
Publishing Company,1985). P. 422

4. Vidyarthi L.P. (ed), "Tribal Development and its Administration" (New Delhi;
Concept Publishing Company. 1986).

(B) Articles in Books:

Page 9 of 10
1. Bhowmick P.K., "Reports on Scheduled Tribe: An Appraisal". In Vidyarthi L.P.
(ed), "Tribal Development and its administration", New Delhi:
Concept publishing Company, 1986), P-47.

2. Bhowmick P.K., "Forestry. Tribe and the Forest Policy in India". In Bhowmick
P.K., "Reports on Scheduled Tribe: An Ap praisal", in
Vidyarthi L.P. (ed), "Tribal Development and its
administration", New Delhi: Concept publishing Company,
1986), PP-29-30.

(C) Articles in Journals:

1. Mallick Md. Ayub. "Tribal development in post independent India: for Automatic
integration", in "Journal of Human Ecology: rational,
Interdisciplinary Journal of Man Environment relationship",
vol- 12, No.-3 (New Delhi: Kamla-Raj enterprises, May, 2001),
P-217.

2. Mallick Mohammed Ayub, "Tribal Development Scenario in West Bengal: A study

of Jamalpur Block of Burdwan District", in Jaiswal Surinder
(ed), "The Indian Journal of Social Work", Vol-72(3), July,
2011, P-316.

(D) Articles in News paper:

1. "Tribal min wants say in green project". In The Times of V' (Kolkata: 15th June,
2011), P-7.

2. Mamata meets adivasis in dooars", in The Times of India, 13 Oct, 2011.P-4.

Page 10 of 10