THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE INDIAN TRIBES
In spite of the provisions in the constitution, the tribal people of India are experiencing a variety of difficulties, which can be broken down into the following categories:
Indebtedness:
Undoubtedly, the main factor causing debt among the tribal farmers in India is landlessness. The long-standing practise of land alienation naturally results in debt, which then triggers the eviction of tribal lands. The cycle of poverty, land alienation, debt, and landlessness remains ongoing. Financial indebtedness is a result of –
low family income and
social pressures.
Given the independent tribal existence of hunters and gatherers and their apparent lack of understanding of loans and interest, it is logical to assume that debt is a result of interactions between non-tribal and tribe populations. The non-tribals have been encouraged to systematically exploit the tribal members due to the lack of knowledge and comprehension of loans and interests on their part.
Land Alienation:
The history of land alienation among the tribes began during British colonialism in India when the British interfered in the tribal region for the purpose of exploiting the tribal natural resources. Coupled with this tribal lands were occupied by moneylenders, zamindars and traders by advancing them loans etc. Opening of mines in the heart of tribal habitat and even a few factories provided wage labour as well as opportunities for factory employment. But this brought increasing destitution and displacement. After the British came to power, the Forest policy of the British Government was more inclined towards commercial considerations rather than human. Some forests were declared as reserved ones where only authorized contractors were allowed to cut the timber and the forest-dwellers were kept isolated deliberately within their habitat without any effort to ameliorate their economic and educational standards. The expansion of railway in India heavily devastated the forest resources in India. The Government started reserving teak, Sal and deodar forests to manufacture railway sleepers. Forest land and its resources provide the best means of livelihood for the tribal people and many tribes, including the women, engage in agriculture, food gathering and hunting they are heavily dependent on the products of the forest. Therefore when outsiders exploit the tribe’s land and its resources, the natural life cycle of tribal ecology and tribal life is greatly disturbed.
Poverty:
The majority of tribes live under the poverty line. To understand poverty, we need to understand what parameter has been set up by the Government of India. In 2002 a complete household survey was conducted by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, to ascertain the economic situation of the households in India. Based on survey and final outcome poverty line was defined for every district. Based on the poverty line list was prepared for BPL (Below Poverty Line). In India, in the year 2011, the poverty line was defined by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee. It was determined on the basis of monthly expenses for food, education, health, transport and electricity. According to this committee, a person who spend Rs. 33 a day in urban areas and only Rs. 27 a day in rural areas live below the poverty line.
On understanding the above, most of the tribes uses simple occupations based on simple technology and their primary occupations are hunting, gathering, and agriculture. The technology they use for these purposes belong to the most primitive kind. There is no profit and surplus making in such economy. Hence there per capita income is very meager much lesser than the Indian average. Most of them live under abject poverty and are in debt in the hands of local moneylenders and Zamindars. In order to repay the debt, they often mortgage or sell their land to the moneylenders. Indebtedness is almost inevitable since heavy interest is to be paid to these moneylenders.
Health:
Because of economic backwardness and insecure livelihood, the tribals face health problems, such as prevalence of disease, like malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and jaundice, problems associated with malnutrition like iron deficiency and anaemia, high infant mortality rates, low levels of life expectancy, etc.
Education:
Educationally the tribal population is at different levels of development but overall, the formal education has made very little impact on tribal groups. Earlier Government had no direct programme for their education. But in the subsequent years the reservation policy has made some changes. There are many reasons for low level of education among the tribal people: Formal education is not considered necessary to discharge their social obligations. Superstitions and myths play an important role in rejecting education. Most tribes live in abject poverty. It is not easy for them to send their children to schools, as they are considered extra helping hands. The formal schools do not hold any special interest for the children. Most of the tribes are located in interior and remote areas where teachers would not like to go from outside.
Census data distortion:
There took place large-scale distortion in the 1981 census in many states in respect of enumeration of members of the Scheduled Tribes. Use of the census data will lead to wrong conclusions about, for instance, the rate of growth of population of tribals in general and of specific tribes, increase in literacy rates among tribals and rise in urbanisation. One can imagine the consequences when a large number of respondents deliberately provide wrong information to the enumerators who generally record it without verification. Such large-scale distortion took place in the 1981 census in many states in respect of the enumeration of members of the Scheduled Tribes.
Poverty:
Majority tribes live under poverty line. The tribes follow many simple occupations based on simple technology. Most of the occupation falls into the primary occupations such as hunting, gathering, and agriculture. The technology they use for these purposes belong to the most primitive kind. There is no profit and surplus making in such economy. Hence there per capita income is very meager much lesser than the Indian average. Most of them live under abject poverty and are in debt in the hands of local moneylenders and Zamindars. In order to repay the debt they often mortgage or sell their land to the moneylenders. Indebtedness is almost inevitable since heavy interest is to be paid to these moneylenders.
Communication:
The seclusion of the tribals from the mainstream society creates a gap between them and the rest of the world; they do not have the access to modern means of communication like radio, television, newspapers, journals, etc. As a result, the general awareness level is very low among them. They are not communicated with the messages on general health, news about flood or earthquake or climate changes, in formations about social violence or politics etc. the tribals have faced certain problems due to lack of communication.
Industrialization:
Certain areas within the tribal belt of Middle India, and particularly Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, contain rich deposits of minerals, and their exploitation and the establishment of great steel works in the very centre of the tribals’ homeland have already led to a large-scale displacement of tribal populations. Focussing on one particular incident connected with such industrialization, the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission reported that out of 14,461 tribal families displaced from an area of 62,494 acres, only 3,479 were allotted alternative land. Though the commission recommended that the government, as trustee of the scheduled tribes, “should not allow the tribes to go under in the process of industrialization,” little was done to rehabilitate the displaced tribesmen and to train them for work in the new industries. Their eventual proletarization seems inevitable, and in the streets of Ranchi one can still see Munda and Oraon riksha pullers who not long ago were independent cultivators tilling their own land.
Migration:
In response to the pressures of development, many tribal concentration regions and states have also been facing the problem of heavy migration of non-tribals. This is a problem that has arisen as a result. The proportion of tribal people living in Jharkhand’s industrial zones has decreased as a result of population growth among other ethnic groups. Since the 1990s, when the country began its path of liberalisation, these processes have not only continued to dominate, but they have also gotten even more powerful. Examples of reactionary activities against the strategy of alienation and exploitation of tribal people include the large protests in Maharashtra against the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant and the mining company Vedanta in Niyamgiri in Orissa. Both of these events took place in Orissa.
These problems faced by the Indian tribes have resulted in their continued marginalization and exclusion from the mainstream of Indian society. It is essential to address these issues and ensure that the tribes are given the support and resources they need to achieve social, economic and political development.
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