Chapter 2

The Adivasi Question in India

Introduction

“If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country,”-Jawaharlal Nehru has been

quoted as telling the village residents to be displaced by the Hirakud dam in 1948. And so it has been for

the past sixty four years. People, mostly impoverished tribes, have been suffering because of government

taking little or no measure to alleviate the hardships caused by various development projects. The crux

of the problem is that governments always treat tribal people as “sacrificial lambs” who can be dispensed

with in the pursuit of development activities (Purnima S. Thripathi, 2011). They are the ones who were

forced to share their scarce space and resources when India pushed refugees from Bangladesh and

oustes from hundreds of mega projects into their fragile forests (Bittu, Sahgal, 2005). A combination of

historical injustice, cultural exclusion and insensitivity and an inadequate depleting resource base seems

to have mitigated against the tribal people of India from taking advantage of whatever avenues of

advancement our system makes available(ibid).

The proponents of sustainable development argue emphatically that the abandonment of the

conventional path of development is a necessary precondition for the achievement of genuine democracy.

The advocates of globalization on the other hand advance a development-friendly definition which is

sanitised of all political connotations to mean only administrative accountability, transparency and control

over corruption, so that democracy is effectively substituted by the dubious term ‘good governance’.

However, there is a general consensus that poverty and the related problems of social injustice, low

productivity and inadequate resources for the poor especially Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled

Tribes (STs) are the real problems faced by India.

Within a broad context, a people-centred development approach argues for removing poverty

economically. This is mainly by creating employment and increasing the purchasing power of the people.

In the present chapter, we are focussing on the issues of tribals in India and the crucial question as to

whether the state has succeeded in providing ‘quality of life’ for her children. Using the development

approach in India as a case in point, the chapter describes the multi-faceted link between state and tribals

in India. Some issues analyzed for the purposes of illustration include: forest policy, agricultural policy,

educational policy and other broader socio-political contexts of national development.

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Forests and tribals

The influences that forests wield over the lives of tribals are wide-ranging. Productivity of forests

occurs in seasonal and even monthly cycles. During the lean agricultural periods they provide the tribes

with a number of non-timber products for sale and consumption. The tribes who are economically

marginalized consider these Common Property Resources as their only solace against abject penury and

starvation.

Long before humans where even a blip on the evolutionary drawing board, the original citizens of

the forests had formed themselves into highly organized societies with effective ecological laws that

allowed the use of resources while enabling each distinct community to flourish. In this society there was

no such thing called waste. The life style of every creature was designed so as to leave the next generation

as, if not, more secure. It was in this heaven of plenty that the ape that learned to hunt and till the soil was

born. With the advent of agriculture, forests retreated. The tribal communities who were once in harmony

with the forests became uprooted. Today a veritable mesh-mash of people occupy the forests of India.

And conflicts are legendry (Bittu, Sahgal, 2005).

A major problem is that traditional homelands of tribal communities have been classified as forest

lands vested with the state. In the absence of clearly defined property rights, million of tribal families

living in or around forest land can be deemed encroachers and there by illegal occupants, continually

living under the shadow of eviction. (Forests and Tribals, 2005).

Political ecology studies have chiefly been concerned with the effects of human activities on the

physical environment. To examine the subject the other way round opens a plethora of perspectives

especially in a situation where through permission for mines and industries in protected areas, diverting

forest land for non-forests use, monoculture plantation, mismanaged tourism, fake environmental impact

assessments and promised relocations that never see the light of the day - those responsible for managing

forests have failed the nation (Bittu, Sahgal, 2005). The upcoming sections are prelude to an examination

of the characteristics that are inherent in the forest management policies right from the days of the British

and how it has affected the livelihood of the adivasis.

British forest policy and tribal livelihood

Ecological democracy means three things; firstly, a democracy for all life, not just human life- all

life, plant life, animal life, microbial life because all life has a right to have a share in the planet’s water.

All beings need water and ecological democracy recognizes our duty to other beings, not just to provide

the human community with water (Vandana, Shiva, 2010, p.501.). This section is an attempt to find out

how the very concept of ecological democracy was torn into pieces by the British rule.

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The starting point for colonialism, modern militarism and capitalism was much the same; all three

depended upon and worsened the lives of the people of the invaded societies. In the colonized societies,

the initial and subsequent consequences were diverse, but all depended upon brute force, and all were

horrifying:

• Whether in Africa, Asia, South or North America, formal or de facto enslavement and mass

murder by the colonizers was the rule.

• In the colonized continents, virtually all pre-colonial social and cultural institutions were

effectively destroyed or fatally crippled.

• The people of all the colonized areas lost control over the use of their agricultural, mineral,

forest, and water resources.

• Their population was drastically reduced and/or crippled by hunger, warfare, and severe

demoralization.

Marx succinctly underlined the destructive role of colonialism as:

“The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in

mines of the aboriginal population, the beginnings of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the

turning of Africa into a warren for the hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of

capitalists production” (Douglas, Dowd, 2009, pp.144-45).

In India, before the advent of the British, substantial areas were ruled exclusively by the tribes

themselves (Upali Aparajita, 1964, p.19.). The successive, almost continuous uprising of the tribal

communities living in these regions against the imposition of the new administration was primarily to

draw attention to their livelihood insecurity. The policies of tribal development followed by independent

India can be understood properly only if we begin with a very brief introduction of this phenomenon that

cropped up ever since the British started ruling over India.

The growth of forest administration in India, after affirmation of sovereign supremacy of the British,

was extremely slow in the beginning. The first step taken by the Government towards forest protection

was an order issued by the Bengal-Bombay Joint Commission, appointed in 1800 to make regulations

prohibiting the felling of teak below 21 inches in girth(Forest Informat: A Companion of Forest Department,

p.45.). Later- in 1855, scientific forestry was introduced. Prior to that there was no scientific management

and forests were treated as a boundless source of wood, plants, fodder, medicines and fuel wood. The

East India Company created a forest department, the purpose of which was to collect revenue on the

forest produce collected. The main objective of the forest organization of those days was to collect

revenue. Along with this there was leasing of large areas of forest land to big British planters. They

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cleared the forest and put the land under agriculture or indigo and other plantations. This resulted in the

degradation of large areas of forest land, particularly in the Tarai region of the provinces of Bengal,

Bihar and Oudh (B.P. Srivastava, pp.47-48.).

The extraction of forest resources by British was later regulated by enacting a series of laws viz.,

the first law in 1865, second law in 1894 and third in 1927, known as “Indian Forest Act” which provided

for leasing for the purpose of massive commercial extraction and conversion, and resulted in the alienation

of forest dwelling people. This led to large scale destruction of forests right from the Himalayas to

Central India and the Western Ghats for expansion of railways and other uses since the middle of the 19th

century. The 1865 forest policy classified forests based on their primary functions as (1) preservation

forests (2) commercial forests (3) minor forests and pasture lands. The main objective of this classification

was the maximisation of revenue from commercial areas. Permanent cultivation was also given preference

as a land use over forestry.

Forest was entrusted with the Forest Department. It was surveyed and scientifically mapped. The

people’s requirements were not met by this division of forest. In general, the policy restricted the privileges

in the forest areas which were previously enjoyed by their inhabitants. The 1894 Policy even provided

for liberal diversion of forest land whenever it was required for agriculture. In short, forests were to be

managed in the interests of and for the enhancement of agriculture. Forest was thus provided a role

subservient to agriculture. The policy, in the course of its implementation, revealed other shortcomings

as well. There was no mention therein of rational and scientific management of forests based on the

concept of regulation of sustained yields. The importance of wildlife protection was not highlighted. The

policy was also silent on the question of management of private forests (S.N. Rai & Dipak Sharmah(1998),

‘Forest Policies of India’, P.K.Muraleedharan, K.K.Subrahmanian & P.P. Pillai (eds.), p.160.).

The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was “an Act to consolidate the law relating to forests, the transit of

forest produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest produce’. The text of this Act was divided

into 13 chapters with a plethora of rules and regulations, penalties and procedures aimed at extending

the Government’s control over forests as well as diminishing the status of people’s rights to forest use. A

clause from chapter III of village forests, Section 28(2) states that “the state government may make rules

for regulating the management of village forests, prescribing the conditions under which the community

may be provided with timber or other forest produce or pasture, and the duties for the protection and

improvement of such forests”. Thus this Act facilitated the grip of the state over forests and consequently

communities were deprived of many of their privileges. This Act further alienated village communities

from their age-old symbiotic relationship with forests (Kulbhushan, Balooni, 2002).

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Tribal rebellions: the quest for survival

The British policy of forest reservation naturally resulted in intense clashes, repeated agitations

and uprisings. Resistance of the tribal people was generally ruthlessly suppressed. The alienation of the

locals adversely affected the local livelihood and led to sombre discontent and dissent movements. The

British policies disturbed the traditional tribal systems. No wonder why there were so many tribal rebellions

in the colonial period. The Kol and Bhumj revolts of the early 19th century, the Birsa-Munda led agitation

in the 1890s, the uprising in Bastar in 1911, the protest in Gudem-Rampa in the 1920s, Warli revolt of

1945-46 are only illustrative examples. One of the most noteworthy revolts was the Santhal uprising,

known in history as Santhal Hul. The reason for the rebellion was that under the company rule, the

question of common rights was never raised and the Santhal tenants were being dispossessed in mass

and were ending up as bonded labour. The uprising began on 28th June 1855, with 10,000 Santhals

assembling at Bhagnadih in the Damin-i-koh. The attempt failed, but the enraged Santhals went on a

rampage. They targeted policemen and money lenders for a fierce attack, “…for a whole fortnight the

Santhals carried fire and sword throughout the western district.”(Vasudha Dhagamwar, 2006, p.156).

Not only the Santhals but also the Pahadiyas of the Rajmahal hills and Bhils from north-west

Maharashtra confronted the English during different time periods. The first were the Pahadiyas, whose

saga lasted from 1773 to 1828- roughly about half a century. The next were the Bhils. The English dealt

with them from about 1818 till the Mutiny in 1857. The Santals entered in the last quarter of the 18th

century. They posed a serious threat to the British for a large part of the second half of the 19th century.

The Pahadiyas and the Bhils challenged the British as they considered the British as invaders or encroachers,

while the Santals were virtually pulled into Santal Parganas by the British(Vasudha, Dhagamwar, 2006,

p.30.), (Nithya Rao, 2003).

Following the introduction of market economy, a class of traders also developed in the tribal

areas. The self-sufficient tribal economy was converted into a market economy. The British forest policies

curtailed the tribal rights to use the forest produce. The tribals responded to their exploitation and oppression

in the form of revolts and movements. Their agitations against the outsiders could be called anti-colonial.

They revolted against the British because of their exploitation in the form of encroachment on their land,

eviction from their own holdings and annulment of their traditional legal and social rights and customs.

They also fought against enhancement of rent, for transfer of land to the tiller and for abolition of

feudal and semi-feudal forms of land ownership. All their agitations were related to the fundamental

question of their existence. In course of time these movements were merged with the national movement

(Unit-15).

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Independent India and the era of planning

By the time of decolonisation, the British imperialists had “systematically destroyed all the fibres

and foundations of Indian society”. In 1947, sixty percent of the population lived in poverty; twenty two

percent of rural households owned no land and twenty five percent owned less than one acre. (James,

P. J., p.33). Nehru in 1947 called for “the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of

opportunity” The famous “Tryst with destiny” speech, “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and

now the time comes to redeem our pledge not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially” in which

Nehru reminded us that “a moment comes, that comes very rarely in history, when we step out from the

old to the new, when the sole of a nation long suppressed finds its utterance” was in fact an expression of

his profound hope to expand India’s economy. He wanted the rural workers to escape from the vicious

cycle of poverty. There was increase in the investment rate which demanded for increased savings and

investment climate. Hence for implementing this mixed economy, the Industrial Policy Resolution was

passed by the Parliament in 1948 as per which private firms would coexist with state-owned corporations.

In spite of the repeated declarations by the leaders during the anti-British struggle that in independent

India ‘land to the tiller’ would be the rule, the Nehru government was reluctant to bring about any

change in the ownership of land. In fact the Nehru government began its economic policies with the

announcement of its famous ‘status quo policy’ towards foreign capital providing the latter all facilities

to carry on its business uninterruptedly. Nehru’s idea was that we must go for modern technologies. As

he says:

“with medieval techniques, we could not achieve massive advances within time

limits set by the rapid march of history. The living people of India would not wait for

that long. So we opted for modern technologies; and we completed one of the biggest

dams in the world, involving as large volume of masonry as the pyramids and the Taj,

in three years, with the assistance of 2500 persons” (D.H. Butani,1973, p.88).

Naxalism and social inequity

In the year 1967, the Naxalite movement was born in India. This movement came into being as a

result of prevailing social and economic issues. Behind the peasant unrest in Naxalbari lay deep social

woes - oppression by landlords as well as evictions and other anti-people actions of tea gardeners and

jotedars. The spirit of the law remained confined to paper and the people were left to languish. It is thus

recognized that the causes of the rise of Naxalism were in essence, socio-economic(Raman, Dixit,2010).

In fact, the Naxalbari uprising in West Bengal in May 1967 was described by the People’s Daily as

“a peal of spring thunder has crashed over the land of India” (Editorial, People’s Daily, July 5, 1967).

It went on to add that “the revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party has done the absolutely

correct thing” by adopting revolutionary line advanced by Mao Zedong which involved “relying on the

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peasants, establishing base areas in the country side, persisting in protracted armed struggle and using

the country side to encircle and finally capture the cities”.

The editorial concluded that “a single spark can start a pairie fire” and that “a great storm of

revolutionary armed struggle will eventually sweep across the length and breadth of India.” This optimism

was obviously motivated by similar hopes expressed by the leadership of the Naxalbari uprising- Charu

Mazumdiar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal. Charu Mazumdiar, the principle ideologue of “the first

authentic Maoist phenomenon” in India, held that “there was an excellent revolutionary situation in the

country with all the classical symptoms” and that organizations such as the Communist Party of India,

(Marxist) had “betrayed the cause of Indian revolution by choosing the path of parliamentarism and

class collaboration” (Venkitesh, Ramakrishnan, 2005).

Indira Rule

Indira Gandhi’s development program included agricultural modernization-the Green Revolution.

It enabled India to become self-sufficient in food. This helped in increasing the yield by five per cent per

planted acre of land, particularly in rice and wheat produce. But this has seldom benefited the small

landholding farmers and agricultural labourers including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The study of Kathryn Sebby (2010) points out that the ends as well as the means of government policy

usually are largely determined by the government’s sources of support. In most states, this support

comes from local elites and economic policy is designed to further their interests. Those who lack the

privileges of power and the resources necessary for material progress were neglected. This is what

happened in Indira’s rule too. In 1965-66, food production fell by nearly 20 percent over the previous

year and the net availability of food grains (inclusive of imports) was lower by about 15 percent. There

was widespread distress, including some deaths from starvation. This is only the tip of the iceberg. In

fact, statistics show that the proportion of Indians who are living below the poverty line and eating less

than 2,000 calories a day i.e. forty percent was the same both in the 1990s and in the 1950s.

To Shalendra D. Sharma (1999, p.42.) India’s growing weakness or incapacity “to govern wisely

and well,” stems from the personalization and centralization of power that occurred during the rule of

Indira Gandhii. Under Indira Gandhi, the systematic “deinstitutionalization of the Congress Party and

state structures, [the erosion] of professional standard and procedural norms of the Parliament, courts,

police, civil service and the feudal system” greatly eroded the autonomy and organizational capacity of

the state and effectively eliminated the channels through which society’s many “demand groups” had

long articulated and expressed their interests. This changed the development plan’s character, making it

increasingly reflective of the election manifesto of the Congress Party.

Successive Congress governments (before the Narasimha Rao regime) set up an excessively

bureaucratic economic system that shifted entrepreneurship and private initiative on the one hand and

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failed to provide primary education and basic health care to the majority of Indians on the other. Thus it

may be argued that India took the worst of both capitalism and socialism. While the rest of the world

generally perceived Nehru’s economic policies as socialist in character, his critics at home argued that he

catered to the interests of big business and thus encouraged capitalist practices (Paranjoy Guha Thakurta,

2004, p.11.).

The new economic policy announced in 1986 and the new industrial policies of Rajiv and Singh

governments systematically destroyed major public sector industries and indigenous cottage and small-

scale industries. This paved the way for the large-scale commercialization of even the core sectors (James,

P. J., p.111). In fact, during the eighties employment opportunities declined (See table 2.1) in the country.

Though the government boasted of achieving self-sufficiency in food by citing the massive stocks of

food grains, the per capita consumption of food grains was still at the level prevailing under the Nehruvian

strategy of development, indicating the lack of purchasing power of the people (See table 2.2).

Table 2.1

Average annual growth rates of employment

(Percent)

Period Rural Urban Total

1977-78 to 1983 1.59 4.22 2.10

1983 to 1987-88 1.46 2.96 1.77

Source: NSS Data quoted in 8th Plan document & James, P. J., p.119.

Table 2.2

Availability of food grains (1981-1990)Year Foodgrain stock with Govt. Per Capita availability of food grain

(as on July 1) (million tonnes) (grams per day)

1981 13.67 453.7

1982 15.50 454.0

1983 16.96 436.4

1984 22.48 477.9

1985 28.67 453.7

1986 28.28 478.3

1987 23.27 472.7

1988 11.90 449.9

1989 13.05 497.0

1990 20.31 477.0

Source: Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, 1991 & Economic Survey, Various Issues, & James, P. J., pp.120-21.

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New Trade Policy

The new trade policy reforms of the Rao government have been the logical continuation of the

three successive triennial Exim policies designed by its predecessor governments. The Rao government’s

efforts to make the trade liberalization trends “irreversible” were immediately rewarded by imperialists

“solid support” as manifested through the IMF’s prompt sanctioning of an interim loan of $ 2 billion in

that year itself (James, P. J., p.111). Export promotion, dominance of the market, prominence for the

private sector instead of authority of the public sector and opening of international economy were the

chief characteristics of the Rao government. Jainendra, Yadav(2010, p.139.) and Sanjeev, Kumar, (2010,

pp.126-133.) in their study on the Dalit situation in India point out that this new economic policy failed

to address the elementary problems like landlessness, unemployment, powerlessness and lack of ample

education and health facilities for Dalits. Rather the ruling government was only diversifying its attention

to an arena in which there was already utmost encouragement given by the state.

Post-independent policies: a post-mortem

After independence, an overriding priority of the national government, as it has been of all

governments, was to expand physical facilities to provide basic social services like education, health and

nutrition to all sections of the people. However, a number of studies and field surveys have revealed

significant weaknesses in the implementation of several of these programmes. Basic education, good

health and other human attainments are not only directly valuable as constituent elements of our basic

capabilities. These capabilities can also help in generating economic success of a more standard kind,

which in turn can contribute to enhancing the quality of human life in other ways. The intrinsic importance

of human capabilities and effective freedoms therefore has to be recognised. There are, thus, two distinct

elements in this view of economic development; (1) inalienable eminence of basic capabilities and quality

of life, and (2) the contingent but significant practical importance of many of these capabilities (especially

those related to education, health, and elementary freedoms) in promoting participatory economic growth

and through it, further advancing the quality of life that people can enjoy (Amartya, Sen, p.185).

What direction the economy should take is the crux of the debate. Protagonists of market guided

globalization argue that the present problems sprang up because the economy was not properly liberalized.

Those who are critical of the present variety of liberalization on the other hand argue that this will only

lead to extreme concentration of wealth and power in the hands of hardly 20 percent of the global

population (Unknown, Conclusion, p.38.). Conventional economics equates development with economic

development, and with large-scale industrialization. It measures the pace of development in terms of the

rate of growth of national income. The Marxian view in this regard represents the other end of the

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spectrum - that the ruling ideas of a society are the ideas of its ruling classes. Objective conditions in

capitalist societies favour the conventional definition of development because maximization of economic

growth will ensure the maximization of private profits. In socialist countries too, first the need to achieve

socialist goals and later the need to ensure their protection against attack by capitalists led to an identification

of development with economic growth and military might (Koilpillai J.Charles, 1997, pp38-.48). This

conventional development idea results in consequences that are destructive to the wide-ranging welfare

of human beings and to the physical condition of the ecosystem. It is this basic concern that has largely

motivated the approach we have tried to present in this chapter-a people-centred approach, which puts

humans at the centre of the stage.

Forest policy in independent India

The total recorded forest area in 1947 was 41.5333 million ha. This period was difficult for the

country as the forest areas stood utterly overexploited consequent to the Second World War. Very large

extents of exproprietary forest areas were degraded. Biotic pressure of forest had more than tripled

causing food shortages for both forest dwellers and livestock.

The National Forest Policy 1952

Forestry for commercial and industrial purposes turned out to be an important part of forest

management in post independent India. The British forest policies were replaced by the Forest Policy

1952. It envisaged evolving a system of land use under which different types of land would be allotted

to different uses, to lead to optimal production without degrading its worth. The productive, protective

and recreational values of forests were recognized and the policy also spoke of the minimum of one third

of the geographical area to be under forests (Ganesamurthy, V.S.,2009,p.47.). In this context the

observations of the Dhebar Committee give much food for thought:

“There is a feeling amongst the tribals that all the arguments in favour of preservation and

development of forests are intended to refuse them their demands. They argue that when it is a question

of industry, township, development works or projects of rehabilitation, all these plausible arguments are

forgotten and vast tracts are placed at the disposal of outsiders who mercilessly destroy the forest wealth

with or without necessity”.

The commission in 1996 has also recommended that the State Governments should organize

Cooperative Finance and Development Corporations with a view to consolidate and develop the economy

of the tribals. This is to be done in relation to purchase of minor forest produce, supply of requirements

of the members, processing and grading of forest produce for the benefit of the tribals and the like. The

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government’s response to these well documented reports was to refuse to table the reports in Parliament.

These reports are still gathering dust in the corridors of power.

Social Forestry

Social forestry was first recognized as an important component of forestry to meet rural needs by

the interim report of the National Commission on Agriculture (NCA), 1972. The objective was to fulfil

the basic and economic needs of the community. It included farm forestry, community woodlots and

reforestation in degraded lands. By mid-1980, the concept of social forestry was firmly established as

forestry ‘for the people, with the people and by the people’, Investment in forestry went up from 0.51

percent in the 5th Plan to 1.03 per cent in the 7th Plan, the majority of which was made in the area of social

forestry while a much smaller proportion was allocated for protection and regeneration of state forests.

Multi-lateral and bilateral funding organizations, (e.g. World Bank, SIDA, etc) funded social forestry

programmes in different states (Ganesamurthy, V.S.(2009), p.62.).

Social forestry programmes usually concentrated on the plantations of Eucalyptus species. These

plantations were encouraged in the private farmlands, especially in the dry land agriculture areas

through the social forestry programmes of the state forest departments. Vandana Shiva and others were

vociferous against these programmes, which they thought will lead to ecological degradation. Their

study points out:

‘The social forestry has been ignoring the disastrous ecological impact of eucalyptus, especially in

the farm lands in the rain fed areas. The farmers who are in touch with the soil have been expressing

caution against it. The most important observations made by the farmers and totally supported by

scientific data generated throughout the world are that Eucalyptus plantations deplete water resources,

rob the soil of its fertility and induce soil erosion”(Vandana Shiva, S.T. Somasekhara Reddy &

J. Bandhyopadhyay(1986), J.K.Sharma, C.S. Nair, S. Kedharnath, S. Kondas (eds.), pp.237-245.)

The National Forest Policy of India (1988)

The revised ‘National Forest Policy’ of 1988 primarily has a goal of maintaining environmental

balance and the ecological restoration of disturbed areas. Its main features are;

1. Maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and restoration of ecological

balance.

2. Conservation of the natural heritage of the country by preserving the remaining natural forests

and protecting the vast genetic resources for the benefit of posterity.

3. Meeting the basic needs of the people, especially the need for fuel wood, fodder and small

timber of the poor and tribal people.

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4. Maintaining the intrinsic relationship between forests and the tribal and other poor people

living in and around forests by protecting their customary rights and concessions on the forests

The Policy’s main approach was as follows;

1. Existing forest land and forests will be fully protected. Their productivity will be improved.

Emphasis will be given to enhance forest cover on hill slopes and catchment areas of rivers.

2. In order to conserve biological diversity, a network of sanctuaries, national parks, biosphere

reserves and other protected areas will be extended and better managed.

3. The people will be actively involved in programs of protection, conservation and management

of forests.

The policy also emphasizes boosting scientific forestry research towards the attainment of the

policy goals. Some priority areas of research broadly indicated in the policy are;

1. Increasing forest productivity.

2. Revegetation and restoration of barren, marginal, waste, mined lands and watersheds.

3. Conservation and management of existing forest resources (mainly natural forest ecosystems).

4. Social forestry in rural and tribal development.

5. Efficient utilization of forest produce and finding substitutes for wood.

6. Research related to wildlife and management of national parks and sanctuaries (Shrivastava,

M. B., 1997, pp.240-41.).

The National Forest Policy of 1988 did for the first time explicitly recognise that domestic

requirements of local people should be the first charge on forest resources. It also emphasised safeguarding

their customary rights and closely associated adivasis in the protection of forests. But movements towards

a people-oriented perspective have not been matched by reality on the ground. Corruption is

institutionalized and destruction of the forest by all parties proceeds apace. This deforestation has ruined

original adivasi habitats and forced them to move out. This has happened in the name of development as

well. The government admits that nearly 20 million people have been displaced by dams, mines, industries

and wildlife sanctuaries. In fact, seventy-five per cent of them have not been rehabilitated. (Mihar, Shah,

2005, pp.4895-98.).

Joint Forest Management (JFM)

The Government of India introduced participation of the people in managing forests by issuing a

Joint Forest Management resolution in June 1990. Its main objective is to make possible the forest

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departments to involve people in the management of forests. Joint Management of forest lands has been

defined as management of state forest lands jointly by the state and local communities with joint sharing

of benefits (Singh, K, D., et.al, 2005). It is the sharing of products, responsibilities, control and decision

making authority over forest lands between forest department and local user groups. It envisages a

movement from centralized management to decentralized management, production motives to

sustainability, large working plans to micro plans, unilateral decision making to participatory decision

making, controlling people to facilitating people and timber production to multiple products combined

with biodiversity (Gireesh, M.R., year not mentioned)

In fact, the guidelines issued by the Government of India were based on the success achieved in a

pilot project that began in the 1970s in Arabari in Southern West Bengal. This project was based on

involving communities in the protection of degraded forest lands dominated by sal. In return for protecting

the sal forests, the forest department agreed to give the villagers all non-timber forest products (NTFPs)

and a 25 percent share in timber. This arrangement proved to be quite successful. In addition to the sal,

a wide variety of productive species associated with sal began to flourish resulting in a steady increase in

income to women collecting NTFPs. Senior foresters in the state were so impressed with these results that

by mid-80s they advocated the extension of the project to similar ecological zones through out South

West Bengal. By the end of 1991, community based forest protection committees were protecting

approximately 2 lakh hectares of land (Saxena, N.C.). Another well known pilot experiment in the mid-

1970s was in Sukhomargi (Haryana).

During the first 20 years since its inception, Joint Forest Management has witnessed a phenomenal

growth. 22 states undertook measures to create local institutions for protection and forest management.

These were known by different names like Forest Protection Committees, Village Forest Committees,

Van Samrakshana Samithi, Village Forest Protection Management Committee etc. By 2000 end, about

36130 forest protection committees were managing 10.25 million hectare of forest area. Government of

India issued guidelines for JFM in the year 2000 with a view to iron out issues like:

• Providing legal status to JFM.

• Increase the participation of women.

• Extension of JFM to areas with 40 percent or more crown cover.

• Improving effectiveness of micro plans.

• Recognition to self initiated forest protection groups.

• Reinvestment in forest regeneration and development (Singh, K, D., et.al(2005).

38

Many states have conducted evaluation of JFM. But the evaluation was mostly donor driven.

Hence only donor concern was highlighted in most reports. In fact, though forest protection committees

have been formed, their functioning is a cause for concern. Lack of community participation, ineffective

leadership, lack of statutory institutional support etc are major concerns (Murali, K.S. et.al, (2003).

Studies from Andhra Pradesh find that problems with participatory forest management are mainly due to

persistent, power inequalities between local people and the state and the limited devolution of power.

(Natural Resources Highlights: Six Forestry JFM in India Fails the Poorest People). In Karnataka, only

one third of the community assigned forest produce was distributed by forest department to the members

in 18 JFM committees in Uttara Kannada District. A study on JFM in Orissa found that benefits’ sharing

is the most contentious issue. A study in Jharkhand reveals that it is the wealthier sections of the community

who have benefited from Joint Forest Management at the expense of the poor. In the Attapady Waste

Land Comprehensive Environmental Conservation Project (Kerala) the traditional access arrangements

for tribals such as grazing of cattles in the commons have been changed thereby affecting their livelihood

(Kulbhooshan, Balooni, 2009)

The study of Timothy J. Boyle on JFM shows that the emergence of community cohesiveness and

participation cannot always be taken for granted, even when the people face a distress situation. Hence

in such a situation the success of JFM depends on how the forest department helps the group in removing

encroachments, providing funds and technical help and mediating in inter-village and intra-village conflicts.

Another drawback is that the forest department controls the forest protection committees in villages

though JFM was introduced to involve communities in forests. The government forest conservation

policy also ignores the fact that forests managed solely by tribals in Orissa and the Northeast are in far

better shape than those managed by the state (Sopan, Joshi, 2003, p.26.).

A clash between villagers and the government over forest resources in Dewas district of Madhya

Pradesh has led to the constitution of a high level committee of enquiry, and potentially a move to

‘democratise Forest Protection Committees set up by the state in order to give democratic institutions a

greater role in their operation. The conflict had started because an organised group of villagers decided

to stop paying bribes to the Forest Department and the police to access resources to which they were in

fact entitled. Also in Madhya Pradesh, a public hearing was organised by villagers in Harda to voice the

forest-related demands they perceived as legitimate (Pari Baumann and Subir Sinha, 2001).

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006

The drafting of this Bill emerged from the great effort for implementation of orders issued by the

MoEF in 1990. Dr. B.D. Sharma, Commissioner for SC and ST (a constitutional authority), gave

39

recommendations in 1990 based on his 1989 reviews of the conditions prevailing in the tribal areas.

A Committee of Secretaries and the Cabinet approved these recommendations, based on which the

MoEF (3months after the JFM notification) issued guidelines for regularization of forest land rights and

for resolving conflicts related to forest land. These recommendations aimed at three issues mainly (1) to

regularize the pre-1980 ‘encroachment’ of forest land by giving land tiles to the settlers. (2) to settle

dispute claims over forest land arising out of faulty forest settlements. (3) to recognize leases/pattas

(i.e. provisional tenure documents) issued by revenue departments under due government authority on

land recorded in its records as revenue land which was also recorded as forest land in forest department

records.

The process involved in the drafting of the bill was however criticized for a general lack of

transparencyii. Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Brinda Karat commented that “though the bill is

welcomed there are many infirmities in it that would hamper the interests of the tribes living in the

forests”. Observing that proper data had not been collected on the existence of tribal habitats inside

forests, Ms. Karat felt that manipulation of the statistics should not be allowed. Also, tribes should not be

evicted on the basis of this faulty data. She further suggested that the proposed law should take into

account the existence of habitats on an “as is where is” basis of 1980 as the cut off year (Staff Reporter,

2005) & (Mahesh, Rangarajan, 2005, p.4898.).

JPC Recommendations

One of the first recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was that the settlement

of rights should be excluded from October 25, 1980 to December 13, 2005. This is to negate the adverse

impact of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, whose provisions were loaded more in favour of industry

than local people. The JPC introduced new provisions to recognize the rights of displaced and rehabilitated

people. It also made the consent of the grama sabha mandatory for the diversion of forest land for non-

forest purposes, in compliance with the Samata Judgment of July 1997(Archana Prasad, 2007, pp. 6-8).

However the limitations of the JPC report are that it did not take into account issues relating to the

ecological health of the resource and fringe area development. These are essential in order to ensure the

long-term sustainability of tribal livelihoods.

Changes introduced in the Bill

One of the modifications introduced is that it included the people living in National Parks and

Sanctuaries, but these rights needed to be secured and strengthened more. Currently these people are

governed by the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act 2002, which gives no rights to people living in the

National parks, and grants only minimal rights to people living in sanctuaries. After much debate, section

40

4(1) (Para 2 and 3) was added in the Bill which made rights in the “core areas” of national parks and

wildlife sanctuaries “provisional” for five years, during which it places the onus on the Ministry of

Environment and Forests to relocate people with “due compensation”. The Amended Bill of 2006 does

not accept the administrative category of “core areas”, instead it replaces it with the more descriptive

classification of “critical wildlife areas” which will now be identified on a rational scientific basis by

local and other experts. The amended Bill also stipulates that the process of identification should also

include “traditional knowledge holders” and take place through democratic mechanisms (Archana Prasad,

2006 & 2007). This is a welcome step and would help to further democratize forest management in the

country.

The Act came into force on 31 Dec. 2007, and its implementing rules were issued on Jan. 1st 2008.

But FRA 2006 has not been without its critics. To quote Savyasaachi(2010),

“it is worth considering that the FRA 2006 has been legitimized by claiming that it is in the

interest of the people ; However it is in fact in the interest of the newly forged alliance between the

state and the market necessities… With this Act, the debate tigers vs. tribals has been intensified.

Will the right to ‘forest land’ in and around CWLH (Critical Wild Life Habitats) threaten the tiger

and biodiversity? This Act puts in place conditions that will not make such coexistence possible…

These forest dwellers are on the frontiers because they have a zero carbon foot print and their lives

are relatively speaking free of debts. The threat to coexistence comes form external forces- the

“Rights Regime” and the construction of reserves of nature”...

The tiger is in the centre, supported by the state, because it is a totem of masculinity, of

power, of the accompanying macho public culture of conquest. It also stands for the patriarchal

modes of looking at “natural resources as capital”. A defence of the tiger carries forward the

tradition of destroying all that is feminine in nature and culture and legitimises the political

ecology of the surplus value, capital and the industrial system. This tradition has been well

documented by Carolyn Merchant in her book the “Death of Nature…”

FRA 2006 distances forest workers from the forests undermining the foundational value of

the forest. It carries forward the teleological positing of labour for rapid profit accumulation. It

has been designed to further the interest of capital. FRA 2006 converts the forest dwellers into the

reserve army of labour available for the rapid reproduction of capital. FRA therefore belongs to

the realm of industrial production: it serves the modern consumers and the global polity. To undo

injustices it will be necessary to restore the foundational value of the forest. This can happen only

if it is recognized that the value of “destroyed forest” cannot be calculated and is not reducible to

economic value.

Tribal development and Land Acquisition

The most favoured establishment explanation for where we went wrong in our development planning

is the faulty implementation rather that flaws in our policies. This faulty implementation is seen in order-

41

orientation of the bureaucracy and corruption. But the reality is that the development projects taken up

by the government do not satisfy their chief justificatory principle, viz. the common good or the welfare

of all (Niraja Gopal Jayal, 1998, pp.147-48.) A typical example for this is the post-independence economic

development based on large projects and big industries that entailed widespread displacementiii. The

Land Acquisition Act existing in India is more than a hundred years old. Though several amendments

have been brought about in this Act from time to time, the acquisition procedure remains as it used to be

when this law first came into existence. The procedures for long involved in this include:

1. one requisitioning body places a request for land acquisition before the government represented

by the District Collector;

2. the Collector after studying the proposal notifies the same;

3. the probable land losers are identified, their land measured and compensation calculated;

4. if the Government/Collector is satisfied, compensation is awarded, notified land is acquired

and transferred to the requisitioning body, even though the land losers may not have accepted

the compensation;

5. those land losers who are not satisfied with the measurement of land, the declared compensation

or the apportionment of the said compensation between interested persons can approach the

Courts for redressal(Mohammed Asif, 1999, p.1564.);

For the Hirakud dam in Orissa 1,12,038.59 acres of cultivated land was acquired in the 1950s.

According to the Orissa government in 2000, approximately Rs. 6 crore (out of the assessed compensation

of Rs. 9 crore) has not reached the 3098 affected families. The tribal land area of 7,297 and 12, 195,52

acres was acquired for defence purposes in various places in the country(Mohammed, Asif, 1999, pp.

1564-65.). Twenty three lakh acres were acquired in Orissa between 1951-1995, for dams, mines,

industries, roads, railways and other schemes. Around 15 lakh persons were deprived of their livelihood

(Walter Fernandes 1998, p.2703.). The Polavaram project in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh

submerged 276 tribal villages. Here 65.75 percent of the displaced are dalits and tribals. In the 94,357

acres of land subject to submergence there are 29,852 acres of poramboke lands. Poramboke lands are

recognised only as government lands. Tribals cannot claim compensation for these lands (Palla, Trinadha

Rao, 2006, pp.1437-39).

The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy of 2007 notified on 31st October 2007 defined

land acquisition “as acquisition of land under the Land Acquisition Act 1894 (1 of 1894) as amended

from time to time or any other law of the union or a state for the time being in force.” This upholds the

sovereign power of the state to apply the concept of “eminent domain” to forcibly acquire any private

property in any part of the country in the name of “public purpose”. However unless the state addresses

42

the issues raised by the misuse of the Land Acquision Act of 1894 the Act will continue to be a cause of

conflict. India needs development, but not at the cost of mushrooming clash. Responsibilities of the state

are to give an atmosphere where development can thrive, at the same time allowing all stakeholders

equal opportunities to obtain rewards. The duty of the state is not to pile the odds in favour of the

powerful, force land acquisition and disempower the weak and the most vulnerable such as the STs.

Otherwise it will only be a continuation of the colonial model with its anti-people character.

The ground reality is that the land resources of the scheduled tribes are being rapidly depleted by

the government, which has the constitutional responsibility to protect the tribals. The displacement will

mean deprivation of the privileges and protection guaranteed to the STs under the Vth Schedule of the

Constitution with reference to Article 244 and other allied articles for constitutional governance, tribal

protective Land Transfer Regulation 1 to 70 and legal principles of tribal self-rule envisaged under

Panchayats Extension of Scheduled Areas Act 40/96 (PESA).

Scheduled tribes and agrarian political economy

The introduction of a definite right to private property in land, increased market-oriented production,

better irrigation and transport facilities, growth of usury capital, flow of money into land, etc were the

changes in the agrarian sector made by the British. After independence, there are three phases in the

evolution of agrarian relations: reform and consolidation of agriculture during the 1950s and 1960s on

the lines charted out during the freedom struggle; the green revolution and the growth of populism

during the 1970s and 1980s; and liberalisation and the deterioration of the farmers’ condition during the

1990s and thereafter (Suri, K.C., 2006, p.1524.). Infact the era of Jai Kisan had ended with Lal Bahadur

Shastri. The late 1960s was an intense inner party struggle for power in the Congress at the central level.

The logic of democratic politics was at play in changing the nature of politics.

The Indira-led Congress was based mainly on populist promises. Politics henceforth hovered around

attracting the backward, dalit and minority votes by appealing to their ethnic identities (Suri, K.C., 1996,

p.1527.). The liberalization of agricultural exports shifted the crop pattern towards high value crops and

resulted in diversion of food grains to cash crop. This adversely affected the food security of vulnerable

population groups. It is argued that under economic liberalization process food subsidies to consumers

for basic cereals has fallen sharply, and that it has impacted upon the nutritional intake of the poor. In

India, an overwhelming majority of the farmers are small and marginal and they are not able to take

advantage of liberalization and the attractive prices available for export crops. There is a clear decline in

the area under cultivation in several states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Orissa and Rajasthan right

from the early 1980s (Dhanasekaran, K.(2006), pp.98-99.).

Liberalization policies added to the woes of agriculture. While the developed could successfully

use the WTO terms relating to tariff regimes, anti-dumping laws and dumping food in the name of aid or

43

dumping other agrarian produce in the market of the developing nations with high subsidies to their

farmers destroyed the farmers’ economy in the developing nations. The share of agriculture to the GDP

has declined from 61 percent in 1950-51 to 24.2 per cent in 2001-02 while the people dependent on

agriculture has declined only marginally from 77 per cent to 69 per cent during this period. A disturbing

feature of recent trends in this sector is that real investments in agriculture, both public and private, have

been fragmented. Investible resources with State Governments have been seriously eroded because of

large increases in unproductive current expenditure and the heavy burden of losses on the provision of

basic economic services in rural areas such as electric power and irrigation. (Montek S. Ahluwaia, ‘India’s

Economic Reforms’, N. Ravichandran (ed.) (1999), p.40.).

The persistent decline in the relative productivity in agriculture sector has worst affected the income

of agricultural workers. A large portion of these workers come from Dalit, Adivasi and other backward

classes. During the 1980s, all independent peasant organizations and leaders (such as Narayanaswamy

Naidu, Mahendra Singh Tikait, Sharad Joshi) as well as parties like Lok Dal and Kisan Sabhas controlled

by communist parties went in for agitations for remunerative prices of agricultural products. But these

protests soon got shrunken. In fact successive governments lost interest in the real problems of peasants

after they were voted to power and all these cries fell on deaf ears.

Scheduled Tribes and literacy

Education is fundamental for the construction of democratic societies. It builds ‘human capabilities’

the essential and individual power to reflect, make choices, seek a voice in society, and enjoy a better life

(Sen, 1999). It stands for humanism tolerance, adventure of ideas and search for truth. What sculpture is

to a block of marble, education is to the human soul. The philosopher, the saint, the hero lie hidden in a

plebian, which only a proper education could disinter and bring to light.

A review of literacy rates among ST population in comparison with that of the general population

indicates a growing gap between literacy rates of these communities. Realising that Scheduled Tribes are

one of the most deprived and marginalized groups with respect to education, a host of programmes and

measures were initiated ever since independence in India. Infact Article 45 of the Indian Constitution

guarantees free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 within 10 years of adoption

of the Constitution and socio-economic conditions require that SCs and STs be given top priority in this

regard. But the reality is that public expenditure (Centre and States) on education is only around 3.6 per

cent of GDP. The latest in the pipe line is the agenda for the Government as regards literacy for the period

from 2009-2014 that has been set in the address of the Hon’ble President of India to the Parliament on

the 4th of June 2009. To quote the Hon’ble President herself:

44

Table 2.3Literacy Rate among tribes in India (1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 & 2001)

Sl. No. State/UTs 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

1. Andhra Pradesh 4.41 5.33 7.82 17.16 37.04

2. Assam 23.58 26.02 —— 49.16 62.52

3. Bihar 9.16 11.64 16.99 26.78 28.17

4. Gujarat 11.69 14.12 21.14 36.45 47.74

5. Haryana —— —— —— —— ——

6. Himachal Pradesh 8.63 15.89 25.93 47.09 65.50

7. Jammu & Kashmir —— —— —— —— 37.46

8. Karnataka 8.15 14.85 20.14 —— 48.27

9. Kerala 17.26 25.72 31.79 57.22 64.35

10. Madhya Pradesh 5.10 7.62 10.68 57.22 41.16

11. Maharashtra 7.21 11.74 22.29 21.54 55.21

12. Manipur 27.25 28.71 39.74 36.79 65.85

13. Meghalaya —— 29.49 31.55 53.63 61.34

14. Nagaland 14.76 24.01 40.32 46.71 65.95

15. Orissa 7.36 9.46 13.96 60.59 37.37

16. Punjab —— —— —— —— ——

(cont.)

17. Rajasthan 3.97 6.47 10.27 —— 44.66

18. Sikkim —— ——- 33.30 19.44 67.14

19. Tamil Nadu 5.91 9.00 20.46 59.01 41.53

20. Tripura 10.01 15.03 23.07 27.89 56.48

21. Uttar Pradesh —— 14.59 20.45 40.37 63.23

22. West Bengal 6.55 8.92 13.21 35.70 43.40

23. Andaman 1.10 17.85 31.11 27.78 66.79

24. Arunachal Pradesh —— 5.20 14.04 56.62 49.62

25. Chandigarh —— —— —— 34.45 ——

26. Dadra 4.40 8.90 16.86 —— 41.24

27. Delhi ——- —— —— 28.21 ——

28. Goa —— 12.73 26.48 —— 55.88

29. Lakshadweep 22.27 41.37 53.13 80.59 86.14

30. Mizoram —— 53.49 59.63 82.71 89.34

31. Pondichery —— —— —— —— ——

32. Daman and Diu —— —— —— 52.91 63.42

India 8.54 11.29 16.35 29.60 47.10

Source: (i) Census of India, Series-1, Paper-1, Provisional Population Totals 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001.(ii) Ministry of Human Resource Development, Annual Report, 1995-96

(iii) Census 2001

45

“it will be a new overarching country wide literacy programme which will strive to create a literate

society through a variety of teaching learning programmes for non-literate and neo-literate adults in the

age group of 15 years and above, the prime focus being women”

The Scheduled Caste (15 %), Scheduled Tribe (8%) and Minorities (20%) together constitute more

than 40 per cent of India’s population. In terms of illiterate population, SCs constitutes 20.5 per cent and

STs 12 per cent. Targets have been fixed taking into account not only the share of their population, but

also their share of the neo-literate population and commensurate resources are proposed to be invested

for raising their literacy level (Saakshar Bharat, n.d.). But these remain largely rhetorics and statistical

analysis of literacy rate of the STs show that they have made no appreciable advance in literacy and

education (Table 2.3).

A review of literacy rates among ST population in comparison with that of the general population

indicates a growing gap between literacy rates of these communities. Along with this are the problems of

intra and inter-state/district variations in the literacy rates amongst STs. While the national average literacy

rate in 1991 was 52.21 per cent, it was lowest for the Scheduled Tribes which is 29.60 per cent (Scheduled

Castes 37.34 per cent). The literacy level of STs in comparison to the general population is as shown

below.

Table 2.4Literacy rates of STs and total population (1961-2001)

Category 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Total Population* 24.02 29.45 36.23 52.21 64.84

Scheduled Tribes 8.53 11.30 16.35 29.60 47.10

Gap between STs &

Total Population 15.49 18.15 19.88 22.61 17.74

Source: Educational Development of SCs and STs, 1995, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource

Development, GOI, New Delhi.Census of India, 2001: Provisional Population Totals,

Registrar-General & Census Commissioner of India, GOI, New Delhi.

*Including ST

Between 1961 and 2001, the literacy rate of STs increased 5.32 times, while that of total population

increased only 2.69 times. However the gap between the literacy rates of STs and of the general population

continued between 1961 and 2001 almost at the same level of 17.70 per cent and above, but with

marginal variations. The educational gaps may be viewed as due to the differences in the provisions of

46

educational facilities, socio-economic status of the parents, lack of inspiration for education, geographical

isolation, lack of communication and social distance. The tribal women’s literacy rates in the states of

Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa is around ten per cent while in the states like Rajasthan it is

as low as four per cent (male-33.29 %). A detailed picture of the sex-wise literacy rates of Scheduled

Tribes is given in table 2.5.

Table 2.5Sex-wise Tribal Literacy Rates in India, 1991

Sl. No. State/UTs Male Female Total1 Andhra Pradesh 25.25 8.68 17.162 Arunachal Pradesh 44.00 24.94 34.453 Assam 58.93 38.98 49.164 Bihar 38.40 14.75 26.785 Goa 54.43 29.01 42.916 Gujarat 48.25 24.20 36.457 Haryana —— —— ——8 Himachal Pradesh 62.74 31.18 47.099 Jammu & Kashmir —— —— ——

10 Karnataka 47.95 23.57 36.0111 Kerala 63.38 51.07 57.2212 Madhya Pradesh 32.16 10.73 21.5413 Maharashtra 49.09 24.03 36.7914 Manipur 62.39 44.48 53.6315 Meghalaya 49.78 43.63 46.7116 Mizoram 86.66 78.70 82.7117 Nagaland 66.27 54.51 60.5918 Orissa 34.44 10.21 22.3119 Punjab —— —— ——20 Rajasthan 33.29 4.42 19.4421 Sikkim 66.80 50.37 59.0122 Tamil Nadu 35.25 20.23 27.8923 Tripura 52.88 27.34 40.3724 Uttar Pradesh 49.95 19.86 35.7025 West Bengal 40.07 14.98 27.7826 A & N Islands 64.16 48.74 56.6227 Chandigarh —— —— ——28 D & N Haveli 40.75 15.94 28.2129 Daman & Diu 63.58 41.49 52.9130 Delhi —— —— ——31 Lakshadweep 89.50 71.72 80.5832 Pondicherry —— —— ——

India 40.65 18.19 29.60

Source: Census of India, Series-1, Paper-1 of 1991, Provisional Population Totals

47

Mizoram records the highest per centage of literacy level among tribal women, followed by

Lakshadweep with a literacy level of 71.72 per cent. The states which have a high overall literacy level

have a low gender differential. While in Rajasthan there is a vast gender differential- as much as 29 per

cent between male and female literacy (33 per cent and 4 per cent respectively), in Mizoram and

Lakshadweep the gender differential is 8 and 18 per cent respectively. The male literacy in Mizoram and

Lakshadweep is 87 and 90 per cent respectively. The female level in these two places is 79 and 72 per

cent respectively. As against this Keralaiv records a difference of 12 per cent with the literacy level of

men being recorded at 63 per cent as against 51 per cent among women.

According to the report on “Development of Female Education among the Tribal Communities”

brought out by the National Commission for Women (NCW) the spread of literacy among the tribal

people of the Central belt was perceptibly low vis-a-vis the tribal population of the North-East region.

Credence is lent to this by the fact that while the overall literacy rate among the tribals of the Central belt

ranged from 17 per cent in Andhra Pradesh to 36 per cent in Gujarat, in the North-East region it varied

from 34 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh to 83 per cent in Mizoram. The lowest and highest literacy rates

among tribals are 28 per cent in Tamil Nadu and 81 per cent in Lakshadweep respectively (Agrawal, S.P.,

1999).

The drop-out rate, which is another crucial indicator in the field of educational development, also

shows that there has been a steady decline in respect to ST category. The STs had very high drop-out

rates of 57.36 in classes I to V, 72.80 in classes I to VIII and 82.96 in classes I to X during 1998-99. Also

the gap between the general population and STs was found to be widening from 13.67 in 1990-91 to

15.52 in 1998-99 at the secondary level. The drop-out rates among general population and STs is given

in table 2.6.

Table 2.6Drop-Out Rates among STs and Total Population (1990-91 and 1998-99)

Category Classes (I-V) Classes (I-VIII) Classes (I-X)

1990-91 1998-99 1990-91 1998-99 1990-91 1998-99

Total* 42.60 39.74 60.90 56.82 71.34 67.44

STs 62.52 57.36 78.57 72.80 85.01 82.96

Gap between STs

and Total Popln. 19.92 17.62 17.67 15.98 13.67 15.52

Source: Educational Profile of States/UTs, Department of Education,Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI, New Delhi

48

From the above data, we can conclude that although the drop-out rates have been showing a

declining trend among STsV in classes I to VIII from 78.6 per cent in 1990-91 to 72.8 per cent in 1998-

99, yet the same is still very high, when compared to 60.9 per cent and 56.8 per cent of general categories,

respectively for the same years indicating a gap of 17.7 and 16.0 per cent. Several reasons are attributed

for this phenomenon; uneducated parents, lack of concern to education, non-availability of educational

facilities etc.

Table 2.7Drop-Out Rates, 2004-05 ST

(Provisional)

Year SexClasses I to V Classes I to VIII Classes I to X

All ST Gap All ST Gap All ST Gap

2004-05 Boys 31.8 42.6 -10.7 50.4 65.0 -14.6 60.4 77.8 -17.4

Girls 25.4 42.0 -16.6 51.3 67.1 -15.8 63.9 80.7 -16.8

Total 29.0 42.3 -13.3 50.8 65.9 -15.1 61.9 79.0 -17.1

Source: Selected Educational Statistics 2004-05 of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India.

The ground reality is that the state policy and bureaucracy together failed to provide both

quantitatively and qualitatively the most essential element for the tribes i.e. education. Investment of the

state in education undoubtedly represented a shift from mass exclusion to mass inclusion. But this has

been exceedingly delayed, weak and highly prejudiced. Scheduled Tribe children are largely dead beat

at the primary level itself. Livelihood and survival questions could be two major questions at the household

level to influence the choice of sending the child to school. There occurs an effective physical exclusion

of these children or they achieve low levels of schooling, which do not necessarily reflect learning.

Public Distribution System

The Public Distribution System (PDS) could be called the flagship of public food delivery system

in India. In India PDS grew from a rationing system in big cities during the Second World War into a

Universal programme for the provision of cheap food and a component of the strategy to alleviate

poverty. The PDS coverage in the first phase 1939-1960, was largely confined to urban areas. Major

organizational changes were introduced in the second phase (1960-78) and this period saw the gradual

expansion of PDS network. In 1958, when the government decided to import substantial quantities of

wheat from USA to meet the domestic food grain shortage, the PDS was expanded. In 1966, following

the recommendations of V.M.Dandekar, the number of FPSs, was increased to 1,14,200 in 1967 covering

49

280 million of the population. (Report on the State of Food Insecurity in Rural India, 2008, pp.57-58.).

In the third phase (1979-91), the growth of domestic production allowed for a sustained expansion of

public distribution. The last and current phase is that of the period of structural adjustment, a phase of

weakening of the system of public distribution (Madhura, Swaminathan, 2000, p.13).

At the same time a revamped PDS was launched in June 1992 in 1700 blocks, for the tribals, hill

and arid area populations remotely located and having poor infrastructure. Additional items like tea,

soap, pulses and iodized salt were made available under the RPDS. It was decided by the Government of

India during mid-1990s that the geographical coverage of RPDS would be extended to the entire 2,446

Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) blocks. Under the scheme of RPDS, food grains (rice and wheat)

are allocated to states and union territories for RDS blocks at lower price (viz) Rs. 50 per quintal lower

than central issue prices for normal PDS blocks(Bhaskar, Majumder, 2004, pp.29-30). Targeted PDS

(TPDS) was introduced on 1st june 1997 replacing the earlier PDS. This was based on the principle of

‘poor in-all areas’. The ration card population was divided into two categories, APL and BPl. BPL

families were assured a quantum of 10 kg. per family at very low prices(Taimni, B.K., 2001, p.73.).

The performance of PDS however leaves much to be desired. According to NSSO data, at the all

India level, between 1972-73 and 1993-94, per capita consumption of cereals declined from 15.3 to

13.4 kg per month. During these two decades, there occurred a steady decline in the food share from

about 73 per cent to 55 per cent at the all-India level. A Study conducted by Bimal Jalan (1996, p.145.)

points out that except in times of emergency or droughts, the poor in rural areas are dependent on private

markets for meeting their requirements of food.

Even in the case of TDPS while it may be reasonable to presume that BPL families profited from

the change in policy, it cannot be denied that two important points deter its fuller appreciation. First, the

quantum of allotment of 10 kg. per family at best meets only 20 per cent of their requirement and for the

rest the family has to depend on other sources - largely open market. Second, based on the premise that

the greater the difference between open market price and the issue price, greater will be the propensity

for leakage, the higher off take figures under BPL leave one with an uncertain feeling of satisfactionvi.

Thus both the former rationing system and the current PDS/TPDS do not appear to be ‘targeted’ on the

basis of ‘need’. This reflects the origin and follow up programs at best as a general scheme to allocate

scarce commodities (Taimni, B.K., 2001, p.73.).

Tribal development programmes

The Indian Constitution has bestowed upon the States the responsibility of undertaking tribal welfare

programmes in the country. Article 275 of the Constitution focuses on tribal areas and their development,

50

while Article 244 and Fifth Scheduled encompass administration of Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas.

Tribal development in India is based on a twin approach namely protection of their interests through

legislative and administrative support and promotion of developmental efforts through plan schemes.

The Nehruvian era laid the foundation of the tribal policy which was pivoted around what is often

regarded as the Panchsheel. This emerged as the guiding principle of tribal policy towards the close of

the 1950s. The five fundamental principles are as follows:

1. People should develop along the lines of their own genius and we should avoid imposing

anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their own art and craft.

2. Tribal right in land and forest should be respected.

3. We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the work of administration

and development. Some technical personnel from outside will, no doubt, be needed, especially

in the beginning. But we should avoid introducing too many outsiders into tribal territory.

4. We should not over-administer these areas or overwhelm them with a multiplicity of schemes.

We should rather work through and not in rivalry to, their own social and cultural institutions.

5. We should judge results, not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but by the quality of

human character that is evolved.

Tribal development programmes cannot be divorced from the general development programmes

introduced in India. The following table gives a birds’ eye view of plan wise development

programmes ever since the first Five Year Plan took off in 1951, and the components thereof aimed at

tribal development.

Tribal development blocks

For the economic development of the tribes, the programme of Tribal Development Blocks was

initiated in the central sector in 1956. This was designed mainly for a rapid improvement of the economic

and social standards of the tribal people by selecting underdeveloped compact areas for multi-faceted

development. Shilu Ao Committee was appointed in 1969 for reviewing the tribal development

programmes. This Committee, while agreeing with the Dhebar Commission on the point of suitability of

the Tribal Development Block, came to the conclusion that this scheme of the Blocks was inadequate for

dealing with the complex problems of tribal development. The main problem according to this committee

is indebtedness, land alienation, educational backwardness, and inadequacy of communication which

were not adequately provided within the framework of Tribal Development Blocks (Sarit Kumar,

Chaudhuri, 2004, pp.19-20.).

51

Table 2.8Tribal Development Programmes

Plan Period Tribal Development Programmes

1st Five Year Plan (1951-56) Community Development Approach (Tribal Development

projects)

2nd Five Year Plan (1956-61) Special Multipurpose projects for tribal people (creation of TD

Blocks)

3rd Five Year Plan(1961-66) Improvement of the general CD approach (improvement of

TD Blocks)

4th Five Year Plan (1969-74) Administrative Frame programme implementation and protective

measures (Tribal Development Agencies)

5th Five Year Plan(1974-79) Total and Comprehensive view of the tribal problems and

coordination of sectoral programmes (Tribal sub-plan and

creation of LAMPS)

6th Five Year Plan(1980-85) Integrated approach and large financial allocation (expansion

Plan of TSP)

7th Five Year Plan(1985-90) Mix-up of beneficiary oriented programme and infrastructural

development (Intensive Tribal Development)

8th Five Year Plan(1992-97) Plan Considering the need of the people and participation

(District/ Regional Planning and Participation of voluntary

organisation)

9th Five Year Plan(1996-2000) Ensuring development by providing quality of education through

Ekalavya School project

10th Five Year Plan(2002-2007) National Policy for empowering tribals through their integrated

development, which will lay down the responsibilities of the

different wings of Government with appropriate accountability.

11th Five Year Plan(2007-2012) The TSP focus on “securing budgetary allocations for tribal

development, at least proportionate to their populations”, in order

to bring them at par with other sections of society and to protect

them from exploitation.

Source: Figures compiled from different Five Year Plan documents, Government of India from 1951 to 2011.

Tribal Development Agency (TDA)

Six pilot projects known as Tribal Development Agencies were taken up in the central sector. It

was stipulated that the implementation of TDA will be reviewed by the Planning Commission and the

Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation at the national level. A functional coordination-cum-implementation

committee was made responsible for reviewing of TDA at the State level.

52

Tribal Sub-Plan

Tribal Sub-Plan was evolved for tribal concentrated areas by the advent of Fifth Five Year Plan.

This is in operation in 17 States and 2 Union Territories in India. On the whole it covers 184 Integrated

Tribal Development projects, 256 Pockets of Tribal concentration, 8 clusters and 73 projects for primitive

tribal groups covering about 5.01 lakhs Sq.km. The plan was initiated for a comprehensive development

with focus on the individual tribal family.

Other development programmes

Rural Works programme, Special Nutrition Programme, Rural artisan programmes, Crash Scheme

for Rural Employment Project, Command Area Development Programme, Drought Prone Area Programme,

Whole Village Development Programme, Food-for-Work Programme and Minimum Needs Programme

are some of the development programmes with a tribal component. Some of these programmes are area

oriented programmes and some others are area-cum-beneficiary oriented programmes. The Food-for-

Work programme conceived in 1977 was organized for creating durable community assets to strengthen

rural infrastructure for socio-economic development. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Programme (MGNREGP) was implemented for the generation of additional gainful employment for the

unemployed and the underemployed persons in the rural areas. It marks a paradigm shift and stands out

among the plethora of wage employment programmes as it bestows a legal right and guarantee to the

rural population for manual unskilled work of 100 days/years to each house hold through an Act of

Parliament. In 2009-2010, 58.19 crore person days were created for the Scheduled Tribes as per this

programme.

Tribal mobilisation

The incidence of poverty among STs continues to be very high at 47.30 per cent in rural areas and

33.30 per cent in urban areas, compared to 28.30 per cent and 25.70 per cent respectively in respect to

total population in 2004-05 (See table 2.9 given below). A large number of STs who are living below the

poverty line are landless, with no productive assets and with no access to sustainable employment and

minimum wages.

Almost a third of the workers belonging to the ST communities are agricultural labourers as against

an average of one fifth for the aggregate population. Agricultural labourers have been identified as the

group that is the most susceptible to chronic poverty. This acute poverty is one of the main reasons for

increasing unrest among the tribals. Radical/extremist movements among tribes are already ruling the

roost in many parts of the country, the basic driving forces being abject poverty and the failure to receive

benefits and facilities that are legally due to them.

53

Table 2.9Population living below poverty line-ST(1993-94 and 2004-05)

Category 1993-94 2004-05 Percentage Decrease

(1993-94 and 2004-05)

Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban

All* 37.30 32.40 28.30 25.70 -9.00 -6.70

STs 51.94 41.14 47.30 33.30 -4.64 -7.84

Gap 14.64 9.76 19.00 7.60 +4.36 -2.16

*includes ST Population

Source: Perspective Planning Division, Planning Commission, New Delhi.

Land alienation, forced displacement, food insecurity, forced labour etc continue to be the main

issues of tribes even after independence. The problems faced by tribes during the colonial period in the

form of the loss of control over land and other resources due to alienation of land to non-tribes and the

state-sponsored displacement projects has continued unabated in the post-independence period(Virginus,

Xaxa, 2006, p.1369.).

The tribals of Andhra Pradesh participated in the Telangana movement and fought against the

landlords and forced labour. The Warlis of Maharashtra struck work and protested in 1944 demanding

higher wages. The tribes in Gujarat launched movements against moneylenders and liquor sellers in

1950s. In the 1960s there were Naxalbari movements in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Over two

phases 1967 to 1972 and since 1978 this movement mobilized tribals. Their primary focus was struggle

against oppression and exploitation. The mobilization was against landlords and rich peasants, money

lenders, forest and other officials [Lawrence, Surendra & Kikkeri Narayan, 2004, p.48.]). The tribes of

Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh joined the land grab movement of 1969-70

and tribes of Maharashtra participated in the Shahada and Bhoomi Sena movement in the 1970s

(Ghanshyam, Shah, 2004, p.100.). The Jharkand movement is a well organized and most articulate

movement. The main forces being the economic issues, marginalization and alienation of tribals from

agricultural land, loss of land and degradation of the environment due to industrialization, mining, loss

of forest rights, demands for proper implementation of tribal reservation etcvii. The political demands

ultimately focused on demands for a separate state (Jharkhand) within the Union of India (Lawrence,

Surendra & Kikkeri, Narayan, 2004,p.47.). The government response to the problems of tribes has

either been lukewarm, indifferent or even hostile. This explains why there has been increasing assertion

of identity among tribes. This articulation of tribal identity is gaining momentum day by day primarily

due to failure of State policies, laxity in implementation and the canker of corruption that is eating into

the moral fabric of the nation.

54

Tribes and Panchayati Raj institutions

The importance of the 73rd Constitution Amendment was that it aimed at achieving grass roots

democracy guaranteeing adequate representation to the marginalized groups like the scheduled tribes.

The Provisions of the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled areas) Act, 1996 specifies scheduled areas

and the tribal areas in accordance with the provisions in article 244 and Vth and VIth schedules of the

Indian Constitution. However George Mathew (2003) points out that nothing notable has taken place in

the field in tribal areas despite these provisions and the condition of the tribes remain more or less what

it was before. His study reveals that Scheduled tribe men and women who get elected to office are not

allowed to function in the decentralized institutions of self-government. A tribal woman sarpanch was

stripped naked while unfurling the national flag on Independence Day in a district of Rajasthan. In

another case a tribal woman sarpanch in Madhya Pradesh was paraded in the rude in a gram sabha

meeting because she was not consulting the leader of the dominant caste. The local governments based

on vibrant democracy at the grass roots will take time to establish themselves in a traditional society like

India, that is fractured and fragmented into castes and communities.

Tribes in India

In India, 427 groups have been recognised as scheduled tribes. According to 1971 census, the

total population of Scheduled Tribes was 3,80,15,162 which constituted 6.93 per cent of the total

population of the country. In the 1981 census it increased to 7.81 per cent and in the 1991 census it

stands at 7.95 per cent of the total population. In 2001, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) constituted 8 percent

of the total population of the country. In 2001 their number was around 820 lakh persons.

There is bewildering variation in population size of the scheduled tribes, ranging from 31 Jarwas

of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to more than 7 million Bhils of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra

and Gujarat (1981 Census). The highest number of tribes is represented by the State of Orissa (62) and

the lowest of Sikkim (2). The largest tribal population around 15.4 million reside in Madhya Pradesh.

Seventy four primitive tribal communities have been identified by the Government of India in 15 States/

Union Territories for taking up special socio-economic development programmes on the basis of

(a) Pre-agricultural level of technology, following a hunting-gathering way of life, (b) Extremely low

level of literacy, and (c) Small stagnant diminishing population.

Tribes can be divided into two categories: (1) frontier tribes and (2) non-frontier tribes. The former

are inhabitants of the northeast frontier states- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram,

Nagaland and Tripura. They constitute 11 percent of the tribal population. The non-frontier tribes,

constituting 89 per cent of the total tribal population, are distributed among most of the states, though

they are concentrated in large numbers in Madhya Pradesh (23 per cent ), Orissa (22 per cent), Rajasthan

55

(12 percent), Bihar (8 percent), Gujarat (14 per cent), Dadra Nagar Haveli (79 per cent) and the

Lakshadweep Islands (94 percent).

The tribal population of India has been found to speak 105 different languages and 225 subsidiary

languages indicating a great deal of variety. Languages spoken by Indian tribes can be classified into

four major families of languages, namely; Austro-Asiatic family, Tibeto-Chinese family, Dravidian family

and Indo-European family. On the basis of racial features the tribal population of India belongs to three

races namely the Proto-Australoids, the Mongoloids and the Negritos (Salil Babu, 2000).

The scheduled tribes are at different stages of social, cultural and economic development. The

cultural pattern varies from tribe to tribe and region to region. The economic life of the tribals is specific

in nature. Based on the manner in which the tribals primarily and distinctly make their living, the Indian

tribals can be classified into seven groups (Ibid.).

(i) Food Gatherers and Hunters: For example Cholanaicken, Malapandaram and the Arahdan

tribal groups of Kerala, Rajis of Uttar Pradesh, Birhor of Bihar, Hill Maria of Madhya Pradesh, Juangs of

Orissa, Chenchus of Hyderabad, Kadars of Cochin, Jenu-Kuruba of Karnataka, the Onge, the Jarwa and

the Andamanese of Andaman islands.

(ii) Shifting (Jhum) Cultivators: For example Khasis of Meghalaya, Nagas of Assam, Korwa of

Bihar, Saora of Orissa, Muria and Maria of Madhya Pradesh.

(iii) Settle Agriculturists: For example major tribes like Santhal, Munda, Ho, Oraon, Gond, Bhil,

Mina, etc.

(iv) Artisans: The number of tribes subsisting on crafts like basket making, tool making, spinning

and weaving is small e.g. Kota of Nilgiri Hills, Birhor of Bihar.

(v) The Pastoralists and Cattle Herders: For example Todas of Nilgiris, Gujar, the Bakerwal and

Gaddi in Himachal Pradesh.

(vi) The Folk Artists: For example Pradhans of Madhya Pradesh.

(vii) Wage Labourers: Large chunks of tribal territories have come under plantations, mining and

industrial development. Tribals of Chhotanagpur have gone to North East India to work on tea plantations.

The Santhals have been employed in coal mines of Bihar (Ibid.).

Tribal scene does not present a uniform canvas. The Dhebar Commission (1961) observed four

different layers among the tribal population. On top is the acculturated layer whose scheduled tribe

members have adopted more or less the way of life of non-tribal sections forming the upper crust of the

society, e.g. Minas. They have travelled the farthest from original tribal habitat. The second are the

settled scheduled tribes agriculturists e.g. Santal, Munda, Oraon, Gond, etc. in the fringe plains who

56

have come quite some way from the tribal highlander, being no longer isolated and they are in the

process of transformation. The third category is that of the highlanders who having hardly shifted from

their habitat, have undergone little transformation and may still practice shifting cultivation e.g. Khasis,

Muria and Maria. The last category, (at the base) a class of tribals, which is in an extremely underdeveloped

stage, isolated backward groups, including the so-called “primitive groups”, who, encysted in their original

habitat, have been little exposed and, consequently, preserve original socio-conomic-cultural traits, e.g.

Cholanaicken, Kadars, Onge, etc.

Primitive tribals groups of India have special health problems and genetic abnormalities like sickle

cell anaemia, G-6-PD red cell enzyme deficiency and sexually transmitted diseases. (Commissioner

Report for Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste, 1986-87). Insanitary conditions, ignorance, lack of

personal hygiene and health education are the main factors responsible for their ill health. Some primitive

tribal communities are facing extinction like the Onges, Jarwas and Shompens of Andaman and Nicobar

Islands.

Some of the problems as indicated by investigations include (a) Endemic diseases like malaria,

introduced from outside or otherwise like tuberculosis, influenza, dysentery, high infant mortality and

malnutrition, (b) Venereal diseases, induced abortion, inbreeding, addiction to opium, custom of eating

tubers of Dioscera (may cause sterility as they contain substances used in oral contraception), and

(c) Disturbed sex ratio leading to shortage of women. Urgent studies are, therefore, required on different

primitive tribal groups of India which are small in size (Salil Babu, 2000).

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i There has been a paradigm shift in the development thinking since around mid-70s. The point at the centre of thedebate was that development had become capital-centered, as opposed to people-centered. As this is concerned withproducing physical assets, it will push the people to the periphery. In this capital-centered development which wasconcomitantly technology dominated, bureaucracy-controlled and a top-down variety, people had been reduced tospectators, concerned largely with receiving whatever benefits this professional-dominated model was able to bestowupon them. See also Tripathi, S., ‘Globalization and the Poor: Tribal Problematique’

ii The main issue that has raised the eyebrows of critics is “the right of forest dwelling scheduled tribes to forest landunder their occupation for habitation or for self cultivation for livelihood needs… provided further that the rights toforest land in no case would exceed 2.5 ha per nuclear family” [clause 3(4)]. Rule 3(1) of the bill further states that thisright is “subject to the condition that such forest dwelling scheduled tribes have occupied forest land or acquiredforest rights before October 25, 1980". The biggest weakness of the bill is that it takes 1980 as the cut-off forrecognition of tribal land rights. This is a retrogressive and potentially dangerous step and bewildering too in viewof the Ministry of Environment and forests own adoption of 1993 as the cut-off date. It is difficult to visualize howmillions of people are to be evicted from the lands in their occupation for the last 20 years. See also Mihir Shah, FirstYou Push Them In, Then You Throw Them Out, Economic And Political Weekly, Vol. XL, No.$7, November 19, 2005,pp.4897-98.

iii Development in India, it is argued has followed a modernizing and homogenizing path at the cost of social diversityand the self-determination of groups and communities. The objectives and strategies of development were designedby elites without consultation with those whose lives would be most immediately affected by development schemes.Elite knowledge is positivist knowledge, based on a distinction between knowledge and empirical reality. It tends toignore the conditions on the ground. As a result, decisions are taken in which the rights of ordinary people areignored. But in the contest between elites and people, the people are at a disadvantage because of local and fragmentedcharacter of their experience and understanding. Therefore they are not always able to question the macro-narrativedevelopment This has weakened the impact of their opposition. (See also Sarah, Joseph (2002), ‘Society vs State?’,Economic and Political Weekly, January 26, p.301. )

iv The literacy movement in Kerala is very remarkable. Remote villages were lit with hundreds of Akshara Deepams(lamps of letters) every evening. More than 1.8 lakh literacy classes involving over three lakh voluntary instructorswere conducted for a fourteen month period during the campaign. Eighteen lakh illiterates learnt the art of readingand writing and the state’s literacy rate surged to 95 per cent, even exceeding the literacy rate in the US. The triballiteracy rate went up from 57.22 per cent to 64.35 per cent in 2001. In 1990 in the Muslim heartland of Malappuramalone, 3.6 lakh people were made literate. The state boasts of a continuing education programme which includeseradication of illiteracy as well as providing continuing learning to neo-literates (Chugh, Sunita, (n.d.)).

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v The government of India has successfully launched the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) and the SarvaShiksha Abhiyan (SSA) aimed at the universalization of primary and upper primary education. The program ofproviding mid-day meal to primary school children in India (National Programme of Nutritional Support to PrimaryEducation) was launched on the 15th August 1995. The aim of the program was to improve enrolment and attendanceand to take care of nutritional needs of children in grades I-V. But unfortunately it has been observed that the schoolattendance is between 12 noon and 1 pm, which is mid-day meal time. The rest of the time either the students or theteachers disappear from the school, which effectively produces no academic result. Thus the educational reformsfocusing on increasing the enrolment in the short run will help only in giving a mushroom upshot in the short timebut this may not produce sufficient veracity in the long run.

vi The political economy of food is a major component of the political economy of development in a country like Indiawhere provision of minimum calorie intake is a major unfinished task owing to the integral income, output demandand productivity linkages of activities concerning food production. The policy of delinking agrarian reforms fromthe strategy of increased labour-absorption in productive, regular economic activities, (basically agriculture andallied activities) and quickening the rate of growth of food production through strengthening a retrograde agrarianstructure under the Green Revolution package programme broke down the circuit linking food with development.See also Kamal Nayan Kabra (1990), Political Economy of Public Distribution of Food in India, Ajanta Publications,New Delhi, p.23. 1990.

vii The widespread movements in the Santal Parganas and other parts of Jharkand during the late 1960s and early 1970sled to a spate of state actions and legislation. In 1969, the Bihar Scheduled Areas Regulation sought to control morestrictly the illegal transfers of land, amending the provisions of section 20(v) of the Santal Pargana Tenency Act.Soon there after, the Bihar Moneylenders Act of 1974 and the Bihar Debt Relief Act, 1976, were passed. See also Rao,Nithya, (2003), ‘Life and Livelihood in Santal Parganas’, Economic and Political Weekly, XXXVIII(39),September 27, p.4082.