Tribal travail - New Economic Policy And The Matrix Of Poverty

Arun Kumar Ghosh
The Statesman. 18 May

The greatest challenge that the government has faced since independence is to ensure social justice for the Scheduled Tribes. Along with the Scheduled Castes and other de-notified tribes, they constitute the weakest sections of the population, indeed the matrix of India’s poverty. Historically, they have been subjected to the worst form of exploitation. However, the basis of tribal isolation and exclusion is neither caste nor religion but ethnicity. Tribals have been ethnically different from the mainstream Indian society with a distinct culture, language, social organisation, and economy.

The government has been pursuing policies of protective discrimination for the uplift of the ST ever since independence. Reservation in educational institutions and services, introduction of such schemes as the Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDPs), the tribal sub-plan under the Modified Area Development Approach (MADA), and the Special Central Assistance for Tribes. But the results have not been satisfactory.

Characteristics

Tribals are predominant in the north-central sub-region that covers Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, the north-western parts of Bengal and North Orissa. The characteristics are at once geo-climatic and demographic. As per the 2001 census, the total population in this sub-region is 49.1 million of whom 11.4 million are tribes constituting about 23 per cent of the tribal population. The major tribal communities are Santhal, Oraon, Munda, Ho, Mahali, Bhumij, Sabar, Khond, Gond and Kawar. Some of the primitive tribes living in this sub-region are the Birhor, Lodha, Mal Paharia, Hill Kharia, Juang Pauri Bhuiya.

The right to life has been enshrined in the Constitution as a fundamental right. And yet the development process, which was initiated more than 55 years ago, has not ensured a livelihood to a considerable section of the society. Though poverty has declined substantially during this period, more than a quarter of the population still lives below the poverty line. Poverty is more grinding among the marginalised sections of the society, especially among the STs. A significant segment of the tribal population is unable to earn a minimum income to meet the basic requirements. The traditional occupations are hunting, food-gathering and shifting cultivation.

The tribals have been the worst sufferers in the wake of the enactment of laws against cultivation in forest areas. To cope with the exploitation of moneylenders they have to sell their assets. The Employment and Unemployment Survey 1999-2000 brought out by NSSO shows that more than 46 per cent of the tribes were either landless or had land up to one acre. During the same period more than 55 per cent of the tribes in the rural areas were unemployed, whereas it was about 48 per cent in the urban areas. The development process in recent years has led to jobless growth.

The general health problems of the tribal communities in this sub-region resemble those of the rural and other underprivileged sections, notably malnutrition, anaemia, parasitic infections, diarrhoea and respiratory infection. Tribals also suffer from deficiency of calcium, vitamin A, and riboflavin and animal protein. The poor nutritional status of tribal women directly influences their reproductive ability and their survival, growth and development.

According to the National Family Health survey, the average Body Mass Index (BMIs) of married tribal women is substantially lower than that of the country’s general female population. Under-nutrition and anaemia among tribal children is considerably higher. In the absence of early diagnosis and treatment, these diseases may lead to infant and child mortality. In fact a large number of deaths have occurred due to acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea.

In view of the privatisation of health services and consequent increase in the price of drugs, one has to think of an alternative system of medicine which would be locally available and cost-effective. Tribals have over the decades developed their own medicine system based on herbs and other items collected from nature and processed locally. They have their own system of diagnosis and cure. However, the wisdom of replacing the traditional health care system with the modern has been questioned by a number of scholars.

Though the National Health Policy, 1983, emphasised the need for priority attention in terms of primary health coverage, it is reported that health services in tribal areas are not adequate in terms of availability of medicine, medical personnel and equipment. The National Health Policy, 2002, didn’t make any separate policy statement for tribals. The gradual withdrawal of the state from the health sector and subsequent globalisation is a matter of concern because it will affect the marginalised groups like STs and other economically weaker sections.

Despite constitutional protection, the process of alienation of tribal land has not been stopped. In most of the cases, the rights over the land and nearby forest accrued to the tribals because they cleared the forest land and made it habitable. They lived there for generations and developed a community-based pattern of ownership. The tribal areas, particularly in the sub-central region are rich in natural resources and have attracted considerable investment in mines, industries, hydel-power and irrigation projects. This has led to both direct and indirect eviction.

Planned development immediately after independence, specially the growth of core sectors, displaced a large number of persons. Conservative estimates put this figure to be between 30 and 50 million. Only about 25 per cent of such displaced persons have been properly resettled. Others became victims of the development process, and the majority of them are STs.

Resettlement

The tragedy is that despite this prior knowledge of the extent of displacement, those in charge of development projects, mostly non-tribals, pay little attention to the processes of resettlement and rehabilitation. Instead, development projects focus on economic efficiency and not on those who stand to lose all that they have ~ their land, means of livelihood and stable patterns of social and cultural life. Those tribals who are displaced by the development projects need to be recognised as stakeholders in the projects. They need to be a part of the development process.

In the era of the new economic policy, liberalisation and globalisation, the entry of the private sector in the arena of development has increased the demand for land. This simply means more displacement, dislocation of lifestyles and loss of livelihood. It has been taken for granted that large-scale displacement will occur as an integral part of liberalisation. And the tribals will suffer. The development process must ensure that there are no losers. The gains should be equitably distributed among all the stakeholders. Only then can the tribals really benefit from the process.

The author is Associate Fellow, Council for Social Development, New Delhi