Tribes in india

India has the largest concentration of tribal people anywhere in the world except in Africa.

On the whole, as per rough estimates, the prominent tribal areas constitute about 15 percent of the total geographical area of the country.

There are 705 tribes (with many overlapping types in more than one State) as per notified Schedule under Article 342 of the Constitution of India in different States and Union Territories of the country

The largest number of tribes i.e. 62 being in the State of Orissa.

• Definition - Constitution

The Constitution of India does not define Scheduled Tribes as such.

•  Article 366(25) refers to scheduled tribes as those communities who are scheduled in accordance with Article 342 of the Constitution. The term 'Scheduled Tribes' first appeared in the Constitution of India.

Article 342 Scheduled Tribes The President may, with respect to any State or Union territory, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall, for the purposes of this constitution, is deemed to be scheduled tribes

• Inclusion/Exclusion From List

Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled tribes specified

The criterion followed for specification of a community, as scheduled tribes are indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large, and backwardness.

This criterion is not spelt out in the Constitution but has become well established. It subsumes the definitions contained in 1931Census, the reports of first Backward Classes Commission 1955, the Advisory Committee (Kalelkar), on Revision of SC/ST lists (Lokur Committee), 1965 and the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes orders (Amendment) Bill 1967 (Chanda Committee), 1969.

Definitional problem of tribes

Historically, various authorities have described them by different names. Sir Herbert Risley and Lacey, V. Elwin and A.V. Thakkar called them “aboriginals”.

• Grigson regards them as “hill tribes or wilder aboriginals”. Hutton call them as “primitive tribes” . Elwin calls the Baigas, the “Original owners of the country”.

The eminent Indian anthropologist and sociologist, G.S. Ghurye calls them “backward Hindus”.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India has defined tribe as “collection of families bearing a Common name, Speaking a common dialect occupying and processing to occupy a common territory and is not usually endogamous through it might have been”.

Such definitions are not very helpful

a lot of variations in their life styles but also many of these features are shared by the caste people.

• Firstly, the people called tribals were through to live in remote forests and hilly areas, enjoying a free life of their own. The geographical isolation has been considered the central theme of such understanding of tribe.

For example , the Dublas of Surat District (Gujarat) do not live forests.

• Secondly the tribes were considered groups were living in close association with the caste groups or other groups and what differentiated them from other groups were these typical socio-cultural features unlike the caste system. In this understanding those groups which were not considered part of caste hierarchy or belonging to other mainstream groups, were considered as tribes.

Specific kinship organization distinct marriage rules and diverse social arrangement tribe in this sense are definitely distinct but at the same time there are various other groups also which are distinct socially but still are not tribe.

Historically the tribal groups have also under gone a process of transformation in terms of their typical features like language, religion, culture, economic situation etc. Particularly in the post Independence period there has been a changes in the tribes to an extent that it has posed a problem of defining the tribe.

Thirdly,

A large number of the tribes, the Santhals, the Mundas, the Oraons, the Khonds, the Gonds, the Korkus, speak languages which either belong to the Kherwari or Mundari group of languages or to the Dravidian family, and are, more often than not, different from the languages of the plains people among whom they have their being or with whom they have a large amount of social intercourse. The languages of the latter in most cases belong to the Indo-Aryan family.

• Fourthly, tribe can also identify functional interdependent within their own community. This also calls for interactional autonomy with respect to adjoing groups. This point towards the self sufficiently and independent nature of the tribe but in this case again the process of assimilation has made functionally depended on the others group. Dr. Ghurye conducts an in-depth research on this aspect and concludes that tribes were always in a state of functional interaction with caste Hindus.
• Fifthly, the administrative notion of tribe considered them as a Scheduled also suffer with a number of problems i.e. the criteria of backwardness use of such definition may apply only part of the tribe. In the same way numbers of tribes have adopted a Christian faith still they are recognized as tribes. For tribes of North East Apart from this other ingredients type homogeneity, territorial integrity also suffers with the same problem.

In India, there are numerous examples of tribes transforming themselves into the larger entity of the caste system; others have become Christian or Muslim.

They also join the ranks of peasantry and in modem times become wage-labourers in plantations, mining and other industries.

The possibility of a community having all the typical features of tribe has remote.

Therefore , it is very difficult to given an exact criterion for distinguishing tribe.

In this way instead of generating a single definition of tribe various sociologist and committee have identified tribal group rather than a single definition of tribe.

• Shrikant Committee divided the tribes into four categories : Tribals, Semi-tribals , Acculturated tribals and  Assimilated tribals

Regional Distribution

Four district regions can be identified in India.

• North and North East regions

Constitutes 12.33% of total Tribal population and includes the regions of the eastern most parts including North East states, parts of Jammu & Kashmir (i.e. area of East Kashmir and Ladakh region), area of Uttar Pradesh and Terai regions of U.P. and Uttranchal.

• Central Region

Constitutes 81.05% of Tribal population. Areas included are the plateau and mountainous belt below the indo-Gangetic plains in the north and Krishna in the south.

• Southern Region

Constitutes 6.49% of total population. The areas are south of the Krishnan river include by the states of Karnataka, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

• Islands

Constitutes Rest population in concentrated in Andaman & Nicobar Islands

• Administrative Classification Of Tribal Areas

The tribal areas in the country were classified under three broad categories:

States and Union Territories having a majority scheduled tribes population.

States and Union Territories having substantial tribal population but majority tribal population in particular administrative units, such as block and tehsils.

States and Union Territories having dispersed tribal population.

• Modified Area Development Approach (MADA) pockets

containing 50% or more ST population within a total population of minimum of 10,000. The total number of MADAs identified so far in the various TSP States is 259.

• Clusters

containing 50% or more ST population within a total population of about 5,000 or more. So far 82 Clusters have been identified in various T.S.P. states.

• Particularly Vulnerable TRIBAL GROUPS (PVtgs)

who live in near isolation in inaccessible habitats. They are characterised by a low rate of growth of population, pre-agricultural level of technology and extremely low levels of literacy. So far 75 PVTGs have been identified.

• Definition of scheduled areas

The term `Scheduled Areas' has been defined in the Indian Constitution as "such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas". Paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution prescribes following procedure for scheduling, rescheduling and alteration of Scheduled Areas.The criteria followed for declaring an area as Scheduled Area are preponderance of tribal population; compactness and reasonable size of the area; under-developed nature of the area; and marked disparity in economic standard of the people. These criteria are not spelt out in the Constitution of India but have become well established. They embody principles followed in declaring `Excluded' and `Partially-Excluded Areas' under the Government of India Act 1935, Schedule `B' of recommendations of the Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas Sub Committee of Constituent Assembly and the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission 1961.

Tribal Problems

Geographical problems

Isolation, Ecology threats , Migration

Lack of development , Displacement due to large projects , unsatisfactory compensation and rehabilitation

The eastern region ( WB, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh ) has faced large displacement due to industrialization and development projects.

Economic problems

About 90 percent of the tribals are engaged in cultivation and most of them are landless and practise shifting cultivation.

small and uneconomical landholdings , crop yield is less

Minor forest produce

Poverty and indebtedness

Transfer of land ,depend mainly on moneylenders, bonded labour

In India 52 per cent of the STs belong to the category of Below Poverty Line (BPL) and 54 per cent of them have no access to economic assets such as communication and transport(World Bank, 2011).

Health Problems

Adoption of New clothing – but Do not practice civilized hygiene.

Skin diseasesSTDs spread very fast ,Malnutrition

• IMR and MMR: Both the indices are high among STs, however, Child and infant mortality rates are higher among the STs in Orissa as compared to other states.

Language problems

no scripts of their own, no literature, Problem of identity

Educational problems

Literacy rate among tribals is very low, More drop out rate, Lack of educational infrastructure, irrelevant content , lack of teachers

• Literacy among the tribes of the north-eastern and island regions is relatively higher but despite that high dropout rate and infant mortality rate is also observed in the north eastern region.

Cultural problem

Exploited by Christina missionaries, Contact with the outsiders, Threat to culture and identity