A question
which keeps on pondering various
Governments, social workers, policy makers, academicians and yes sometimes the common people too. The question may seem to be simple, but the
answers to it are not. Infact no Government policy throughout the world has
been able to satisfactorily deal with this issue.
I was
confronted with this question for the first time in my first year, while taking
a course on Indian Society & Culture. Since then it regularly keeps on
popping up somewhere or the other. Recently in the last month during Antaragni,
one of the participant colleges presented a street play on the case of Jarawa
tribe of Andman & Nicobar, posing the same question again. This however is
a good indication that more and more people specially youth are connecting
themselves to discussions on such critical issues.
Tribals are
the small or large (sometimes) groups of people living in isolation from the
main world in forests, having a distinct culture, language, life style and religion.
They generally depend on the natural resources present around them, feed
themselves from the forest produce and largely practice shifting cultivation type
of agriculture. In India there are 689 Scheduled Tribes, having a population of
67.8 million people, consisting of 8.08 percent of India’s total population. Since
the invasion of foreigners tribal people have not been in a good state. British
with their Criminal Tribes Act 1871 threatened
many tribal people by imposing restrictions on their activities. After independence,
the Nehru government thought for the betterment of the tribes. It laid down the
foundation for the policies to bring Scheduled Tribes into the mainstream of
society through a multi-pronged approach for their all-round development
without disturbing their distinct culture. Nehru laid down five principles
known as Panchsheel for the betterment of tribals. According to him tribals
should be given rights in land and forest, their administration should have
minimum outside interference, their social and cultural institutions should not
be disturbed and they should be left to develop themselves on their own genius.
The Nehru’s decision to bring the tribals in the main stream (although
slowly) has been a matter of considerable debate and has been criticized by
many sociologists. Nehru’s prescriptions may have sought some positive results
but they have been comprehensively ignored by the Central as well as the State
Governments. All the rights given to them have been significantly denied specially
the right of possession of land and forest. They are forced to migrate to other
places for construction of dams, roads, natural parks, digging of mines and
construction of large scale industries. They are provided with settlements to
live in which are badly constructed and poorly organized. Now think of people
who have lived with nature, wandering from here to there, collecting food are
forced to live in boundaries. Although buying of lands from tribals is not
allowed, but the corrupt Governments help Corporates to acquire large areas for
setting up industries, disturbing the tribal way of life greatly. They have
been entitled for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan but the position of schools in such
areas is very bad. The primary health and medical services are also suffering.
And talking about administration, there has been no such significant effort by
the Government to bring them in the system. In short we can say that the
Governments and the Corporates are both exploiting the tribals a lot. There are
also regular cases of exploitation of tribals in tourist areas by Indian as
well as foreign tourists. The police and the army are also no less involved in
it. As some recent studies have shown that the tribals of India have gained
least and lost most from six decades of Indian independence. Because of such an
attitude from Government, many tribal communities have been misled by various
missionaries and activist groups like Naxals.
We are forcing them to a lifestyle which is completely different from
theirs. We show them the modern ways of living and leave them to survive by
themselves. We do not provide them sufficient help and support to adjust and
grow. Most of the times, these people on assimilation go into some cultural
shock. There have been cases where these people because of unemployment and
failures, lose their self respect and end up in activities like begging. On
contact with the external world they also develop diseases to which they are
not immune.
On the other hand there is one more perspective. These tribes often face
famines and epidemics. This was one of the reasons to bring them in the main
stream. Also most of the natural reserves of national importance like coal,
iron and other minerals are present in the areas which are occupied by the tribal
population. So for the growth and development of nation it is important to
harness them. Also construction of roads and dams because of similar reasons is
necessary. But for it, tribal people will suffer no matter how many incentives
we create, because natural home is home and it takes quite a long time to
adjust and assimilate. The best way is to aim for development without changing
the culture, tradition and life style of tribals but its not that easy.
So the question is still there- Should the 8% population be disturbed
for the benefit of rest 92% OR Should they be left alone..??
