Paper for NATIONAL SEMINAROn

Changing Tribal Society in India: Issues and Challenges(7 - 8, December 2013)

ORGANISED BYINSTITUTE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH & APPLIED

ANTHROPOLOGY,BIDISA,

Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs): issues and

challenges

ByDr. Vijay Prakash Sharma

Adjunct Faculty,NIRD, HYDERABAD

Global status of tribePresent situation:There are approximately two hundred million tribal people in the entire globe, which means, about 4% of the global population. They inhabit many regions of the world and majority of them are the poorest amongst poor. Among tribes, there are so many communities.

Tribal in IndiaTribal in India, geographically and culturally, are at widely different stages of social as well as economic development and their problems differ from area to area within their own groups. The tribesman lives not only for himself alone, but also he is an integral part of the community to which he belongs.

Tribal communities live in about 15% of the country’s landmass in various ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from plains to forests, hills and inaccessible areas. Tribal groups are at different stages of social, economic and educational development. While some tribal communities have adopted a mainstream way of life at one end of the spectrum, there are tribal groups, at the other, who are characterized by (a) a pre-agriculture level of technology, (b) a stagnant or declining population (c) extremely low literacy and (d) a subsistence level of economy.

Particularly vulnerable tribal groups

75 such groups in 17 States and 1 Union Territory has been identified and has been categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (earlier known as Primitive Tribal Groups).

Tribal communities become vulnerable in the following ways:

1.Natural:These include anthological/genetic factors (like, the Juangs of Keonjhar), geographical factors (remoteness of the area, difficult terrain/physiographic, limited resources, etc.), and environmental factors (like, rain shadow area, low soil fertility, etc.).2.

2. Man-made: These factors include socio-economic and socio-cultural practices (like, food habits), customary taboos, external interventions such as mining & Industrialization, etc...(Rath 2012)

As per 2001 census, the 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) have a total population of 27, 68,322, and live in remote and scattered geographical locations.

Table-1-

PVTGs With More than One Lakh Population (2001 Census)

Sl.No. PVTGs Population

1 Saharias are both in Madhya

Pradesh & Chattisgarh

4,50,217

2 Baigas in Madhya Pradesh /

Chattisgarh

3,32,936

3 Katkarias/Kathodis) in

Maharashtra

2,35,022

4 Kolam in Maharashtra 1,73,646

5 Riang (Tripura) 1,65,103

6 Hill Kharia (Jharkhand) 1,64,022

7 Irulas in Tamil Nadu 1,55,606

8 Mal Paharia (Jharkhand) 1,15,093

Total 17,91,645

Table 2

PVTGs With More than 50,000 Population (2001 Census)

Sl.No PVTGs Population

1 Konda Reddis (Andhra

Pradesh)

83,096

2 Dongaria Khond (Andhra

Pradesh)

85,324

3 Saharia (Rajasthan) 76,237

4 Lodha (West Bengal) 84,966

Total 3,29,623

Table – 3

PVTGs With Less than 1000 Population (2001 Census) Sl. No. PVTGs Population

1 Birjia (Bihar) 17

2 Sentinelests 39

3 Great Andamanese 43

4 Onge 96

5 Birhor (Madhya Pradesh) 143

6 Asur (Bihar) 181

7 Mankidias (Orissa) 205

8 Jarawa 240

9 Cholanaicken (Kerala) 326

10 Shompen 398

11 Birhor (Bihar) 406

12 Savar (Bihar) 420

13 Raji (Uttaranchal) 517

14 Sauria Paharia (Bihar) 585

15 Birhor (Orissa) 702

16 Korwa (Bihar) 703

17 Todas (Tamil Nadu) 875

18 Kota (Tamil Nadu) 925

19 Raji (Uttar Pradesh) 998

Total 7819

Table – 4

Ranking of the PVTG Population in Different States (2001 Census) Sl.No. State No. of PVTGs Population

2001 Census Ranking population- wise

1 Chattisgarh + MP 08 7,85,720 1

2 Maharashtra 03 4,08,668 2 3 Jharkhand 09 3,87,358 3

4 Andhra Pradesh 12 3,34,144 4

5 Tamil Nadu 06 2,17,937 5

6 Tripura 01 1,65,103 6 7 Gujarat 05 1,06,775 7 8 West Bengal 03 85,983 8

9 Rajasthan 01 76,237 9 10 Orissa 13 68,745 10 11 Uttaranchal 02 47,288 11

12 Karnataka 02 45,899 12 13 Kerala 05 20,186 13 14 Bihar 09 10,873 14 15 Uttar Pradesh 02 5,365 15 16 Manipur 01 1,225 16 17 Andaman & Nicobar 05 816 17

Total 87 27,68,322*

The National Advisory Council, Government of India, organized two national level Consultations on Developmental Challenges Specific to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs); first on 21st February, 2013 at the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad, and second in the Planning Commission, New Delhi, on 15th May, 2013.

The objective of holding these two consultations was to evolve a sensitive and appropriate policy framework for PVTGs that addresses the concerns of protecting their livelihoods, cultural identity and habitats while facilitating their access to development programmes and services and to improve their quality of life.

Recommendation 1

Create an environment in which the state and non-state actors realize their responsibilities to respect, protect,

and fulfill PVTGs' rights.

Recommendation 2

Develop sustainable livelihood strategies for the PVTGs

Recommendation 3

Participatory development approach should be followed

Recommendation 4

Evolve effective service delivery mechanism for the development of the PVTGs

Recommendation 5

Separate Census for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) should be undertaken

Recommendation 6

All Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) should be given the status of Scheduled Tribes

Recommendation 7

Prepare vulnerability indices of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)

Recommendation 8 Control factors that contribute to decline in the population of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). Recommendation 9 Launch special drive to improve educational status of the PVTGs

Discussion:

The PVTGs are in need of special and undivided attention on priority for their protection and development in view of their fragile living conditions emerging out of their prevailing socio-economic backwardness, vulnerability and diminishing numbers.The current notion of tribal development is largely based on ‘area development’ and ‘community participation’. That there are different landholdings groups or classes, that there are big and small tribes in each village, or mandal, or district, those women have to be treated specifically are all issues that need to be fully built into the philosophy of tribal development. This will contribute to more equitable and sustainable development

Serious and urgent measures must be taken by the Government to maintain the physical and social assets created under the TDP. In terms of natural resource management, as well as social programmes, much has been achieved, but the achievements are still fragile. In order to be sustainable, further investment in infrastructure, training programmes and adaptive research is essential. It is also essential that the levels of competence and commitment of the senior officers, in particular the ITDA project officers, be maintained

The Government must continue its commitment to participatory approaches to development programmes and to a step-wise transfer of decision-making to the local level, with a concurrent emphasis on capacity-building . The sustainability of community institutions must be viewed in terms of a much longer time-scale than simply the seven years of project duration. Further, such community institutions should not be designed only for service delivery or acceptance purposes, but should be seen more broadly as platforms for community participation and empowerment.

Conclusion and recommendation:

In addition to above following points may be considered for development of PVTGs:•Plan must be region based with a slant towards ethnicity and co-existence. •Plan should be such that socio-economic barriers and carriers be focused to have a desirable change within a limited time e.g. Hill settlers to be settled in plain areas- example Hill Korwa in CG.•Periodic assessment of plans to make any change when required. Phase wise implementation work with provision for follow up schemes so that hostile communities should not be disturbed. •Local resources should be tapped to develop a sense of belongingness, the present practice of outside men and material be discouraged. • Long gestation character of schemes be discouraged o minimize public expenditure ratio.•All ITDAs must be made functional and accountable to govt. and people with strong monitoring mechanism by the ministry.•Special fund allocation for PTGs should not be deviated to admin functions as in practice in many states

References: 1. Ratha . Bikash, 2012 The Regional Consultation On Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Of Odisha And The National Rural Livelihood Mission, RCDC, Bhubaneswar 2. NAC draft recommendations on Development Challenges Specific to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), 2013, Jun 19,

3. Sharma. V.P 2012 Participatory Development, Ramesh Chandra edited book Tribal Development and Administration and Management, DEC, National Institute of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, Hyderabad (AP),

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