INTRODUCTION
Tribal or Adivasis of South India are the original inhabitants of land. They had a culture of their ow...n, their own religion, pattern of ownership of land, employment and an economy which is self-reliant. As more and more outsiders come to their areas they were either pushed away to the hilly areas or they become subjected to invaders resulting in the destruction of the destruction
of their culture, economic systems, employment and relationship patterns etc. Now in the present India context, the tribals are a group of people who have borne most of the weight of the development of others. According to the 1983 census the total population of INDAI were 675,900,321 out of which 52,928,382 are tribal belonging to 650 various tribal groups. The total population of Karnataka is 68,682,549(1983 census) and the number of tribals are 2,010,002. Over the year, the tribal population has been declining. Their number was 15000 in 1973 in 1989-it came down to 12000. According to a survey conducted by voluntary organization it has further come down to 11000. The total literacy level of the tribes in the state is 4% as against the national tribal literacy rate of 17.5%.
“ADIVASI”
Adivasis are not a homogenous group, but over 200 tribes speaking over 100 languages, which vary greatly in ethnicity, culture and language; however, there are similarities in their way of life and they are generally rendered inferior position within the Indian society. There is over 50 million Adivasis population constituting 7.5 percent of that of the whole country, thus making it the largest tribal population in the world. Anthropological Survey of India under the Ministry of Culture states that there are 461 Adivasi communities. According to the Census report of India 2001, there are 577 Adivasi groups. Ministry of Tribal Affairs reported that there are 622 ST communities in India. Adivasis are the earliest inhabitants of the sub-continent and they once inhabited in a much greater area than at present. Although it appears that many of them were forced into hill areas after the invasions of the Indo-Aryan tribes 3,000 years ago. As a group, they are one of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in India, characterized by high levels of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, displacement and landlessness. Adivasis consider the earth as mother from whom they can respectfully take whatever they need. As the poorest among the poor, Adivasis often represent victims of unfair labour practices and unorganized laborers across the country.
“ADIVASI” (meaning original settlers or indigenous peoples or the very first dwellers) is the term given to India’s native/indigenous people, who possess distinct identities and cultures often linked to certain territories. Scheduled Tribes (ST) is the legal category used by the Government of India, which roughly coincides with those who are adivasis. Traditionally adivasis often had a harmonious and symbiotic relationship with the natural world around them and their societies tended to be internally organized on egalitarian and communitarian basis, with their own systems of knowledge, self-governance and nationhood. In today‘s world, a big question mark remains as to the sustainability and continuation of these ways of life. Due to a number of reasons, many adivasi people find themselves as migrants, either as a result of being displaced from their traditional lands or as economic migrants in search of work opportunities elsewhere. As a group, they are one of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in India, characterized by high poverty levels, illiteracy, unemployment, displacement and landlessness. As among the poorest of the poor, adivasis are over-represented as victims of unfair labour practices and as unorganized laborers across the country. The criteria followed for specification of the scheduled tribes in India are indications of distinctive culture, geographical isolation, and shyness of contact with the community at large, living in unreachable areas, following traditional beliefs & practices, worshiping nature, backwardness, depending on forests resources, indigenous arts of dance and music, unique way of life. Adivasis are the earliest settlers on the Indian sub-continent, and who have contributed much to its culture, history, heritage and environment, have become refugees in their own land and victims of dominant cultural hegemony, human rights violations and development displacement. India has the largest concentration of tribal people anywhere in the world except perhaps in Africa. According to recent census report 88.4 millions are Tribal’s in India which is 8.2% of total population. The areas inhabited by the tribal’s constitute a significant part of the under developed areas of the country. Tribals are the most marginalized and living in remote and inaccessible areas. As per 2001 census report, total ST Population in India is 8,43,26,240 among this Male 4,26,40,829 and Female 4,16,85,411 and the percentage of the ST population is 8.20%. Sex-ratio is 972 (Female per 1000 Males). As compared to general population, the s*x ratio of scheduled tribes is relatively better. This indicates that females in the tribal society are not neglected. The social and cultural values protected their interest. There are over 570 adivasi communities are living in India such as Abors, Baiga, Bhotias, Birhor, Chenchus, Gonds, Jarawas, Kolam, Mina, Mundas, Oarons, Santhals, Sounti, Soligaru, Saora, Irulas, Paliyars, Panika, Potiya, Kattunaikan, Todas, Uralis, Warlis, Kurichas, Paniyas, Kurumbas, Nagas, Onges etc…However the data’s on the indigenous communities differ from various departments. The Jenu Kurubas. The Jenu Kurubas who have lived in the thickly forested region for centuries once for centuries once upon a time lived a life of self-respect. The Jenu Kurubas are a majority tribe in Heggadadevana Kote taluk in Mysore District. There are some Betta Kurubas and Soligas too but their number is not big. In all there are 100 to 150 families in the tribal hamlets. The situation in Channegundanahalli was even worse. Twelve tribal families dug the earth for four days and prepared the ground to build a road, but the engineer had not arrived there to pay their labor. “It is tow days since we lit the stoves we are dying of hunger. They have driven us out of the forest and we don’t know how to live here, we have never cheated anyone. Why are we treated like this?” an elderly man asked in agony. There were other horrors in store. In Anegatti, a woman has devised a trap, which she sets up in a corner of her hut every night, and waits outside for the rats to run into a bamboo spear. She catches four or five rats every night, roasts it on a fire and serves it as dinner to the family. A woman in a neighboring hut was running temperature she was waiting with her hungry children for the husband who had gone to hunt for food, when the man returned there was just one Squirrel in his hand. The government has appropriated their right to live in the Kakanakote forest and driven them away from their traditional habitual. Issues and Problems faced by Adivasi Communities:
GOVERNMENT TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
SITUATION OF ADIVASIS IN SOUTH INDA
Constitutional Status
The Constitution of India has devoted more than 20 articles on the redress and uplift of the underprivileged following the policy of positive discrimination and affirmative action, particularly with reference to the STs, in order to protect these communities from all the possible exploitation and thus ensure social justice. The Adivasis, along with Dalits, other so-called untouchables, became subjected to special protective provisions under the Constitution 1950. The vast majority of Indigenous Peoples were classified as STs. Article 341 authorizes the President of India to specify 'castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this constitution be deemed to be scheduled tribe
The Fifth Schedule to the Constitution lays down certain prescriptions about the Scheduled Areas (SAs) as well as the STs in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram by ensuring submission of Annual Reports by the Governors to the President of India regarding the Administration of the SAs and setting up of Tribal Advisory Councils to advise on matters pertaining to the welfare and advancement of the STs (Article 244(1), the Constitution of India). Meanwhile, referring to the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution prescribes certain tribal areas in these states as Autonomous Regions with special district councils (Article 244(2), the Constitution of India). The Panchayat Raj (Extension to the SAs) Act 1996 was introduced to ensure effective participation of the tribal inhabitants in public affairs, including policy making, since 1996, as the original statements of the Constitution do not precisely clarify what “planning and decision making” means. The Act was designated to be a legislative means of promoting self-governance in rural areas through the creation of local village bodies. This legislation has helped Adivasis to formulate responses to various local issues and to organize themselves at the local level by building local political institutions. There are reserved seats for STs in the Parliament and the State Legislatures. In the two houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajiya Sabha, 7 percent of the seats were reserved for members of STs and similar representation occurs in the states’ assemblies in proportion to the percentage of STs in the state's population. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was passed by the Government to ensure Forest Rights to the Adivasis. It was a major step to address the historical injustice done to the Adivasis through the Forest Laws and land alienation. The development has been wrecking the lives of the Jenu Kuruba tribals. Since 1959 when the government launched the Kapila project, fourteen tribal hamlets were displaced by the time the project was completed in 1074. The government made arrangements for the rehabilitation of the tribals in forest itself and in its customary style allotted the same land to 22 farmer’s families also displaced by the project. Expectedly, the farmers soon drove the tribals out of the government land. They even followed the defenseless tribals wherever they went and claimed for themselves the land adjoin to Heggadadevana Kote town and set up their hutments. Heggadadevana Kote taluk with its stretches or dry land is not very attractive place for agricultural laborers. The tribals get no work between January and May during the other months the landlords pay a daily wages of Rs. 15/= or ragi, salt and chilly only as these are the days when they earn some money. Since, Kurubas are living in the forest spread all over the sate they are not beneficiaries of I.T.D.A. (Integrated Tribal Development Agency) projects which are meant for only reserved tribal areas IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Project) PTG (Primitive Tribal Group) DTG (Dispersed Tribal Groups) schemes and special schemes for specific tribal groups are the main channels through which the government funds are distributed to the tribals. Funds allotted under these schemes are dispersed mainly for educational projects, training programs and income generation programs. The statistics given by the District Welfare Office or DRDA (District Rural Development Project) speak very clearly about the beneficiaries for example Kurubas children rarely go to school to avail the scholarships and they do not join a tribal hostel where children from other groups are also there. This is the same with government technical programs too. In the District Tribal Welfare office records we can see accounts of so many lakhs of rupees distributed for various income generation schemes for each of the mandals a certain number of beneficiaries are selected (usually 10 to 15), according to the items like (milk, cattle, fishing net, cycle rickshaws, petty business etc.) The amount (usually Rs. 3, 00 to 10,000) is sanctioned. It is enough to male a hurried visit to any of the Kurubas colonies to learn about the real picture of the above mentioned in come generation schemes. In most of the cases one government officer or a middleman goes to the colony and collects some names telling half-truths to the tribals. Finally when the money is sanctioned the people are given one or two hundred rupees or in some cases not even a single paisa was given where as the scheme was of Rs. 6000/= or 10,000/=. In case anybody tries to tell a Kuruba that he is being exploited he will usually get the response. ”He gave me Rs.100/= for just one signature but you don’t give me anything why to spoil even that”. The government has been implementing the Nehru Rozgar Yoojana (which is intended to provide employment for rural people). The Deputy Commissioner released Rs.25, 000/= for each of the hamlets but till today no work had been taken up in these places, the tribals are not full-time laborers. They no instruments and cannot afford to buy them the government officials had told the tribals that they would them work only if they brought crowbars and spades to build a road. In 1974 the ITDP Fund was established by the central government. When the Kapila hydroelectric project was launched a parallel lift irrigation project was also taken up. The tribals were expected to benefit from the smaller project. This might be hard to believe that not a single tribal family received any benefit from this project. In fact, all other groups except the tribals are enjoying its benefits. Five years later in 1979, the government formulated the Integrated Tribal Development Program. Since then the government has spent an incredible amount of Rs.4 cores on tribal development in the Heggadadevana Kote region. It has spent Rs.10, 000/= on each of the 106 Haadis in the district. A follow up world revel a shocking fact, none of the tribal home has property worth more than Rs.50/=. At one stage the government announced that it would give cows, goats and sheep to the tribal families. Many goats packed in trucks died on the way to the tribal hamlets. The sheep’s had all kinds of diseases when they arrived here. The tribals finally sold these sheep’s off for Rs.20 to 30 each. In the last seven or eight years, the tribals have fallen victims to another racket. Some middle/class “well wishes” wold convinces them that their children could receive good education if they are sent to cities like Bombay, Mangalore and Bangalore. The middleman would arrive promise to take care of the food, shelter and education at needs of the children and take them away to the cities. The middleman would employ them as laborers or as domestic servants. When the racket became public, the police made arrangements to bring these children back to their parents. But this act only compounded the problem many children found the transition too difficult and returned to the hard life in the cities. The head of the tribal hamlet is called “KARIYA” “We had asked the engineer to give us small advance so that we could we could buy some food, we hardly get to eat even once a day and we have become very weak. The summer here has hardened the earth; don’t we need strength for the digging job?” Apparently, such simple truths do not bother officials in complexes. When the tribals in the forest of Assam and Orissa were relocated the officials had the sense not to move them out of the forest. The B.D.Sharma report commissioned by the Central government and submitted in 1993 cleanly states that tribals should be rehabilitated only in places where they feel comfortable and in such a way that their culture and lifestyle is not disturbed. It also recommends that each family should get 12 acres, out of which five should be for replanting a forest. The forest department has built a few houses for the tribals. But on measures have been initiated to help them earn a livelihood. Some families have bought cows with government loans. “Our cow gives us two litters of milk a day. We use half a litter for the family and feed the remaining milk to its calf,” a man said. “We can eat rats’ bandicoots when we are hungry but what will the poor calf do if we don’t feed it?”
This is the state of life of tribals who came out of the forest 25 years ago to make way for the Kapila project to supply drinking water to Bangalore. Similarly, people displaced from the Kakanakote reserve forest in the last ten years have been living a life of tragic, voiceless despair. The Rajiv Gandhi national Park, formed by merging parts of the Nagarahole and Kakanakote forests, is further threatening their very existence
When the forest department first displaced tribals’ form the heart of Kakanakote to its fringes, they were given permission to cultivate the land inside the forest. Thus 22 tribal families of the male resettlement colony used to grow ragi and paddy in around 160 acres of forestland. They used to collect forest produce such as soap nut and honey and sell it. But now they are not allowed even to touch a leaf in the forest. The forest guards stand around to ensure that the tribals don’t cultivate the forestland any longer. “Why are they driving us out? Our fathers, grandfathers and their grandfathers have lived and died here. The forests are our breaths. We were born here, we grew up here we will not go away just because the government wants us to go. We would rather die if it comes to that,” A young man said in emotionally charged voice. “The forest department has been ruling our lives completely in the last ten years,” residents of Sebinakoti hamlet complained angrily. The tribals are no threat to the forests. In fact, they call themselves the children of the forest and great pride in their concern for the wild. They only clear shrubby patches’ and use the land so acquired for cultivation. But they never fell trees for timber. As things stand today, all their problems spring from an insensitive bureaucracy who has no understanding of tribal life and their culture. The system refuses to concede that the tribals can have meaningful life only inside the forest. It cannot understand that they have skills that can sustain them outside the forests. Since the rules say that no one can live inside national parks, the tribals are being moved out. Forest department officials entered the forests only in the beginning of the 20th century. The tribals, who had lived there for centuries, helped them familiarize themselves with terrain. They taught the city-bred officers to identify tree, birds and animals. The officials used the tribals’ services in their forest re plantation programs as well. “We have worked for the forest department like slaves. We labored hard for just 25 paisa a day. We worship the tree and protect our forest. But we have no papers to prove that we have lived here for so many years. The forest officials feel that forest belongs to them and are driving us out. They have no need for our services either the tribal complains bitterly. Increasingly, these voices of despair are drowned in the din of development. If the charge that the tribals are destroying forests were true, there would not have been any Kakanakote forest
for us to talk about today. On the other hand-and the tribals vouch for this –selfish forest officials have joined hands with timber smugglers to loot the forests. There is a ban on hunting in the forests. But when the officials feel like having meat of deer or wild boar they force the tribals to go into the forest and hunt down the animals for them. “They even ask us to identify strong tree… they ten shoe such tree to the timber smugglers who chop them down and carry them away overnight,” the tribals say. There may also be a handful of tribals who help the smugglers by showing them which tree to cut. “Let the government punish them. But on the other hand, there have been instances when we have caught timber smugglers and them over to the forest officers. The officers let them go after taking money from them before our very eyes,” a group of tribals complained. Paradoxically, while the government is keen on sending out the tribals from Kakanakote forest, it plans to take no action against the Odigas who have settled down in the forest in recent years. The Odigas are a farming community. They use forestland for cultivation and pay taxes to the forest department. “Unlike the tribals, who destroy the forest and take away soap nut, pepper, ginger and other forest produce, the Odigas just cultivate land. We have told the Odigas also to vacate, but they are doing nothing about it,” a forest official said glibly. However, there are still tribal families deep inside the forest. The forest department is using them as laborers. But once the officials decide they have no use for them, the tribal will unceremoniously be given out of their beloved jungles cape. Very clearly, the government’s programs for tribal development have been a big failure. Interestingly, the result of the heath camps conducted by the same organization suggests that the habitual has a very powerful influence on health. The tribals living on the fringe of the forest were found to be healthy, while those on the outskirts of the towns and in non-forest area were suffering from malnutrition and anemia
Rationale for the project
“Majority of Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) continues to live below the poverty line, have poor literacy rates, suffers from malnutrition and disease is vulnerable to displacement. These Scheduled Tribes (ST) in general are repositories of indigenous knowledge and wisdom in certain aspects” - Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India
Adivasis in India are facing several issues and problems in their life endlessly. Among them Extreme Poverty, Illiteracy, Human Rights violation, Poor Health Condition, Unemployment issue, Identity crisis are the major problems which are needs to be addressed with united effort through rights-based approach.
