XAXA report Summary – Ayushi Jain

Land Alienation, Displacement and Enforced

Migration
Q) Discuss the impact of Land alienation 0n the tribes of Central India (2014 , 15 M)

Tribals and forests

Tribal communities of India reside in hill areas that are rich in minerals and forest cover.
Land is the basis of their socio-cultural and religious identity, livelihood and their very existence.
Their lives are closely interlinked with forests for food, fuel, medicine, fodder and livelihood.
Their God and guardian spirits reside in hills, forests, groves etc.
Traditionally, ownership of land was by the community and economic activity mainly agrarian, including shifting
cultivation, which fostered egalitarian values which influenced their power relations and organizational system.

Dispossession
Directly- by depriving tribal communities of their land, habitat, livelihood, political system, culture, values and identity
Indirectly- through denials of benefits of development and of their rights

Constitutional Provisions
1) V schedule:
Legal protection is provided in Schedule V under which laws are to be framed by State Governments to ‘prohibit or
restrict the transfer of land by or among members of the Scheduled Tribes’ in Scheduled Areas.

2) VI schedule:
lays down provisions as to the administration of tribal areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Under these provisions Autonomous Districts and Autonomous Regions have powers to make laws relating to land, for
the management of any forest not being a reserved forest, the inheritance of property, use of water course and canal for
purpose of agriculture, etc.

3) Samatha Judgement 1997

It upholds and protects the land rights of Scheduled Tribes in Scheduled Areas.
This entailed retention of land with the tribals, not only the land belonging to them, but also Government
land in Scheduled Areas.
To prohibit transfer between tribals and non-tribals and provided for allotment of land to the members of
the Scheduled Tribes in such areas.

4) Right to Land:
A Constitutional right (as distinct from a fundamental right).
Today we see that the right to property being a legal right and not a fundamental right has worked as a disadvantage
against displaced belonging to weaker sections, particularly against the tribals.

Q) Explain the advancement made in the land acquisition and rehab act of 2013 over the land acquisition act of
1894.

Land Acquisition Act 1894:

 The State has succeeded in acquiring vast tracts of land and diverting common property resources for construction of
dams, infrastructure development, mining and industry, Special Economic Zone (SEZ), etc.
 Private land has been acquired under provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1894, under the concept of ‘eminent
domain’ based on the principle that the interest and claim of the whole community is always superior to an interest of
the individual.
  The ‘eminent domain’ had three essential ingredients (Acc to Desai, Mihir 2011)–
1) Power of the State to take over private land;
2) Exercise of this power for public good (public purpose);
3) The State had to compensate those whose lands were acquired for public purpose.

 ‘Public purpose’ has not been clearly defined in Act.

 The amendment brought about in the colonial Land Acquisition Act, 1894 added land for residential purposes and
developments carried out by local authorities and private companies, within the ambit of ‘public purpose’ which
increased the extent of acquisition of private land and diversion of forest and other CPR.

Ramanathan placed the concept of ‘eminent domain’ in the context of injustice in the model of development and displacement.
Under this model, only land owners had a right to be compensated and others such as landless, who had no legal title were
excluded and this disregard for segment of the population was ‘because of the limited mandate imposed on the State by the
eminent domain doctrine’.

Customary laws and the special provisions of Fifth and Sixth Schedules for protection of tribal land escape notice when
judgments such as the Supreme Court order of Tekaba AO v. Sakumeren AO 2004, regarding dispute over source of water in
Nagaland, are passed stating ‘So far as natural resources like land and water are concerned, dispute of ownership is not very
relevant because undoubtedly the State is the sovereign dominant owner.

With the enactment of ‘The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act, 2013’
 comprehensive resettlement has been legally mandated and
 people affected by the Project have been included.
 It is progressive in that it is the first to legally mandate comprehensive Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Project-
Affected Persons; but the definition of ‘public purpose’ remains too wide and will not help in minimizing displacement.
 It also includes the idea of acquisition for private companies even from Scheduled Areas which expands the power of
acquisition and alienation beyond what it was under the 1894 Act.
Q) Discuss how British dispossessed tribals of their communal property and agri lands(15M)
Q) Forest Policy and tribes
Rest do from Vajiram

The colonial Government passed the Indian Forest Act, 1865 for acquisition of forest lands for creation of infrastructure such
as railways.
Later, through the enactment of Indian Forest Act, 1878, the State got monopoly control over forest lands for commercialization
purpose.
Subsequently, The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was enacted, which was carried over after independence and formed the basis of all
forest laws in India.
 Under its provision new rights were acquired by the State under the principle of eminent domain and
 Cultivation by people, who are descendants of original settlers of land, was categorized as illegitimate.
 Forests were categorized into three types:
1) Reserved Forests
2) Protected Forests
3) Village Forests.

 The earlier customary rights of tribal people/communities in forests and common lands as included in a record of rights
under State tenancy laws (such as that of Chotanagpur and Santhal Parganas regions in erstwhile Bihar and now
Jharkhand) included rights such as right to take forest-produce from forest land, graze cattle, to fish, to reclaim jungle
land or wasteland or to convert land into cultivable land were restricted.

 Recording of Forest rights of tribal people was discontinued

 Forest rights of tribal people as Reserved Forests and Protected Forests were „brought outside the scope of legal rights
settlement‟. (Vasan, Sudha. 2009 „Forest law, ideology, and practice‟ )

Post-Independence:
According Ghosh, AK and Munda, Ram Dayal (eds). ‘The other side of development: The tribal story”,
The Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, The Forest Conservation Act, 1980, The Tree Prevention Act and the Forest
Policy, 1988, also affected tribal people.

Further, the Supreme Court order of 1996 in Godavarman case declared all lands recorded as forest in Government records and
brought them under the purview of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Thus land earlier recorded as scrub forests, areas of
worship, sacred groves and small areas of Sal forests, which were categorized as common land came under the control of the
Forest Department.

Due to these Forest laws, tribal people of central India who were Forest owners became encroachers and were arrested and
imprisoned for minor offences.

The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is an important Act,
as it has begun the process of recognizing their rights and will be the legal basis for computation of compensation in case of
diversion of Forest for development projects. But much harm had already been caused to tribals before enactment of this law.

Till 1976, forests was in the State list and the State Governments were responsible for the management of forests
and after that mandatory consultation with Government of India in respect of diversion of more than 10 hectares
of land was introduced.
Land Alienation
Baxi has highlighted that people are not partners in the process of decision making regarding construction of dams,
areas of submergence, environment impact, allocation of resources and allocation of benefits and adverse impacts
of development. Displacement is a process in which marginalized sections, the majority being tribal people, are
pushed out of their own habitat and dispossessed of their resources and indeed their universe around them.

Extent of displacement:
Fernandes and Paranjype estimated that the number of people displaced due to dams, mines, wildlife sanctuaries,
industries during the first four decades of independence was about 21 million and as per Government sources at
least 75 percent have not been rehabilitated.

Mahapatra pegs the number at 25 million people from 1947–1999.

Walter Fernandes, estimated that there were about 60 million DPs/PAPs, since independence to 2000. It was also
estimated that 20 % were Dalits and another 20 % from other rural poor communities, like fisher-folk and quarry
workers.
Researchers suggest that around 25 % of India’s tribals become DP or PAP at least once, because their regions are
rich in natural resource.

The Expert Group on Prevention of Alienation of Tribal Land and its Restoration set up by the Government of India
estimates that, of the total displaced due to development projects, 47 % are tribal population.

Alienation of land of tribal communities and loss of rights to Common Property Resources, mainly forests and large
scale displacement and enforced migration takes place in following ways:

1) Development-induced displacement
 by acquisition of land by the State based on principle of „eminent domain‟ for „public purpose‟
without a „land for land‟ provision for rehabilitation.
 development projects also leads to alienation of land and displacement due to environmental pollution
and damage to land in the area near projects but tribal people so displaced are not entitled to any
compensation.

2) Illegal land alienation takes place due to

 participation of revenue functionaries and officials, Bribing of local patwari
 incorrect interpretation of laws,
 manipulation of records and permission accorded to alienate land.
 State Laws are amended to include provisions that facilitate land alienation of tribal communities.
 Benami transfers (The report of the study team of Union Home Ministry 1975 pointed out larges scale
transfer by this mode)

3) Poverty Induced migration

on account of rain-fed agriculture , draught, deforestation, fragmentation of land and absence of other
avenues of employment.
4) Concubinage or marital alliance  circumvent the law and grab tribal lands.

5) Fictitious adoption of the non-tribals by the tribal families.

 6) Community land of tribal communities is recorded as Government land in survey and settlement
operations and most State tenancy laws recognize only individually owned registered land. Such lands
have not been fully surveyed and there is no record of user practices, which would be shown as
Government land.

7) State action of acquiring tribal lands for settling refugees has resulted in land alienation and
displacement. There is also encroachment of tribal land by immigrants.

8) Creation of National Parks have resulted in alienation of rights and consequent displacement and
forced migration of tribal people.

9) Conflicts in the Northeast have resulted in tribal people losing everything and being displaced from
their home ground.

Case Studies
1) Displacement, Resettlement and Rehabilitation in Subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd.
Since 1973, 86728 people have been displaced by Subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd out of which 14487 were
tribals. 32271.24 hectares of forest land and 5460.44 hectares of CPR have been acquired in addition to
1,24,506.25 hectares of private land. Moreover, people who lost their livelihood due to acquisition of CPR
and forest land were probably not considered eligible for compensation.

From STs  13,956.84 hac

Given under R&R to STs  91.16 hactare

2) PAPs (project affected persons) not recognized in:

 Dalli Rajhara mines,
 Rajnandgaon district, Chhattisgarh,
 Hirakud dam in Orissa,
 Nagarjunasagar dam in Andhra Pradesh
 Dumbur dam in Tripura
 Rammam and Teesta Barrage , WB (CPR dependents – not compensated)

3) Conflict between State and tribal communities in Odisha.

The State is an emerging steel producing hub in Asia and has attracted a number of steel companies
such as Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO), Tata Steel, Mittal Steel, etc. to invest in the State and
to establish their production facilities.

4) ‘Kalinga Nagar’(Odisha)

The Tata Group has contracted with the Government of Odisha to set up a giant steel plant in Kalinganagar area. On
2nd January, 2006 in a police firing incident, 13 tribals were killed. Subsequently, when their bodies were being
handed over to their relatives, it was found that palms of five tribals had been chopped off (for identifying them by
fingerprinting) by the doctors conducting the postmortems on them. The above controversy has affected the setting
up of this steel plant and also the industrialization in Odisha overall.

Kamal K. Mishra’s ‘Study of alienation of tribal lands in Scheduled V Areas (2002)

of Andhra Pradesh, undivided M.P. and Odisha
 1,396 tribal households had lost 6185.5 acres of their land constituting 24.69 % of the total tribal land in
villages under study between1999-2000.
 Tribal to tribal transfer of land accounted for 14.04 %, while tribal to non-tribal transfer was 85.95 %.
 Main cause : prolonged indebtedness of the tribal households
  Indebtedness on account of religious and social obligations and expenses on litigation, medical treatment
and alcoholism has further accentuated the problem of tribal land alienation.
 The study mentions the apathy and insensitive attitude of officials handling land issues of tribals
 Tribals were less politically organized and unaware of their Constitutional rights.
 More than 85 % did not know that there were laws against transfer of tribal land. Most of the surveyed
households earned less than Rs.5000/- per annum. With the depletion of the forests and access to CPRs,
they had become more dependent on purchase of house construction materials like bamboos/ tiles from the
market. About 82.11 per cent of tribal households surveyed were in debt.
 Unwanted urbanization and industrialization in tribal areas, led to land scarcities and land alienation.
 Expansion of easy communication facilities to tribal areas has led to influx of non-tribals from outside
leading to increased land-alienation among the tribals.
 There are eight different methods adopted by the land transferees in the study villages, namely by
(i) sale,
(ii) mortgage,
(iii) benami transfer,
(iv) forcible occupation,
(v) oral transfer of possession,
(vi) marital alliance,
(vii) in the name of concubines, and
(viii) by other fraudulent means.

Case Study of Tribal land alienation by corporate houses in Chhattisgarh

Field study conducted by Stanislaus Tirkey, Secretary, CBCI Tribal Affairs, Delhi, has brought to light several cases of land
alienation by corporate sector,
 for example 90 acres of tribal land has been acquired for Gulu Hydroelectric Power Private. Ltd. in Manora Block of
Jashpur (Chhattisgarh). (affects 22 villages around Gulu, Jhargaon, Matlonga and Alori)
According to the researcher, cheques for 31 affected families were given fraudulently, under the pretext of bonus for
farmers in a so-called Kisan Mela at Manora block. People were unaware about the compensation given to them.
Information collected through RTI by researchers, reveal that the consent of the actual Gram Sabha was not obtained
as per provisions of PESA.

 Similarly, tribal land was acquired from 38 farmers for Loker Dam in the name of a Gram Sabha. While no Gram Sabha
meeting has ever taken place to approve the project. This project will affect nine Panchayats in the area.

 The case study reveals that Avantha Group has acquired 43.7 hectare of tribal land in the name of eight tribals in
Pusaur in Raigarh district

 Sharda Energy and Minerals Limited has purchased the entire tribal land in Janjgir-Champa in the name of only three
tribals: One Jaykumar Paraste has bought 24 hectares of land worth 2.84 crores from 35 tribals. However, no one
knows the whereabouts of Paraste.

 Videocon bought 28 hectares of agricultural land worth 3.36 crore in the tribal villages of Gond and Gadpali in Janjgir
Champa to set up 1,200 MW power plant. It bought land in the name of Bilam Singh from Kabeerdham.

The case study reveals that people have started organizing themselves to protect natural resources and resources of their
livelihood under the banner of Jashpur Jan Sangharsh Samittee, Jashpur and Chhattisgarh Visthapan Virodhi Manch, Raipur .
Alienation in NorthEast States:
The processes of land alienation
Traditionally, Acc to Shimray, U.A. 2006. ‘Tribal land alienation in North- East India: Laws and land relations’.
 had a three-tier land ownership and control system:
1) community land;
2) individual land;
3) clan land.

 Every community had well-defined boundaries and traditional administration systems based on
customary law.
 There were definite rules on who could cultivate what land and in which season and generally was
controlled by the village council made up of men alone.

Changes have been conditioned both by external forces and internal dynamism.
 Land has become a marketable commodity, its exchange happens both within and outside the
community.
Internal transfer of land or mortgage has resulted in inequalities in its distribution and control. Such
internal disparity is one form of land alienation within the community.
Causes : growing indebtedness, because of the need for money for medical care and education.

The external cause of land alienation is the high demand for land for development projects.
Cause: Demand from immigrants who encroach on tribal land.
Development projects, especially major dams

1) Development-induced displacement
 Case Study: the National Highway 37 that changed the scene completely. The land used for the bypass near Guwahati,
including the Games Village, was once the basis for tribal livelihood. Several tribes, especially the Karbi, Tiwa and Garo
were earlier found in sizeable numbers in these areas. Dubious means were used by the State and contractors to lure
the original occupants to part with their land. Karbis in and around Ganeshpur-Dispur area lived off the land that was
fertile and yielded abundant fruit. This fertile area today has been privatised and lost forever.

 Case Study: 20,000 MHz Siang Dam in Arunachal Pradesh, which has submerged the habitat of tribal people, affecting
their lives adversely.

2) The amendment of the Assam Land Reforms and Land Regulations Act, 1886, in 1947 has gone against tribal people,
because it facilitates manipulation of records.

3) Land grabbers have become more active, after it came into effect, resulting in only 25 of the 35 belts and blocks
remaining under the tribes.

4) A perennial problem in Assam is river bank erosion by the Brahmaputra. It has eaten up more than 700 villages in the
last two decades. However, when a stronger community is affected, it usually encroaches on the land of a weaker
group and in this case tribal land.

5) The resettlement of external refugees has caused many internal refugees.

 The region has also received a steady flow of refugees from neighbouring East Pakistan/Bangladesh, Tibet and
Myanmar.
 Mizoram had been hosting temporarily, a Burmese population of 70,000 to 1,00,000 people, who had fled political
repression and military oppression.
  By the end of 1957, 53,318 refugee families had settled in Tripura, out of which, 43,322 families settled down in rural
areas (Report of the Administration of the Union Territory of Tripura for the year 1957-58).
 Since a large number of refugee families were settled in agriculture, it put pressure on agricultural land and eventually
put pressure on areas reserved for tribals, which were used by them for Jhum cultivation.
 There was, therefore, resentment in Tripura, where Bangladeshi Hindu immigrants had occupied more than 60 per
cent of the tribal land by 1970.

6) CPR not recognized:

land laws recognized only individual ownership.
Eg: further diversion of CPR through displacement for the Dumbur dam in the 1970s resulted in the insurgency.
Eg:A field study conducted in Assam shows that out of DPs/PAPs displaced in the period (1947- 2000), 416321 (21.80
per cent) were tribal DPs/ PAPs Tribal and other poor DPs/ PAPs, dependent on CPR for livelihood were not
compensated.

7) Displacement in the Northeast due to conflicts

 The Northeastern States have witnessed a series of armed conflict and violence, since India’s independence in 1947,
which have caused massive internal displacement, of hundreds of thousands of people.

 Internal Factor : Regions overlap with other groups:

These groups do not live in distinct areas and their demand for ethnic homeland often overlap with other groups. As a
result, their demand for homeland leads to conflict and violence, which has, in turn caused internal displacement.
Case Study : In Manipur, (1992) the conflict between Kukis and Nagas displaced 11,000 population including Kukis and
Nagas from their particular places.

Case Study : Mizoram also experienced ethnic violence between Kukis/Paites in 1997 and this led to displacement of
62,880 persons. Bru tribals were displaced for years.

 External Factor : Immigration

indigenous versus non-indigenous population.
Eg :The tea garden workers, who are originally from the central tribal belt, demand recognition as a tribal group which
is vehemently opposed by the local community.
Eg: Migration to western Assam from East Bengal, now Bangladesh, began in the 1920s, as a deliberate British policy
to settle people on waste land; this created a problem as the Boro depended on that land for livelihood.
Eg: Post-1947 era has witnessed an influx of immigrants from the Hindi speaking regions of North India and from
Bangladesh in search of a livelihood.

The purpose of NRC update is to identify illegal migrants residing in North eastern state who entered
Indian territories after midnight on 24 March 1971 and to determine the citizenship of the applicants who
have applied for inclusion of their names in the updated NRC
MIGRATION
In 2001 census, for the first time, tabulated figures for social groups such as the SCs and STs in the country.
Interstate 25.3% of SCs and 25.4% of STs (based on the place of last residence).
Intra-district-76.9 per cent for SCs and 83.5 per cent for STs.

Of the estimated 60 million DPs/PAPs, about 40 % are tribal people, 20 % are SC and 20 % belong to other
social groups, like OBCs. It is estimated that people have been displaced from 25 million hectares, including 7
million hectares of forests and 6 million hectares of other CPRs. It is also estimated that only 25 % of all DPs
have been resettled and only 21.16 per cent tribal DPs have been resettled, with a back log of 79 %

An analysis of the NSSO data for the 49th round (9 Jan- June 1993) and 64th round (July 2007- June2008) shows that
the proportion of migrant households among ST in rural areas decreased between 1993 and 2007- 08, but the trend
was the opposite in urban areas. The NSS 64th round shows that in urban areas, the proportion of ST migrant
households was higher than the proportion of migrant households of other social groups.

Issues involved in migration:

1) Deficiencies in NSSO/ Census Data
Both these data do not throw full light on seasonal and circular migration and do not capture various forms of child
labour. Studies show that child migrants from families of tribal communities form a large part of the work force in
sectors such as construction, brick- kilns, small industries, domestic work etc.
The 55th round of NSSO was the first to cover short- term duration migration.

Causes for tribal migration

1) Migration-poverty interface
There are three important constraints that perpetuate poverty among migrants in the Indian situation.
These are: poor education, discrimination, and a hostile policy
Tribals :
 Low literacy rate
 Low marketable skill
 do not have access to public facilities such as PDS in the place they migrate to
 The State’s apathy and lack of capacity to implement protective migration/labour laws .
 The wage rate is very low.
 Circular/seasonal migration is the dominant form of migration of poor tribal people. They leave their
village after completing agriculture work and migrate as casual, low skilled workers and return after
completion of work.
 Form a part of the unorganized sector
 Have little bargaining power.

CaseStudy: The poorest and deprived areas of the tribal belt in Central India such as Chhattisgarh, Telengana region,
Jharkhand, southern Madhya Pradesh have become labour pools, from where cheap labour can be drawn on
seasonally. Due to poverty and lack of employment opportunities, tribal families send unmarried daughters to cities
in search of work, prone to exploitation not only by employers, but also by anti-social elements.
CaseStudy: Migration is an important livelihood activity and research by Mosse in the tribal districts of southern
Madhya Pradesh revealed that 65 % of households included migrants, who worked mainly in the construction
sector. Migration grew in the area as a few years later, another study in the same area found that, in many villages
up to three-quarters of the population were absent between November and June(Seasonal)

2) Development-induced displacement has resulted in

(i) loss of land due to acquisition for the project
(ii) influx of non-tribal outsiders in these areas, who illegally alienate tribal land and take the benefits of
the new economic opportunities in commerce, trade and industry.
Migration of displaced ST is indicative of Government’s failure to provide livelihood in the new environment.

3) Deforestation
Uprooting of tribals from their traditional habitat, receding forest cover combined with low agricultural
productivity and rain-fed agriculture, create the need for credit and this leads to seeking employment and
livelihoods under bondage, often through migration.

CaseStudy:
 tribal migration from Jhabua in MP and tribal areas of Chhattisgarh is a compulsion.
 Tribals in Jharkhand migrate in streams to the brick kilns of Uttar Pradesh or rice mills of neighbouring
states to the agriculturally prosperous areas of Bihar, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh or Punjab mainly for sowing
/ transplanting/ harvesting of paddy and wheat and to the metropolitan towns and cities as domestic
workers and maid servants. (Toppo, Ranjit. 2007. ‘Dynamics of tribal migration in India’)

4) Distress-induced migration
 include drought, land alienation, debts and high levels of food insecurity.
 is a final resort when other coping strategies fail.
CaseStudy: In Kalahandi in the 1990s,.
 Due to three successive droughts in 1996- 2000, distress-induced migration had become ‘seasonal’ in
character and an integral part of the regular coping strategies.
 Such migration usually starts as early as September-October, when there is little possibility of harvesting
a crop. Recruiting agents take the opportunity to recruit even cheaper labour than they can normally
expect. ( Banik, Dan. 2007. ‘Starvation and India’s Democracy’)

CaseStudy :A significant number of tribals, mainly from drought prone areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
and Maharashtra, migrate to work in construction, tile factory, brick-kiln and crop-cutting in Maharashtra.

Impact of Migration
1) Costs and risks of migration
Positive consequences for migrants.
- While it saves them from starvation at home
- an exposure to the outside world including new skills.
- Their remittances have helped the family in consumption, repayment of loans, fulfilling social obligations
and to finance working capital requirements in agriculture
- investment in better housing and purchase of consumer durables.

Negative consequences
- it exposes them to appalling living and working conditions at construction and other work sites.
- do not have access to pro-poor schemes such as subsidized food, health care and schooling and must
pay for everything
 - Suffer from family and social disorganization, harsh and unhygienic living conditions at work sites and
physical and sexual violence in the case of female domestic workers.
- Women domestic workers on their return to the village are viewed with distrust, as they show signs of
having been influenced by an alien culture. Sexually exploited
- Comparison made between tribal families who migrate and those who do not, reveals that the non-
migrating families own more land comparatively and are in a better position to access and benefit from
various development schemes available for them and so are able to improve their standard of living and
educate their children. On the other hand, migrating tribal families have less land, lower level of literacy
and on migrating, suffer from exploitation and harassment and low wages. They are able to stave off
starvation, but do not earn enough to improve living standards. Moreover, their children do not get
education and so the future of the next generation is equally bleak.
.

Current : 2017 The NCST has made it mandatory for households employing ST as domestic helps to register their
details with their local police station and labour office to prevent trafficking of tribals and their exploitation.

Current : 1st Oct 2018, Indian Express Article “Domestic hell”

Girls from eastern states like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, as also Andhra Pradesh, are usually brought
as housemaids. They are often lured to Delhi by a placement agency agent, who brings them on the pretext of job
but then "sells" them to an employer. Subjected to extreme forms of violence.

2) Self-sufficient Tribal Communities to Marginalization and Impoverishment

 Traditional livelihood  shifting cultivation and collection of non-timber forest self-generating
capacity. Later, they took to settled agriculture and their livelihood system provided for a
nutritionally balanced food consumption basket that was rooted in both subsistence and
conservation ethics.
 Before displacement, the DPs/PAPs were poor, but it is due to deprival of their livelihood that they
experience deterioration of their economic status.
 Traditional
- customary rights of tribal communities over land and forests,
- ‘extensive’ system of production.
- The ‘common pool’ of resources
- prevented the intensification of production,
- in the interest of conserving and sustaining the long-term productivity of livelihood resources.
 After migration
- Deprival of their livelihood ; tribal occupation such as cattle rearing
- accompanied with environmental degradation, causing impoverishment.
- Alienation: without their consent; not compensated and rehabilitated, leading to subordination.
- This marginalization leads to low self-esteem.
- loss of education
- loss of access to public facilities as they are not recognized in their new place of work.
- Resettlement sites without basic facilities such as schools.
 The sustainable tribal culture that had ensured renewal and equal distribution of resources is
weakened, leading to shortage of resources. The tragedy is that for sheer survival, the tribal
DPs/PAPs are forced to ‘make a transition from constructive to destructive dependence on the same
resources’. This causes great psychological stress.

3) Factors accentuating loss faced by tribals

 Land for tribes is a source of livelihood and source of identity, ethnicity and cultural distinction.
 R&R programmes, land is not replaced and there is no reconstitution of livelihoods.
 Loss of their cultural space and identity leads to Cultural Impoverishment, which is not addressed.
 Dependence on forests for food in the form of shifting cultivation, fruits and flowers, small game,
tubers; for medicines, fodder, material for house building; raw material for traditional art and crafts;
income by selling firewood, leaf-plates, fruits etc  Not compensated affecting Food Security.
  Lack of proper legal recognition of tribes over the forest land and hill tracts compounds the
problem, when it comes to the question of compensation.
 Many times, deprived of compensation and rehabilitation benefits as per the Land Acquisition
Act, 1894 because they did not possess any legal documents to prove their ownership right on the
land they occupy and earn their livelihood from.
 Lack of social relations outside the closely-knit kin-centered society. Displacement leads to
disruption in family life and to loss of social network.

4) Non payment of compensation (Contrast in coping because of their vulnerability)

CaseStudy : About 88 % of land acquired for the National Aluminium Corporation at Angul, a non-
tribal district in Odisha, in the mid-1980s was private. Its owners, who mainly belonged to a dominant
and influential social group were paid Rs 62,000 per hectare.
At Damanjodi in Koraput district, 60 per cent of the land acquired for the company's second unit that
same year was Common Property Resource, belonging to tribal population. No compensation was paid
for it, because community owned resource/land was considered as State‟s property. For the little private
land they owned, tribal families were paid an average of Rs 6,700 per hectare, a totally inadequate sum to
start a new life.
CaseStudy : Maharashtra Irrigation Project on Krishna River in Satara district, where 75 per cent of
households affected belonged to the influential Maratha community, who used political clout to obtain
facilities under R&R

5) Impact of losses w/o recompense (alternative land and reconstitution of livelihood)

Researchers such as Fernandes, Parasuraman, Mahapatra, Tripathy, Alex Ekka, Mohammad Asif,
Lancy Lobo, Das, Rao, based on their extensive research and field work, have brought out the stark
reality of displacement without provision of alternative land and reconstitution of livelihood, causing
impoverishment of the displaced. Many DPs/PAPs are forced to migrate.

CaseStudy : the findings of the Ombudsmen appointed by the Supreme Court revealed that, about
30,000 people working for construction of facilities in abject conditions for the Asian Games in New
Delhi in 1982, were people who had lost their livelihood due to deforestation by industry or had been
displaced by Hirakud dam and other projects.
In the context of Cernea‟s eight fold risks, empirical evidence collected by researchers shows that the
DPs/PAPs in India, 40 per cent of whom belonged to tribal communities, experienced
1) landlessness,
2) joblessness,
3) homelessness,
4) marginalization,
5) food insecurity,
6) increased morbidity and mortality,
7) loss of Common Property Resources and
8) social disarticulation.
Empirical evidence shows that the reconstruction aspect of the „Impoverishment risks and livelihood
Model‟ of Cernea has been totally neglected, due to absence of a legally mandated provision for alternative
land and livelihood and Resettlement and Rehabilitation

6) Loss of status of women after displacement

Women in tribal societies, have a relative equal status on par with their men when compared with
neighbouring caste societies. Were actively participating in household work, such as cooking, child
rearing and collecting of Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) and firewood.
However, in resettlement colonies, adverse conditions force adult and young women to go out in
search of work with a view to earn and support their families, due to loss of permanent income sources
of land and forest.
 Parasuraman :
- loss of access to traditional sources of livelihood, land, forest, river, pasture, cattle, etc. marginalizes
women in the labour force.
- Under R&R policies, there is marked gender disparity as women members of the family such as
adult unmarried daughters, widows, deserted divorcees have not been considered as a separate
family.
- Women are traumatized due to loss of resources and break up of family and social networks and
there is no strategy to address these adverse impacts.

CaseStudy : (CPR Forests of Jharkhand)

Traditionally, tribal areas had a better sex-ratio than urban areas, but now, there is a decline in the sex
ratio of tribal women in areas around development projects and areas facing degradation of CPR
forests in Jharkhand. This is disquieting, as it reflects the drop in status of women in the tribal
community.

7) Deterioration of health
- Almost all the R&R colonies lack proper public health facilities, protected drinking water, marketing
and transportation.
- Due to unhygienic conditions, health is a major problem of displaced tribal people, who are affected
by various diseases such as malaria, typhoid, viral fevers, diarrhoea, cholera, skin diseases and
jaundice.
- In mining projects, resettlement sites are situated close to mining operations, which result in
respiratory diseases. Ill-health causes them to spend most of their earnings towards allopathic
medical treatment, due to non-availability of herbal medicines.
- Planning Commission Five Year Plan documents, NFHS and NSSO data clearly reveal that, over the
years, there have been poor human development indicators in regions with high concentration of
tribal people

8) Disregard for Right to Livelihood: Adverse integration

- Development Projects have failed to create employment opportunities for Tribal DPs/PAPs instead it
has led to unemployment and forced migration.
- As a consequence of poverty, illiteracy and lack of skills, tribal people have not been able to take
advantage of employment opportunities created by development projects.
- The State and the corporate sector have neglected investment in skill/technical training of
development-induced-displaced tribal communities.
- There was no provision or attempt to provide jobs or livelihood opportunities, as emphasis was on
monetary compensation.
- Many have been forced to take up menial jobs and have become drifting agricultural and
industrial migrant labourers. The work is commonly poorly paid and insecure and it affects their
self- esteem and identity.

9) Occupational change
- An analysis of decadal changes in four States with substantial tribal population, namely Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand, indicates increasing landlessness amongst tribal
households.
- The percentage of marginal holdings below one hectare has shown a marked increase in all the four
States. This indicates that medium-size land holdings are getting fragmented.
- It is significant that Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have the highest rate of diversion of forest
lands for non-forest purposes, e.g. mining.
- landlessness has increased :
MP (including Chhattisgarh), by 23.1 % between 2001 and 2011, and
Jharkhand by 8.2 percent between 2005 and 2011.
- a general all-India increase in the total work participation rate for Scheduled Tribes, it is largely the
result of increasing rates of marginal rural and urban work, especially among tribal women.
- The numbers of tribal cultivators has declined by more than 10 percent in the four states, except
Odisha where rate of decline is less than the all India average.
 - The rate of decline of female cultivators in several areas is higher than males, which shows that
female-headed households are more vulnerable.

It requires :
restoring tribal land,
preventing land alienation,
giving priority to Scheduled Tribes in settlement of ceiling surplus and wasteland,
support to small and marginal tribal farmers for taking up high-value horticulture etc.,
skill development to reap the benefits of growth in labour-intensive manufacturing sector.

10) Impoverishment of Tribal DPs/PAPs adds to problem of alleviating poverty

- The poverty ratios for Scheduled Tribes are significantly higher as compared to general population in
the year 1999-2000.
- As against 27 % of all population living below the poverty line in the rural areas, 45.86 per cent of
Scheduled Tribe population lived below the poverty line.
- The Twelfth Plan Document Volume III („Social Inclusion‟, pg.229) states that, during the period,
1993-94 to 2004-05, the share of ST among the poor in the country increased from 15.83 to 20.49
per cent. It is ironic that „development‟ projects have added to the problem of unemployment and
poverty in tribal regions.

11) Decline in Percentage of Tribal Population: Loss of identity

- Development projects, which have displaced tribal people, resulted in increasing urbanization of
tribal areas and the large influx of immigrants from outside gathered the benefits from development,
while on the other hand, the condition of tribal people became worse. Consequently, the percentage
of tribal population in these areas declined.
For example, in Bihar, the percentage of tribal population declined from10.7 percent in 1951 to 7.66
percent in 1981.
In Dhanbad district, the decline was from 15.65 percent in 1951 to 9.12 percent in 1981;
In Santhal Pargana, the decline was from 44.6 percent to 36.80 percent during the same period.
209

Case Studies :

1) The Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd. established in Hatia, Ranchi district, Jharkhand, in the
early.
- In addition, excess land was acquired in the name of „public purpose‟ – a total of 7,748.80 acres,
including 6,356 acres of private land was but about 2,600 acres of land was not utilised.
- There was complete displacement of 13 villages and partial displacement of 22 villages.
- Out of the 3090 families displaced, 2274 families belonged to the Oraon and Munda tribes.
- According to an evaluation report by the State Government Tribal Research Institute, Ranchi, in
1993, ten to twenty decimals land was given to the displaced for homestead.
- Some were compensated with land, but these were wastelands.
- one job was given to 4-5 families clubbed together(as against the promise of 1 job for each
dispalaced family).
- Paid prevailing market rate, which was calculated as an average of registered sale prices of land of
similar quality and location in the preceding three or five years. However, most land transactions are
grossly undervalued to evade registration fees. As a result, compensation ranged from Rs. 7360
per acre to Rs.3200 per acre.
- Not used to money economy : Most of the displaced, who were not used to handling money,
frittered away their cash compensation in a very short time.
- Before displacement, the displaced families owned land and were engaged in agriculture and
animal husbandry activities, which provided them enough food grain and basic necessities.
- After displacement, they lost their capital resource - land linked to food security. There was no
attempt to reconstitute livelihoods. Did not have enough food grain to feed themselves through the
year. Faced unemployment, poverty and distress.
- The evaluation report concludes by pointing out that, from poor, but self- sufficient and self-
respecting members of a community, the displaced families had been reduced to daily wage
labourers, moving from place to place in search of work.198

2) Tripathy, S.N. „Mining and Displacement Problems in Orissa

- In a study on mining and displacement problems in Odisha, it has been found that
- about 8117 families from 1446 villages were displaced, due to development projects in the period
1950-1993.
- The aftermath of development induced displacement is that landlessness takes the form of
downward mobility from large to medium land holders from medium/small to marginal farmers, and
from small/marginal farmers to landless.
- Among mining-displaced families, 16.7 % of tribal people and 13 % of Dalit-displaced, became
landless against 3.6 % of the general castes.

- Sarangi, Debaranjan, 2004. “Mining „Development‟ and MNCs” Study shows that people displaced
by mining lost their land and were forced to become wage labourers in mines, but later due to
mechanization, they were the first ones to lose their jobs and become completely impoverished.

3) Sekhar, B. 1995 „The oustees of Mahi Bajaj Sagar Project: Twenty years After‟.
An evaluation of the condition of tribal oustees of Mahi Bajaj Sagar Project, Rajasthan, twenty years
after their displacement (which took place in the 1970s), shows that the quality of facilities in the
resettlement colonies were poor, with no proper provision for schooling, which adversely affected the
education of children. It was observed that the displaced had limited skills and low levels of literacy and
were unable to utilize compensation money properly. Since they were primarily agriculturists, they had
very little knowledge of running a business or providing a service and in absence of a rehabilitation plan
to address the needs of education and training, the deprived tribal people were unable to find alternative
livelihood. The displaced who could not get possession of allotted agricultural land were forced to lead
subsistence lives on encroached land with many of them forced to migrate to nearby towns as low
skilled labourers after Kharif season.
4) Parasuraman, in his research study on displacement due to Bolani Iron Ore Mines in Keonjhar district of
Orissa, describes the pre-displacement situation in the villages of Bolani, Champua and Balagoda as being
thinly populated tribal villages.
- Every household owned land, surviving on cultivating coarse cereals and millets, rearing cows, goats
and bullocks and depending on forest for fruits, Mahua trees for liquor and small game for their
protein requirements.
- They were self-sufficient because they had access to alternative sources of production.
- Excess land of 1320 hectares was acquired whereas only 500 acres was actually utilized for
mining, township etc. Deprived of their resources, the displaced cleared thick forests for cultivation;
had they not done this, the tribals ousted would have been in a worse position.
- All households who lost land to mines were compensated with one job per family.
- Those who lost land to Public Works or Railways only got cash compensation.
- Out of the 218 tribal households, 180 were offered employment in mines. But the living and working
conditions in the mines was different from the tribal way of life and consequently, over a period of
time, many displaced lost the mining jobs to non- tribal migrant workers from outside.
- Moreover, those managing mines did not understand the tribal way of life, their cultural beliefs and
customs and made the tribals displaced, feel unwanted.
- Mining activities led to environmental degradation, deforestation, pollution of river and decrease in
soil fertility. Tribal people lost disproportionately, due not only to loss of land but their habitat for
which they were not prepared by training and psychological mentoring for the transition from
agriculture to mine-related employment.
- The displaced have become strangers in their own land and have nowhere to go, following the
destruction of their forest-based habitat and livelihood system.

5) Fernandes, Denzil, Roy, Prodipto, Sinha, Archana, Sebak, Dillip K., Roy, Joya (2007) Submergence of
Justice, New Delhi: Indian Social Institute Sardar Sarovar dam in Madhya Pradesh focused on
problems faced by the Project Affected Families of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in Madhya Pradesh,
after the dam height was raised to 119 metres by June 2006. Out of a total of 245 villages in the
Submergence Zone, 193 villages are in Madhya Pradesh, 33 in Maharashtra and 19 in Gujarat.
The study emphasises that India is a signatory to ILO Conventions 107 and 169 on the rights of
indigenous and tribal peoples. Article 16 of ILO 169 states: “Where the relocation of these peoples is
considered necessary as an exceptional measure, such relocation shall take place only with their free and
informed consent.” Where a return to the traditional lands is not possible in the future, Governments must
provide “lands of quality and legal status at least equal to that of the lands previously occupied by them.”

However, the finding of the field study was that Gram Sabhas had not been formally consulted before
notifications under the LAA, 1894, were issued; few attempts were made to inform the largely illiterate
tribal populations about their rights as stated in the NWDT Award; and the option of „land for land‟
within Madhya Pradesh was never formally communicated to the Gram Sabhas. .

The survey based on 20 R&R sites indicated that only 344 families were actually living in the R&R sites
prepared for them. The survey found almost all the sites to be “very poor”. The Government apparently bought
1636.9 hectares (4141.4 acres) of mainly black cotton soil for 86 R&R sites, most of which are totally
unsuitable for building houses. The study recommended that all the adult sons, unmarried adult daughters,
widows, divorcees and abandoned wives be treated as separate PAPs.
The study found that most Gram Sabhas in the 171 villages had held meetings and written letters to the Madhya
Pradesh Government, but received no response. Only when writ petitions were filed in the Supreme Court for
villages like Picchodi and Jalsindhi, were judgments made in their favour.

6) Another study of R&R in Gujarat of the Narmada Project reveals that the reason for defective R&R
programme and policies was because implementation of R&R depends on a bureaucracy who has prejudices
and biases against tribal people and lack of understanding of their society. The findings were that there was no
consultation with displaced and project affected people, lack of communication, cultural differences were
disregarded, faulty land–compensation procedures that did not take into consideration rights of tribal
DPs/PAPs and added to this fraud and corruption. The study also found cases of coercion and human rights
violations, where people were forced to leave and stay at resettlement locations. False promises were made but
once the tribal people shifted, Government officials avoided them and there was absence of a system to address
grievances and complaints

Recommendations
1. Serious effort is required by the State to minimize displacement. There should be a rights- based approach to
comprehensive rehabilitation for socio-economic reconstitution of victims of development, including for the
backlog of displaced.

2. The problem is with the expansive interpretation that has been given to the doctrine of „eminent domain‟ by
political and managerial elites. In this context, it is essential that the whole process of displacement should be
democratic and rights of tribal communities to say „no‟ to acquisition of their land and to access and manage
forests and other CPRs, be recognised.

3. The new legislation, „The Right To Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
And Resettlement Act, 2013, is progressive in the sense that it is the first to legally mandate rehabilitation of
PAPs. However, it fails to address the need for minimizing of acquisition of land and resources. This is not
surprising, since the objective of the Act, which seeks to address concerns of those whose livelihoods are
affected, simultaneously aims at facilitating land acquisition for industrialization and urbanization. This is in
keeping with the broader liberalization policies. Such policies will result in more displacement in Central India
for mining and in the Northeast for dams.
od security and states that multi-crop irrigated land
will not be acquired, except as a last resort measure. Further, the State Government is to set limits on the
acquisition of such land under this law. States are also required to set a limit on the area of agricultural land that
can be acquired in any given district. However, there is no mention of the need to protect tribal land and
community resources. Hence, a suitable provision is required to be incorporated in the Act, to safeguard tribal
land and community resources in Scheduled Areas and disallow acquisition by a non-tribal, including private
companies.

displacement in Scheduled Areas. The exercise of „eminent domain‟ and definition of „public purpose‟ should be
severely limited.

public purpose, should be kept outside the ambit of the new law, as the Public-Private Partnership mode of
acquiring land is simply a backdoor method of alienating land in violation of the Constitutional provision to
prohibit or restrict transfer of tribal land to non-tribals in Scheduled Areas.
commended that, as directed in the landmark Samatha judgment and the PESA Act, every Gram Sabha
should have the power to prevent alienation of tribal land and further that minerals should be exploited by tribal
people themselves. The stringent provisions of the amended Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas Land Transfer
Regulation, 1959, should be adopted by other States, particularly the provision that facilitates the formation of
Registered Scheduled Tribe Co-operative Societies, which could take up mining activities in Scheduled Areas.
By doing so, the Samatha Judgment would hold good for all States with Scheduled Areas. It should be the
responsibility of the State to facilitate the formation of cooperatives of tribal people for the above purpose.
consent should be mandatory for acquisition of land by the Government for its own use as well.

be with the consent of the Gram Sabha. This should be rectified.

4. In the interest of weaker sections such as tribal communities, the threshold should be kept very low and R&R
provisions of the new law should apply to all cases.

5. There is plenty of unutilized tribal land available with Central/State/PSUs, and Central/State Governments
which is not being used for the purpose for which it was acquired. Governments should be legally mandated to
return such land to the original landowner/successors or use the same for resettlement of displaced tribals. This
should not be left to the discretion of the State Government. One example of this is of HEC, Hatia, Ranchi, where
excess tribal land had been acquired and people are agitating for the return of the land, but the State wishes to
utilize it for other purposes. In such cases, land should be returned to the original displaced families.
The Vijay Kelkar Committee on Fiscal Consolidation (2012) said,
“Over the next 24-36 months, there is yet another policy instrument for raising resources for development and that is
monetizing the government’s unutilized and under-utilized land resources. These resources can finance infrastructure
needs, particularly in urban areas. Such a policy has been effectively utilized in many countries including USA,
France, Canada, Australia and China. For monetizing land resources, the potential is considerable given the under-
utilized prime lands of PSUs, Port Trusts, Railways, etc. Toward this, we recommend setting up of a group to work
out the policy framework and institutional modalities.”

The suggestion of the Vijay Kelkar Committee on Fiscal Consolidation (2012) that “unutilized and under-utilized
land resources” be used for “raising resources” to “finance infrastructure needs particularly in urban areas” is
against the purpose and intent of the land acquisition law and should be roundly rejected, and unused land should
be returned to the loser of the land and to the community

6. There has been inadequate recognition at the policy level that land represents an inalienable resource, passed
on from generation to generation in tribal communities, who otherwise have no education and skill development.
Studies have documented that those DPs who got jobs in lieu of land and whose children did not receive
education or training were worse off after the job-holder retired from service. It is recommended that the
objective of R&R should be to ensure that the socio-economic status of tribal DPs/PAPs after displacement,
should improve positively rather than deteriorate further. Loss of land and CPR can be compensated only by
proper R&R which envisages restoration of livelihoods, health and education facilities and skill development for
the whole family and community of tribal DPs/PAPs. There should be provision of „land for land‟, in acquisition
of tribal lands. Compensatory land provided must be made cultivable with irrigation and agricultural inputs.
Rehabilitation should be treated as a continuous process to be monitored by the Project Authority and State until
the alternative livelihood becomes economically viable. They must be given a stake in the assets and economic
activities being created on their acquired land and CPRs (for example, land in command area, irrigation of tribal
land in the vicinity, jobs in industries, or shops/jobs in industrial projects/townships). An expanding economy,
particularly expanding labour-intensive manufacturing sector together with adequate emphasis on health,
education and skill development, hold the key to humane R&R.

7. The 2013 Act is weak in matters relating to skill development and provision for livelihood for DPs/PAPs.
During a meeting between the HLC and representatives of displaced tribal people in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, anger
was expressed at the non-fulfillment of promises to give jobs to the educated displaced persons. They were
unhappy with the cash allowance being given in lieu of jobs. The official response, that there were not enough
jobs to accommodate all displaced people, did not satisfy the aggrieved parties. A sum of two thousand rupees
per month per family as annuity for 20 years, with appropriate index for inflation in lieu of jobs, as stipulated in
the new Act, is too low. Clearly, more has to be done for skill development and creation of alternative
livelihoods. One of the ways to ensure that jobs are provided to displaced people, including tribal families, is to
create a State level/National-level Virtual Employment Exchange with complete data of age, sex, educational
qualifications, and skill-set of persons displaced in the past, present and in near future, for providing them
employment and/or preparing them for employment/self-employment. Global best practices could be studied for
providing alternative livelihoods, which could include imaginative self-employment schemes with backward and
forward linkages to be provided by Project Authorities.

8. Research studies stress that gross undervaluation of losses, replacement value of loss and costs of resettlement,
has led to inadequate financing of R&R and externalization of costs of R&R to the displaced and the future
generations. The new law has expanded the definition of „displaced‟ to include project-affected persons;
however, care has to be taken to ensure that all genuine cases are included and compensation is properly
computed.

to support their genuine claim but who base their ownership rights on oral tradition. Such claims should not be
rejected.
ave been covered under the Forest Rights Act, but other CPRs such as Government land and
Panchayat land has not been covered by any legislation. This needs to be rectified. Moreover, survey by
Government is incomplete – as a consequence, community land is recorded as Government land and tribal
communities, primarily tribes who practice shifting cultivation on such land, are denied compensation. This
problem needs to be addressed by measures to include such cases under R&R provision.
 consideration and affirmative action. Widows and unmarried adult daughters should be
recognized as a separate unit.

be based on replacement value or net present value of assets lost/destroyed.

made to reduce costs for a favourable cost-benefit ratio.

rehabilitation package and process should take into account, the cultural displacement, and loss of
customs and tradition. For tribal people, their strength is their community, and therefore, it is imperative
that they be resettled and rehabilitated as a community, if they so desire.

provision of banking facilities has been missed out. With primary emphasis on monetary compensation, it is
essential that displaced tribals, who may not have experience in handling money and understanding of the
monetary economy, should be advised on handling their cash compensation. Banking facilities should made
available for keeping their money safe and credit facilities should be provided by the State (to avoid exploitation
by money-lenders).

9. Land and water sources polluted by industrial and mining projects in tribal regions require attention and the
onus for taking corrective measures should be on the Project Authorities. The schemes of the Government could
be utilized to treat polluted land and water resources of tribal people.

10. The role of the Governor is crucial for protecting land, community assets, culture and traditional institutions
of tribal people and to ensure that they are treated fairly. This role extends to ensuring socio-economic
reconstitution of tribal DPs/PAPs. This raises the issue of suitability of persons who occupy the important
position of Governor and other offices, such as Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and District Magistrates,
in Scheduled Areas. It is imperative that the antecedents and experience of persons be taken into consideration by
the Government to check whether they can protect the interest of tribal communities and are suitable for such
appointments, in view of the special role assigned to them in such States.

11. Implementation of the new law will be difficult in the absence of resettlement and rehabilitation capacities in
the local administration, local community and corporate entities. It is essential that the State and corporate sector
create such capacity by introducing professional training and orientation courses for following the best R&R
practices worldwide and replicating them in the Indian situation. Offering tribal people monetary compensation
and making promises without attendant capacity to deliver on them will not resolve the impasse that has brought
land acquisition to a standstill. Sporadic attempts by instruments of the State to use force to acquire land is
unethical and unacceptable. Only a genuine and bonafide effort at comprehensive and pragmatic R&R can
persuade tribal people to part with their land.

12. The new legislation lays considerable emphasis on consultation and consent of Gram Sabhas. It is essential
that the State be vigilant through adequate monitoring mechanisms for ensuring that consent is obtained freely
and every displaced person gets adequate and comprehensive R&R in lieu of land/livelihoods lost. The State
must put in place a system to collect disaggregated data of DPs/PAPs for all social groups. Oversight
mechanisms must be created at the District, State and Central levels, comprising officials and non-officials with
proven competence, integrity and commitment to public good. There is a view that, though the new legislation
has been enacted by the Centre, R&R is a State subject, which should continue. However, the Centre has a
responsibility along with the states to ensure comprehensive R&R. The Central Government should decide on the
monitoring mechanism to be put in place. One possibility is to establish an Authority/nodal agency with a
multidisciplinary team under the Ministry of Land Resources.

13. In view of the large-scale discontent among displaced tribal people regarding poor R&R, a High-Level Fact-
finding Committee/Enquiry Committee should be set up to investigate the quality of R&R in all medium and
major development projects undertaken in the last fifty years in Scheduled Areas and tribal-dominated districts of
States without Scheduled Areas. This Committee should be mandated to suggest ways and means to deliver
justice to the displaced families, who have not received any proper rehabilitation. This is essential, in view of the
fact that, the new law has not taken cognizance of the backlog of displaced people, a majority of whom are tribal
people.
14. Myriad grassroot movements against exploitation of tribal people and other weaker sections hold the key to
greater socio-economic justice. It would be desirable if the State recognizes this and engages with democratic
grassroot movements, instead of crushing these movements.

15. Tribal people who have been displaced by conflict in Chhattisgarh and the Northeast should be rehabilitated
by the State Government in their villages and provided facilities of housing, safe drinking water, health and
education, skill development, electricity supply, irrigation facilities, and agricultural inputs. It is for the State to
take preventive action and ensure safety and prevent tribal land alienation in such areas. During a visit of HLC to
Assam, civil society groups and representatives of Autonomous Tribal Councils emphasized that influx of
outsiders was a real threat to the tribal communities. They also alleged that inter-tribal conflict was being
instigated by outsiders. It is the responsibility of the State Government to take measures to prevent such conflicts.

16. Under the „Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, pattas/legal titles for houses
allotted in resettlement sites are not issued to the displaced. As a result, the displaced lose their identity and are
unable to access public facilities provided by the local administration, thereby facing difficulty in obtaining
Caste/Tribe certificates. Further, there is no provision for payment of compensation before taking possession of
land. The provision for returning land to original landholders post-mining is rarely complied with. Clearly, there
is a need to make amendments in the Act.

17. Development projects have opened up tribal areas leading to influx of people from outside the tribal region,
seeking employment in various sectors. All this has resulted in increasing urbanization of tribal areas and
immigrants, rather than tribals, have benefited from this. Consequently, the percentage of tribal population in
some Scheduled Areas has declined, although historically, these areas were almost exclusively occupied by tribal
people. Hence, it is recommended that there should be no reduction in the areas declared to be Scheduled Areas
as this will harm the interests of already deprived tribal communities by diminishing their space and their
resources. Rather, the representation of tribal communities should be enhanced and strengthened in the politico-
administrative institutions within Scheduled Areas.

18. Tribal people suffer predominantly from the phenomenon of poverty-induced migration, also known as
forced migration. An analysis of the Census data shows that there has been an occupational change and the
number of tribal cultivators has reduced while the number of tribal marginal workers has increased. Micro
studies indicate the increase in seasonal/circulatory migration of tribal workers, which may help them to avoid
starvation, but is not enough to improve their standard of living. Hence, it is recommended that:

migration, migration of children across social groups and poverty-induced migration.

given to STs in settlement of ceiling surplus land and wasteland, investments to improve
agriculture, support for high value horticulture, employment opportunities in rural areas, access to credit facilities
and skill-development to rural youth for employment in labour-intensive manufacturing sector.

Census and therefore, Census data is not a true reflection of tribal population. This grievance requires to be
redressed.
-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of
Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, has led to exploitation of tribal migrant families. In
particular, tribal women and children suffer greatly. There is a growing demand for enactment of a
comprehensive Migrants Rights Legislation, which deserves serious consideration.

19. Recommendations for measures to prevent illegal land alienation of tribal land are as follows:
In pursuance of the PESA, 1996, Land Transfer Regulations/Tenancy laws of all Schedule V Areas should be
suitably amended to ensure Gram Sabha participation in the identification, investigation and restoration of lands
to tribal people. Gram Sabhas require to be strengthened by State Governments to undertake these
responsibilities.

individual tribal cannot afford to face prolonged legal battles, given their socio-economic conditions.

in order to potentially discourage a prospective non-tribal buyer of land in Scheduled Areas. This needs to be
legally examined.
 -level Council do not have powers to dissolve
Gram Sabhas or to dilute the powers and functions of the Gram Sabha
a Land Regulations and Tenancy laws should be
removed. For example, such a removal must ensure that tribal land is not transferred for purposes such as
settlement of refugees, housing, etc.
le property of tribals can be mortgaged to
banks and, in case of default, the property to be sold back only to tribal people or tribal cooperative societies
exclusively formed by tribal people. This provision needs to be evaluated to explore replication in other
Scheduled Area States. There is an urgency in doing so to meet the financial needs of tribal youth.

property in the Scheduled Areas and in possession of a person who is not a member of a Scheduled Tribe shall be
presumed to have been acquired by the person or his predecessors through a transfer made to him by a member
of a Scheduled Tribe. This clause should be examined by other States for adoption and inclusion in their laws.

the effect that there should not be any time limit for restoring tribal land.
e made in land laws so as to bring all benami transfers, transfers in the names of
concubines, tribal servants or others into the purview to prevent fraudulent land transfer in Scheduled Areas.
ullify PESA provisions should be stopped forthwith.
Use of Master Plan in urban areas to alienate/displace tribal people from their land should be curbed.
titioners so
that they are in a position to hire competent lawyers to fight cases. The Government must also provide legal
training, literacy and awareness programs for youth and women on State and customary laws contextualized with
modernity processes, with the participation of NGOs.
-level functionaries do not
connive in defrauding tribal people of their land. Regular monitoring at the State and Central levels of disposal of
cases and proactive efforts for restoration of tribal land is required. It is the responsibility of the State to address
the problem of contradictory judicial pronouncements that jeopardize implementation of protective land laws by
removing ambiguities in all relevant laws.
 Chapter 9

The Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA)

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
(FRA).
Both these legislations are premised on setting right historical wrongs that had caused processes of
marginalisation, impoverishment and increased vulnerability of tribal and forest dependent
communities.

FRA 2006
Q-2018 Discuss the significance and implementation of ‘Regognition of FR Act,2006’(15M)
Q-2016 Difficulties experienced by ST with regard to implemenatation of FRA,2006 (15M)
Q-2014 Forest Policy and tribes (10M)

History:
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 and its predecessor Act of 1878 vested control over the forest resources in
the state.
2017 Amendment to FRA 1927- to exclude bamboo from the definition of tree under the Indian Forest Act,
claiming it would improve the earnings of tribals and dwellers living around forests.

Significance:
1) on setting right historical wrongs (marginalisation, impoverishment and increased vulnerability.
2) taking away the burden of illegality from the shoulders of tribals, and forest dwelling and
dependent communities.
3) potential to achieve livelihood security and changes in forest governance along with strengthening
of forest conservation
4) holders of any forest right under this Act to:
(a) Protect the wild life, forest and biodiversity;
(b) Ensure that adjoining catchments area, water sources and other ecological sensitive areas are
adequately protected;
(c) Ensure that the habitat of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers is
preserved from any form of destructive practices affecting their cultural and natural heritage;
(d) Ensure that the decisions taken in the Gram Sabha to regulate access to community forest resources
and stop any activity which adversely affects the wild animals, forest and the biodiversity are complied
with.

Implemenatation

Manthan, Report of the National Committee on National Forest Rights Act, 2010 (A Joint Committee of
MoEF and MoTA).  to study the factors that aid or impede the implementation

1) The implementation of the FRA has been poor, and therefore it‟s potential has hardly been
achieved.
2) There have been serious flaws in many states relating to the constitution of the Forest Rights
Committee (FRC) at the grassroots level which has the crucial role of assisting the Gram Sabha (GS)
in determining the claims from individuals by receiving, consolidating and verifying them on the
ground.
3) Several states have utilized GPS technology for plot delineation.
4) The FRA stipulates that forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(OTFDs) are not to be evicted or removed from forest land under their occupation till the process of
recognition and verification of their rights is complete. The committee members found that this
provision of the Act has been violated such as in Thane, Maharashtra where FRA claimants were
evicted even as their claims were pending with no notice.
5) The relocation from Protected Areas including Tiger Reserves without having completed the
procedures under the FRA was identified as a gross violation of the FRA.
6) Most states have concentrated almost entirely on implementing the provisions for individual forest
rights (IFR).
7) Claims are being rejected without assigning reasons, or based on wrong interpretation of the
„OTFD‟ definition and the „dependence‟ clause, or simply for lack of evidence or „absence of GPS
survey‟ or because the land is wrongly considered as „not forest land‟, or because only forest
offence receipts are considered as adequate evidence.
8) The rejections are not being communicated to the claimants, and their right to appeal is not being
explained to them nor its exercise facilitated.

9) Claims are often rejected

 due to absence of ST community certificates.
 OTFD claims in Andhra Pradesh have largely not been entertained due to lack of evidence.
 In Odisha, OTFD‟s have mainly been discouraged from filing claims .
 Claims have also been rejected due to inability to prove plot cultivation for seventy five years
prior to 13th December 2005.
 Refuse to accept “ORAL Evidences”
 Incorrectly requiring “proof of occupation” and not “proof of residence”
 There are reports of claims being rejected on the ground that the claimed land is „disputed‟.
As per SCSTRTI Report, 2013: “In Chhattisgarh, the issue of Ghas zameen (revenue land) is
disputed by villagers in many sites which they consider as narangikshetra, something that is
popularly known as ‘orange areas’ in government parlance, an area, ownership of which is disputed
between the forest and revenue department. It must be noted that these orange areas are recorded in
records of both forest and revenue department and so long as the land is recorded as forest land, it
comes under the ambit of the FRA.
A dispute between two departments cannot be a reason for denying people their due under the law.
10) General Misunderstanding is that FRA is a “scheme for tribals” to the exclusion of OTFDs and
therefore, CFR titles will be granted to “Scheduled Tribes only”
11) Section 3 (1) (m) of the FRA, regarding the rights of persons illegally displaced or evicted by
development projects without proper compensation, has not been implemented at all.

12) Generally a gap between the land claimed and the actual extent of the titles issued to the claimant
13) Strict adherence to conditions not even required or permitted under the Act are used to disregard
claims.
For eg: The term “individual forest rights” isn‟t actually used in the FRA, it has found its way to
official records and common parlance to denote rights to forest land with individual tenure.

14) Issue with Forest Rights Committee(FRCs)

(constituted at Panchayat level overseeing several villages)
 not aware of their membership and their duties.
 Lack of awareness, information and training on filing CFR claims in FRCs prevents interested
communities from filing claims.
 manipulated by village elites leading to conflicts.

15) Rights over Minor Forest Produce(MFP)

There is no institutional mechanism developed so far to support the rights holders in the process of
exercising the MFP rights particularly in the disposal and marketing of the produce. The problem is
seen more in case of nationalized produce like Bamboo and Tendu leaves

16) Judiciary
In Tamil Nadu, it is the Court that has restricted recognition of these rights. The Madras High Court
order (V. Sambasivam v. Government of India,) dated 30th April 2008 restricted the issuance of
titles under Section 3(1) unless approved by the Court.
17) Joint Forest Management:
In areas where Joint Forest Management (JFM) was in practice, there were complaints that the FRA
was sought to be kept out.
CaseStudy : In Andhra Pradesh, the SCSTRTI study notes that “community forest rights were
generally understood as rights over areas of Vana Samrakhyan Samiti (VSS), an institution created
by the Forest Department under the Joint Forest Management Program. Instead of conferring title to
the Gram Sabha, CFR titles have been found to have been issued in the name of individuals like VSS
chairperson or village elder or Sarpanch, which is a clear violation of the law”

18) Women & FRA

19) PVTG and FRA
20) FRA in protected area

21) Community forest Rights:

The FRA recognizes various community forest rights , these rights were almost entirely ignored.
In many cases, the Forest Department is actively impeding the process of CFR rights and recognition.
For example, as per a SCSTRTI study of 2013 conducted, 27 CFR titles have been claimed and even
conferred in Sarguja district of Madhya Pradesh but the Forest Department does not recognize
them.

Recommendation:
1) Though the FRA does not and should not provide any deadline for completion of the process, states
should expedite recognition of rights within an appropriate time frame which is to be decided in
consultation with the forest dwellers and civil society, so that governments do not slacken off on
implementation.
2) The MoTA should issue a clarification that OTFDs as defined under the FRA are all those who can
prove seventy five years of residence in the area (not necessarily on the plot being claimed), and
dependence on the forest land as of December, 2005. The MoTA should also clarify what kinds of
evidences may be used for such proof and how these are to be made available to the villagers. MoTA
should also clarify that no disqualifications on the basis of possession of additional revenue land or
jobs, or location of residence on revenue land, etc. are permissible under the FRA.State governments
should review their State Level Management Committees, District Level Committees, and Sub-
Divisional Level Committees, regarding their composition, functioning, public interface, and
transparency, and issue directions for necessary correctives in each of these institutions.
FRA in protected areas
There are about 690 Protected Areas (PAs), i.e., National Parks and Sanctuaries in India estd under WLP Act 1972.
Constituting around 5% area (NP-1.22% and WLS – 3.78%) of geographical area of India.
Approximately, 3 million people, most of whom are tribals, live inside PAs and are dependent on forest resources.

 treated as encroachers and forest offenders even when, for instance, they would be found collecting
minor forest produce
 Lasgorceix, A., and A. Kothari, 2009. “Displacement and relocation of Protected Areas: A synthesis and analysis of
case studies”  between 100,000 and 300,000 people have been evicted from protected areas at
different times
 Non-recognition and rejection of Community Forest Rights claims
certain incorrect assumptions : At the Forest Department level, it was believed that rights under FRA
couldn’t be claimed in PAs or when resettlement was already underway before the FRA was enacted,
and that FRA is not applicable in Tiger Reserves

Case Study: In Tamil Nadu’s State Action Plan, it is stated that Minor Forest Produce collection in PAs is
not affected by FRA because it is not a traditional right.

 Illegal Relocation(w/o rights recognition or w/o consent of states)

areas of Bandipur and Nagarhole National Park

 Tiger Reserves
The problem is the disproportionate haste with which state governments have issued notifications of
buffer areas, without following the processes prescribed under the FRA and the Wildlife Protection
Act, of rights settlement, exploring coexistence and free and informed Gram Sabha consent.
The NTCA Relocation Committee Report, 2010, highlights the following issues in connection with
the FRA:
 No rights recognition happening in Achankmar, Panna, Sariska reserves
 Mostly individual consent, no evidence of „Gram Sabha consent‟ and „informed‟ consent.
Field investigations of the Sariska reports reveals a lack of FRA information, while the
Achanakmar report mentions only individual consent
 Land option and compensation for actual assets not being made available, inconsistencies in
resettlement package were reported from Sariska, Panna, Ranthambore, Achanakmar, Panna
and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserves
 Insufficient water facilities leading to scarcity for drinking and irrigation in the resettled land
in Achanakmar and Panna.

 Elephant Corridor :
In April 2011, the Madras High Court heard a case in which the Principal Chief Conservator of
Forest and the Chief Wildlife Warden had suggested that the private/patta land forming the traditional
movement corridors of animals particularly the elephants, be brought under the control of the Forest
Department by acquiring the land and paying compensation to the owners. The Expert Committee set
up by the court, comprising five senior forest officials, has stated in its report that “all revenue lands
within the elephant corridor area should be handed over to the Forest Department.”

Both the Tiger Reserve and Elephant Corridor cases demonstrate the deliberate circumvention of
provisions of the PESA and the FRA by state governments

 Consultation with and consent of the Gram Sabha

Both the FRA and the WLPA, 1972, require that the Gram Sabhas of the affected areas be consulted
before declaring CWHs or PAs.  remains in disuse.
Often Gram Sabhas are neither sent notices for consultation, nor are their consent signatures taken by
the Government for declaring CWHs.

Case Study : Sariska tiger reserve have indicated that Gram Sabha Consent has not been taken, only
individual families have been approached by the Forest Department. Further, they have been ‘informed’
that they must consent to one of two options under the compensation scheme-cash for land, or land for
 land. If they do not choose either, they will have missed the opportunity.( Legislation Brief by
Kalpavriksh )

 Pending claims in PAs

- Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, CFR claims were rejected by the SDLC, because the villagers would have
a negative impact on the area.
- In Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (Karnataka), Soliga adivasis have applied for CFRs with
detailed documentation and maps, yet their claims have been pending.

 Critical WildLife Habitat: extra conditions in FRA before declaring CWHs

Like  The State government concludes that co-existence is not possible (cause irreversible damage)

Women
 women‟s participation in processes under the FRA remains low
 Low awareness among women
- regarding the process of claim making
- About bwlow FRA provisions
 Panchayat pati types:
Single women and widows were a majority of the women present. Others only come when their
husbands are unable to do so and stated that they were usually not allowed to air their opinion and
therefore preferred not to participate

Empowering provisions for women under FRA include:

1) Section 2(g) of the Act provides for the full and unrestricted participation of women in Gram Sabha
2) Rule 4 (2) provides that “The quorum of the Gram Sabha meeting shall be not less than one-half of all members of such
Gram Sabha: Provided that at least one-third of the members present shall be women
3) Rule 3 (1) provides that not less than 1/3rd of the members of the FRC shall be women
Vasundhara: Field studies in Odisha revealed that in most places, there was only 20 percent representation of women
4) Rule 5 (c) requires that at least one of the three PRI members nominated to the SDLC shall be a woman.
5) Similarly, rule 7 (c) requires that out of the three members of the district panchayat to be nominated to the DLC by the
district panchayat, at least one shall be a woman
6) Section 4 (4) A right conferred by sub-section (1) shall be heritable but not alienable or transferable and shall be
registered jointly in the name of both the spouses (Joint Tiles) in case of married persons and in the name of the single
head in the case of a household headed by a single person.
.
PVTGs:
1) Problem of food and Nutrition:
 The Right to Food Commissioner‟s Report identifies PVTGs as most susceptible to malnutrition.
 inhabit areas that are inaccessible by road, and therefore cannot travel easily to Anganwadi centers,
where food is prepared.
 Moreover, their hamlets are considered too small to open an Anganwadi centre.
 As far as the Midday Meal Schemes are concerned, tribals are wary of their children attending
mainstream schools, either due to fear of stigmatization in school or physical distance

Case Study : A spate of infant deaths among the PVTG in Attapadi in the Palakkad district of
Kerala 36 children had died in the six months preceding his visit in May 2013 (Deaths of unnamed children:
Malnutrition and Destitution among Adivasis in Kerala )
Severe anemia, malnourishment, the lack of potable water, the absence of specialized doctors, the
distance between the dwellings of Kurumba tribals and the ration shop, the paucity of minor irrigation
projects that could ensure drinking water and irrigation to the tribal community, the inaccessibility to
remote tribal villages and the problem brought on by drought.
One issue :sudden shift in their nutrition status : prevent killing of animals without providing
alternatives that would make up for the loss of nourishment.
An „Attapadi package‟ was put together “intended to improve the health services, functioning of the
Anganwadis and also revive traditional agricultural practices in the region, along with implementation of
the Kurumba package which itself includes house construction, buying of land, electrical works, soil
conservation, drinking water program, road, health, poverty alleviation, community area development,
etc

2) PVTG and FRA

For PVTGs, the implementation of FRA has been poorest since their habitat rights are not clearly
defined or understood by the Forest Department. No disaggregated information and data at the national
level on status of the implementation of the provision for rights of PVTGs particularly of habitat rights
under the FRA

3) Difficulty in claiming habitat rights:

 Lack of clarity over definition of habitat ;
 multiple interpretations of habitat, especially if the user rights of other, non-PVTG groups sharing
the same territory are involved; or if the traditional habitat boundaries of PVTGs overlap with
wildlife habitats;
 lack of awareness among such communities about the terms in which to articulate such claims.

Case Study :One example is the work being done in the Baigachak area of Dindori district, Madhya
Pradesh to document the traditional „garhs‟ or places of origin of the Baigas, a forest-dependent
PVTG. Garhs are sacred paces (villages, trees, rocks, or caves) that could extend much further than
the traditional village or forest boundaries. Garhs are often in Reserved Forests, and are associated
with deities, sacred plants and totemic animal species revered and protected by particular clans of
the Baigas. The worship of garhs is a living tradition.
Case study of Simlipal Tiger Reserve (Odisha)
65 villages inside the Sanctuary area of which 61 are in the buffer area and 4 are in the core area.
According to the 2001 Census, it includes 2 PVTGs, namely, Khadia and Mankidia, who depend
primarily on the forests of Simlipal. These communities are originally nomadic tribes, known for
making siali ropes, catching and eating monkeys.

Relocated in order to discourage this custom of killing monkeys and to decrease their use of siali
(which is one of the main sources of food for elephants),

Problems in connection with the notification of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve include
 relocation and resettlement without following the process under the FRA and WLPA,
into permanent colonies run by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA)
 tribals being restricted by forest guards from using Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP)
within the reserve. (the Siali Bark, amra, mahua, char and sal leaves, which they have
always traditionally collected.)
 individual land claims under the FRA made by residents, were immediately struck down by
Forest Department officials, as they were in a Tiger reserve area
 Post-relocation facilities are also poor. Land was demarcated for them to cultivate but
was not yet formally handed over to the relocated families, neither were there irrigation
facilities.
Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled
Areas) Act, 1996, (PESA)
Q) Discuss the salient features of PESA 1996 and attempt a comparison with the features of the VI
schedule.

1996, (PESA), was enacted, extending Part IX of the Constitution to the Schedule V Areas. In enabling the
Panchayats to „function as institutions of self-government‟, a state government is mandated to ensure that the
Panchayats at various levels and the Gram Sabha are endowed inter alia with:
 power to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled areas and to take appropriate action
 to restore any unlawfully alienated land of a Scheduled Tribe
 ownership of minor forest produce
 power to enforce prohibition, or to regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant
 power to exercise control over money lending to the Scheduled Tribes
 power to exercise control over institutions and functionaries in all social sectors
 power to control local plans, and resources for such plans including tribal sub-plans
 power of prior recommendation in granting prospecting license or mining leases for minor minerals as
well as for grant of concessions for the exploitation of minor minerals by auction
 right to be consulted on matters of land acquisition
 power to issue utilization certificates for government works undertaken in their village.

Problems
The Rules framed by state governments are not compliant with PESA
a) Definition of Village
b) Traditional System of Leadership
c) Consultation on Acquisition of Land, Resettlement and Rehabilitation
d) Access to and ownership of Minor Forest Produce is not PESA compliant under various state rules
e) Gram Sabha consent is frequently overridden and forest land is illegally diverted, as the examples
below will indicate:

a) Definition of Village
According to PESA- “a village shall ordinarily consist of a habitation or a group of habitations or a
hamlet or a group of hamlets comprising a community and managing its affairs in accordance with
traditions and customs.”

Case Study: C.R. Bijoy, Martin Kamodang, Brian Lobo, Nikunj Bhutia and Mithika D’cruz
In Orissa for example, the Orissa Gram Panchayat Act, 1964, stipulates that the ‘Grama’ shall have a
population of 2000-10000, which, in the case of tribal habitations, is usually not the case since they
have small populations.299
Case Study :
The Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Rules, 2011 does not define
village at all. It only states that the Gram Sabha shall consist of persons, whose names are on electoral
rolls in the Gram Panchayat
b) Traditional System of Leadership
PESA also empowers the Gram Sabha , “to be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and
customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute
resolution.”
Case Study: Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 2011
In Rajasthan, the meeting of the Gram Sabha is presided over by the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat
concerned and, in his absence, by the Up-Sarpanch.

Case Study: Andhra Pradesh Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Rules, 2011
In Andhra Pradesh, the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat is to be the President of the Gram Sabha and only in
his absence can the traditional village leader of the habitation preside. This is completely contrary to the
PESA that preserves traditional methods of leadership.

c) Consultation on Acquisition of Land, Resettlement and Rehabilitation

Case Study : AP PESA Rules 2011
In Andhra Pradesh, such process is confined only to land owning displaced persons. It also states that
only Mandal Parishads would be informed of such acquisition, displacement, rehabilitation and
resettlement programs. While PESA makes it mandatory for the government to follow recommendations
of Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat before granting of mining or prospective licenses and lease of
exploration of minor minerals by auction, the state act instead reduces it to mere consideration of these
recommendations at best and too as prescribed by the state.
Case Study : HP Panchayati Raj Rules, 2011
In Himachal Pradesh, the rules in force vest power in the Land Acquisition Officer to „consider‟ the
recommendation of the Gram Sabha regarding the land acquisition proposal.Consultation and consent
with the Gram Sabha are virtually non-existent.

d) Access to and ownership of Minor Forest Produce is not PESA compliant under various state rules
Bamboo, for instance, is defined as a ‘minor forest produce’ in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 whereas the
Indian Forest Act, 1927 treats it at par with timber.
2017 Amendment to 1927 Act permitting felling & transport of bamboo grown in non forest area.
Improve earning of tribals and dwellers. Still a tree in forest area.

Gujarat Gujarat Panchayat Act, 1993  ownership of

MFP is vested with Village Panchayat except
MFP found in the areas of National Parks or
Sanctuaries.

Rajasthan Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 entrusts the

power of management of MFP to the Gram
Sabha subject to such conditions and up to such
extent and in such manner as may be specified by
the State Government from time to time.
Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs)
In recent years, state governments and corporations have been entering into MoUs which impose a responsibility
on the state to facilitate various aspects of their projects. Many of these MoUs pertain to Fifth Schedule Areas.

Source:MOU between Sterlite Energy(P) Ltd. And the Govt. of Orissa dated 29 th Sept. 2006
“The Government agrees to acquire, the required land……and hand over the required land free from all
encumbrances to SEL through Orissa Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO) for the project and allied
facilities.”

Source: MOU between Essar Steel Jharkhand Ltd. and the Government of Jharkhand dated 6 th July 2007
“ The Govt. of Jharkhand agrees to forward proposal of M/s Essar Steel Jharkhand Ltd.(ESJL) in obtaining NOC
through the State Pollution Control Board for the construction of Plant, the housing colony, mines, pipelines etc.

The Samatha judgment 1997 of the Supreme Court held, “the State Government….stands prohibited to transfer
by way of lease or any other form known to law, the Government land in Scheduled Area to non-tribal person, be
it natural or juristic person except to its instrumentality or a Co-operative Society composed solely of tribes”.

Yet, MoUs such as those described here, conveniently makes the transfer of land in Scheduled Areas into a
contractual arrangement, in a complete breakdown of constitutional principles safeguarding tribal interests.

In 2005, when the Government of Orissa entered into a MoU with POSCO, which is now a contentious project
and where local people including tribals have been protesting land acquisition for the project, it included a clause
that read:
“ The Government of Orissa agrees to facilitate and use its best efforts to enable the Company to obtain a “No
Objection Certificate” (NOC) through the State Pollution Control Board in the minimum possible time for the
development and operation of the Project.

Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI)

The CCI was constituted in 2013 specifically to expedite clearances of projects worth Rs. 1000 crores or more.
The CCI raison d’etre was the expeditious clearance to be given to projects and to remove impediments that
the CCI saw as delaying projects like land acquisition, FRA implementation, environmental clearances and
Gram Sabha consent were in focus. Decisions made by the CCI allow the FRA to be bypassed. The status
report of the CCI dated 22.3.2013 stated that since obtaining Gram Sabha consent for each linear projects is
time consuming, the MoEF issued an OM stating that this is not necessary anymore. Further, the notification
also says that “for one time capacity expansion of 25 percent or less, coal mining projects have now been
exempted from public hearing provided that public hearing had taken place at the time of obtaining the existing
EC and the mining is confined to the existing lease area. This would help boost production of coal which is in
short supply in the country.” This limit has now increased to 50 percent, as per a MoEF OM, 2014 also exempt
from public hearing. The CCI has iterated that this is a good policy decision to avoid delays in projects.
Example 1: Essel and Mining Company Ltd case in Keonjhar district, Orissa
 no recognition of rights under the FRA in Keonjhar (under Schedule V).
 The administration has been facilitating illegal diversion of forest land to mining companies by engineering fraudulent
Gram Sabhas of the concerned villages.
 An MLA from Jharsuguda, Naba Kishore Das, wrote a complaint to the Union Tribal Affairs Secretary, MoTA. The Union
Secretary examined Gram Sabha records and found that Gram Sabhas were held in Jalahari, Bholbeda, Jajanga Jurudi,
Banspani and Khuntpani villages coming under Joda –Badbil Tahasil on 1st Nov 2013 for obtaining their consent for the
diversion of forest land for Essel Mining and Industries Ltd. It was found that in the same meeting it was decided that
the villagers had no forest rights and that they had no objection to the diversion of the concerned forest land .
 Terming the procedure in violation of the FRA ,the Secretary termed the approval for diversion invalid and advised the
Collector to withdraw the approval.

Example 2: Mahan Coal block in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh (Anupam Chakravarthy)

 No community forest right has been recognized in the Singrauli district after forest land diversions taking place for non-
forest use.
 Villagers in Amelia and Suhira were not allowed to make their CFR claims at the Gram Sabha meeting held on 15th
August 2012 despite the fact that 300 people attended the meeting that day.
 Stage- I conditional forest clearance was granted by MoEF for mining of the Mahan Coal Block in Madhya Pradesh on
30th October 2012 without detailed assessments of social and ecological impacts or obtaining Gram Sabha consent
required under MoEF’s 2009 order.
 Following this, the administration organized a special Gram Sabha on March 6, 2013 which was attended by only 184
persons. However, over 11000 signatures were forged onto the resolution which included the signatures of some
dead people.
 Despite strong protests by the villagers, including letters written in their support by the Minister of Tribal Affairs to the
Madhya Pradesh Governor and Chief Minister, MoEF granted final forest clearance for the Mahan coal block in
February 2014.

Example 3: Polavaram Project (ML Melly Maithreyi)

a) The Polavaram Project has now been given national status. The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of the
Polavaram Project Authority, where the Centre will provide funds for the project and help in getting environmental and
forest clearances.
b) The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project says 276 villages will be affected; an estimated 177,275
people live in these villages. But the population of these villages according to the Census 2001 is much higher—236,834
c) Though, the clearance of the project is subject to the settlement of claims under the Forest Rights Act, a number of
people have had their claims rejected.
d) According to a report by the Central Empowered Committee(2006) the table below illustrates the number of affected
families.

State No.of settlements No. of project No. of population

affected families affected
Andhra Pradesh 276 44,574 1,77,275
Chhattisgarh 4 2,335 11,766

Out of the above, 14.94 % are SC , 48.67 % STs, 17.45 percent backward classes .
However, the project has acquired greater complexity in light of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Bill, approved by the Union
Government, whereby the villages to be submerged are now located in Seemandhra, originally in the Telangana region

A fact finding team comprising Dr. B.D. Sharma , Dr. Jayashankar and others toured nine mandals in the districts of Khammam,
East and West Godavari districts that are to be affected by the Polavaram Dam Project between 3nd March and 6th March,
2007.
They reached the following conclusions:
 In Maredubaka village in Kukunoor Mandal, people passed resolutions against Polavaram dam and the Resettlement&
Rehabilitation package offered by the Government. Resolutions were ignored, suppressed and manipulated.
 Some Mandal Praja Parishads (MPP) also have passed resolutions against the construction of the dam but the officials
have not accepted or recorded them.
 They also noted that in Paidipakka village in Polavaram mandal, the District Collector sat in the Gram Sabha along with
armed police force. There he told the people that the government can’t pay more than 1.3 lakhs and the villagers had
no other option but to leave.
Example 4: Public hearings are mandated both under the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 as well as the
PESA
In an appeal before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) challenging the Environmental Clearance (EC) granted to a Coal Mining
Project by M/s Jindal Steel and Power Limited at Raigarh District of Chhattisgarh State by the MoEF, the NGT in an order dated
20th April, 2012 held that the public hearing conducted , was a “farce” and a “mockery” of the procedure required to be
followed.

Land Alienation (R KrishnaKumar)

In 2001, landless tribal communities in Kerala, represented by their leader Shri C.K. Janu, entered into an agreement
with the Chief Minister under which all landless tribal families in the State would get land not exceeding 5 acres.
Two years on, and the land allotments promised were not implemented at all. In a symbolic and strategic move, the
community decided to enter the Muthanga forests and occupy the land.
The decision to move to Muthanga evolved out of widespread consultative process across the state’s tribal belt-
where a 60 member tribal court declared that since the agreement was being openly disregarded, the community
should assert their rights by occupying the land. A month later, a part of the forest area occupied by the tribals
including hutments were set on fire and property destroyed allegedly by police and government officials. The
tribals ‘took captive’ about twenty state police and Forest Department officials. Statements of these officials were
recorded, and thereafter, they were handed over, unharmed, to the District Collector. Meanwhile, 500 armed
policemen and forest officials descended on the area, and around 300 tribals were reportedly arrested. According to
the People’s Judicial Enquiry Commission headed by Justice Shamsher and Justice Shamshuddin, men and women
were rounded up and taken to the police station and many were beaten ruthlessly. Though the government record
states that there were two deaths, a tribal and the other a policeman- many unofficial accounts point to a higher
number of deaths.

Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited v. Union of India & Ors. [(2011)
The Supreme Court‟s decision in the Lafarge case is revealing about how procedures could get subverted in the
process of grant of permission for diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes in places inhabited by tribal
communities.
Lafarge was about quarrying for limestone in Meghalaya, and the forest clearance had been sought on the
basis of a report that said that there were no forests in the area. This was later demonstrated that it is not an
accurate statement of fact. Although there were around 1800 tribals in the affected area, in the first instance, it
was recorded that 31 tribals had been consulted and, at a later date when the matter was in court, the views of 200
of them were said to have been heard. The spectrum of agencies had worked in ways that revealed severe
weaknesses in regulation.
The court allowed the company to continue mining, while saying, “at times the court is faced with conflicting
reports.”

Niyamgiri

Niyamgiri hills is inhabited by the Dongria Khond, a PVTG. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. approached the
Supreme Court asking that the company be allowed to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills to feed their
aluminium plant located at the foothills.
The Dongria Khonds opposed the mining, After two rounds of consideration by the Supreme Court, a hearing
before the National Environment Appellate Authority, and two reports on the effect the project may have on the
Dongria Khonds, the Supreme Court directed, on 18th April, 2013, that the Gram Sabha needed to consider the
rights that were being affected by the proposed mining. Excerpts:
  “Many of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers are totally unaware of their rights.
Many a times, they do not have the financial resources to engage in any legal actions against development
projects . They have a vital role to play in the environmental management and development because of their
knowledge and traditional practices. State has got a duty to recognize and duly support their identity, culture
and interest so that they can effectively participate in achieving sustainable development.

 Religious freedom guaranteed to Scheduled Tribes and the OTFDs under Articles 25 and 26 of the
Constitution is intended to be a guide to a community of life and social demands. Their right to worship the
deity Niyam-Raja has, therefore, to be protected and preserved.

The ‘Palli Sabhas’ were held in Niyamgiri between 18thJuly and 19thAugust, 2013 in twelve hamlets in Rayagada
and Kalahandi districts, which the state government considered were likely to be affected by the mining. The
proposed mining was unequivocally rejected by all twelve Palli Sabhas.

Salwa Judum
Salwa Judum, translated variously as peace march, people’s resistance movement or as purification
hunt, was a government initiative in Bastar region. It was set up in 2005, to counter the naxalites
presence in the area. Its mainstay was the SPOs (Special Police Officers) who were local tribal youth,
some as young as 16 years, who were recruited, paid a stipend, armed and handed the task of fighting
the naxalites. What resulted was a civil strife which displaced whole villages, rapes, excesses of power,
murders and the burning of houses. Resulted in the emptying out of villages, forced migration in many
cases into neighboring states, and the abandoning of their agricultural land, their livestock and other
means of production and livelihood.

This involuntary displacement and migration has caused further distress among the tribals…..Through this
process of forced migration, large mineral areas got vacated, where the mining corporate lessees are starting
operation.(Report of the Planning Commission)

In a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of the Salwa Judum in July, 2011, the court
condemned the state of Chhattisgarh for allowing such atrocities to continue and raised concerns
about the manner of recruitment, the qualifications and training of the SPOs.

Two months after the July 5th 2011 judgment, the Chhattisgarh Assembly passed the Chhattisgarh
Auxiliary Armed Police Force Act, 2011 (the Act) authorising an “auxiliary armed force to assist security
forces in prevention and control and combating maoist/naxal violence.
The Act explicitly defies the court order, continuing its earlier violent policies to combat extremism,
Criminal Law
1) Local people complained that when they raised their voices against a project proposal that was
brought to them, they invariably found themselves charged with criminal cases.

Case Study: Chhattisgarh

 found that a large number of tribals have been languishing in jails for long years without their
trial concluding.
 Under-trial women in Jagdalpur jail unaware of the offence charged, the answer almost
invariably was ‘naxal offence’. There is of course, no such offence defined in law.
 there would be further FIRs filed over a period of time implicating them in various episodes of
violence.
 find it extremely difficult to get bail,
 They assessed that over 95 percent of the cases were baseless and it was no surprise that the
acquittal rate in cases where trials ended, resulted in acquittal.
 In reply to an RTI application(Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group, Chhattisgarh), the court registers for
all cases disposed of between 2005 and 2012 revealed that average rate of acquittal over these
years was 95.7 percent.365

2) Encounter Killings:
State forces have shot and killed villagers has also raised the pitch of the conflict and left a gulf
between the state and local communities.

Case Study: The

Edasmeta killings in Bijapur district where eight villagers including three children were
shot dead on 17th May, 2013 was explained by the CRPF as having being caused by the return of fire
in an encounter with naxals.The villagers, however, have been vehemently denying that such an
encounter took place.

In Sarkeguda, seventeen people were shot dead by the CRPF on the night of 29th June,2012.

3) Cases also against tribal Leadership

Leadership emerging from tribal communities and public defenders working for the tribal interest
also have cases registered against them: illustratively, Dayamani Barla, Lado Sikakaand, Ramesh
Aggarwal. Dayamani Barla has been at the forefront of land struggle in Jharkhand

Dayamani Barla has been awarded Cultural Survival’s Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award.376
Ramesh Aggarwal, who was shot at by gunmen, disabling him, soon after he had led from the front
in the closing down of a coal mine in Raigarh377 was recently awarded the Goldman Environmental
Prize (commonly known as the Green Nobel)

Lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj, Telugu poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha,
and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested on August 28 in country-wide raids for
alleged links with Left-wing rebels called Naxals or Maoists.(Sep 2018 by Maharashtra police)

4) Soni Sori Case

Soni Sori was picked up from a marketplace in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh on 4thOctober,
2011. She, along with Lingaram Kodopi, was accused of acting as a conduit between the
naxalites and Essar for payment of money from Essar. D.V.C.S Verma, the Essar general manager
and B.K. Lala, the company‟s chief contractor, were also arrested in connection with this charge in
September, 2011. The Dantewada district court granted bail to D.V.C.S. Verma in January, 2012,
and to B.K. Lala in February, 2012. More than two years later, in an appeal against an order of the
 Chhattisgarh High Court, on 7th February, 2014, the Supreme Court directed that Soni Sori and
Lingaram Kodopi be released on bail.
Soni Sori complained of severe torture and of being sexually assaulted when she was held in police
custody. On 19th October, 2011, the Supreme Court directed that Soni Sori be examined by doctors in
a Kolkata hospital in connection with the injuries she sustained in police custody. The medical report
from the hospital found two stones in her private parts and rectum, confirming her complaint of
rape.
In a series of letters addressed to the Supreme Court, Soni Sori had charged Ankit Garg,
Superintendent of Police of Dantewada police station, of verbally abusing her and directing police
personnel to strip her naked and administer electric shocks. Ankit Garg was given the Presidents
Gallantry Award soon after.
Soni Sori’s father was shot in his leg by the naxalites: why would anyone say that Soni would
support the naxalites.

5) Narayanpatna
Narayanpatna block, Koraput district in Odisha has been the site of a powerful movement on issues
of bonded labour, a dominant liquor mafia and land grabbing by non-tribals. Nachika Linga, the
leader of the tribal collective Chausi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) was liberated from bonded
labour after five generations of his family had suffered under its yoke.
Despite the non-violent nature of their activities, government and police forces have branded them
as Maoists and launched brutal operations against them with this justification.
Police opened fire killed two leading figures of the movement, and arrested and jailed several others .
There have been several attacks by Maoists on leaders of movements in the area as well as those
accused of being “informants” to the State. In 2010, there was an IED blast that killed four civilian
lives and another on 11th January 2011 that injured three government officials.
Militarization has also made it difficult for outsiders, including journalists and others, to go to the
area. This has led to the isolation of Narayanpatna and left its residents neglected and beleaguered
after years of conflict.
Health and nutrition
1. Population size, growth, sex ratio and few other characteristics
2. Mortality
3. Fertility
4. Disease patterns
5. Nutrition
6. Hypertension
7. Addiction – tobacco and alcohol
8. Determinants of health: sources of drinking water, sanitation facilities and fuel
9. Public health infrastructure, human resources and health care seeking behavior
10. Maternal and Child Health Care Program Coverage
11. Conclusions
12. Recommendations
13. Goals to be achieved

Q) Discuss the impact of displacement on health and nutrition status of tribal communities

Sources:
1) High Level Committee (Prof. F. Ram, Prof. Chander Shekhar and Prof. H. Lhungdim ) to a team of
researchers who compiled and analyzed secondary data from available sources. (used it in paper 1)
2) Technical Report of the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau, titled ‘Diet and Nutritional Status of
Tribal Population and Prevalence of Hypertension among Adults’, (2009)

Population
Census 2011  8.6 % of total pop.
Between 2001 to 2011  grow at the rate of 2.1%
Some states negative growth  Nagaland and A&N

Sex Ratio (Census 2011)

Favourable  990/1000 (non-ST  938/1000)
Goa 1046/1000
Kerala  1035/1000

Occupational Structure
 Mortality Rates (Estimated from Census 2011)
Infant Mortality Rate 88 per 1000 live births
Under-5 Mortality Rate 129 per 1000 live births
Life Expectancy (Years)  60.9 per 1000 live births

A very high IMR and U5MR in seven states namely Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,
Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh need urgent attention.

TFR (NFHS-3 ; 2005-06)

ST  3.1 (2.4 for rest of the population)

Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (IIPS District Level Household and Facility Survey 2007-08)
ST  41.9 vs. non-ST 49.3 (for married women aged 15-49 yrs)

The diseases prevalent in tribal areas can be broadly classified into following
categories:
1) Malnutrition – Low birth weight, under-nutrition of children, lower body size of adults, anemia, iron and
vitamin A and B deficiency.
2) Maternal and child health problems – higher IMR, U5MR, neonatal mortality, acute respiratory infections,
and diarrhea.
3) Communicable diseases – malaria, filaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, skin infections, sexually transmitted
diseases, HIV, typhoid, cholera, diarrheal diseases, hepatitis, and viral fevers.
4) Accidents and injuries – including the burns, falls, animal bites, snake bites, violence due to conflicts, and
more recently, motor cycle accidents.
5) High consumption of alcohol and tobacco in most areas and of drugs in the Northeast region.
6) Hereditary diseases such as the Hemoglobinopathies (Sickle Cell) and G-6 PD deficiency.
7) Mental health problems – especially in the areas affected by conflicts.
8) Speciality problems – especially the orthopedic and surgical problems, gynecological problems, oro-dental
problems and eye problems.
9) Non-communicable illnesses – hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and cancers.

Generally, we may conclude, that the Scheduled Tribes in India suffer predominantly from:
A) The diseases of underdevelopment (malnutrition, communicable diseases, maternal and child health problems),
B) Diseases, particularly common in Scheduled Tribe population (Sickle cell disease, animal bites, accidents) and
C) Diseases of modernity (hypertension, high consumption of alcohol and tobacco, stress).

Prevalence of Hypertension
The NNMB survey of Scheduled Tribe population, showed that:
25 % among men and 23 % among women (comparable to rural adults).

A study carried out among tribal population of aboriginal Nicobarees in 2010 reported very high (50 percent)
prevalence of hypertension.
Awareness of hypertension was however very low (8.4 percent) among adult tribal population .

 increased awareness about the condition through health education, and

 early diagnosis and
 prompt treatment
 Information, Education and Communication activities addressing the hypertension issue.
Will prevent  cardiovascular diseases, peripheral vascular diseases, kidney diseases etc.
Prevalence of Tobacco Consumtion
IIPS ; NFHS-3,2005-06
ST  72%
Non-ST 56%

Case Study: Santosh Sawalkar et al, Tobacco vs Development: Private Spending on tobacco in Gadchiroli district
A study by SEARCH in the Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, has reported 60 % prevalence of tobacco use in
tribal population. The estimated annual expenditure on purchasing tobacco products in the district was Rs. 73
crores, which is much more than the expenditure on health and nutrition schemes by the Government106. The
authors of this study suggested that tobacco contributes to poverty and impedes development of tribal
population

Consumption of Alcohol
IIPS ; NFHS-3,2005-06
ST  50.5%
Non-ST  30.4%
At the national level, about half of Scheduled Tribe men (51 percent) consume some form of alcohol
alarmingly high levels of consumption of tobacco and alcohol in Scheduled Tribe population in India, often
resulting in addiction.

Social Determinants of Health: Drinking water, sanitation and fuel

Census of India, 2011 shows that just about 11 % of tribal households in the country have access to tap water and
only 3 % households have tap water from treated source .
Availability of tap water
Odisha – 2%
Sikkim – 49%
Goa – 54%

Census 2011 
Access to improved sanitary facilities
Only 17% of ST
44 % of non-ST

Open-defecation
75% ST
65% non-ST

Drainage Facility
6% ST - Closed Drainage Facility
17 % ST - Open Drainage Facility
77% ST –No drainage facility

Overall, the situation of Scheduled Tribe households are better-off in the West and South Indian states where there
are better drainage facilities as these states are also more urbanized compared to other states.

Type of Cooking Fuel (Census 2011)

only 9.5 % ST households are using clean fuel

Public Health Infrastructure

Rural health statistics (2012) provided by the Health Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare 
 Huge shortfall of Physicians, Pediatricians, or any other specialist at community health centers
(CHCs) and doctors at primary health centers (PHCs) in Tribal areas.
 the availability of labour room, functional OT and new born care corner is found to be dismal
 More than 50 % surveyed PHCs did not even have anti-venom drugs in Jharkhand

Eg: Rakshita Ambulance Bikes

Eg: Kodagaon (25 PHC  H&WC and neonatal ICU)
Eg: Chattisgarh  Solar panel to power PHC in tribal regions

Treatment Seeking Behaviour:

 Depend on public health facilities : 77.3 of ST (non-ST 47.7%)
 popularity of traditional healers is still quite high in the Eastern region.
 carry a traditional worldview with large number of beliefs and practices which affect their
health, sometimes unfavorably.
 There exists a severe gap of scientific knowledge about why diseases are caused and how to
prevent them.

Maternal and Child health care

 Full Antenatal check-up in ever-married women aged 15-49  St – 14.8 % | non-ST – 19.6%
 Institutional delivery in ever-married women aged 15-49  32.8 | 49.8
 Newborns who received check-up within 24 hours of birth (percent) 34.4 | 51.4
 Percentage of children aged 0-5 months who received exclusive breast feeding 61.1 | 43.3
ST have higher level of exclusive breast feeding as compared to Non-ST
 Percentage of children aged 12-23 months who received full immunization by state 45.5|55

Other Issues :
1) Inappropriate to have a rubber stamp version of national model for the needs of Scheduled areas
2) Lack of willing health care human resource to work there
3) PHC and CHC often remain dysfunctional
4) Factors such as unfriendly behavior of the staff, language barrier, large distances, poor transport,
low literacy and low health care seeking, lead to lower utilization of the existing health care
institutions
5) near complete absence of participation of Scheduled Tribes people or their representatives in shaping
policies
6) funds for health care in tribal areas are underutilized
7) Coverage with medical insurance including the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) remains
extremely low in the Scheduled Areas.
8) Data - The Sample Registration System, the NFHS, DLHS, AHS, NSSO – none are designed to give
reliable, robust, timely and segregated estimates of health outcomes in Scheduled Tribes populations.

Current  Ayushman Bharat Abhiyan

Nutrition
National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau : “Diet and Nutritional Status of Tribal Population and Prevalence of
Hypertension among Adults “ Report

1) Taverage intakes of all the nutrients, except for thiamine and vitamin C were less than Recommended Daily Allowance
(RDA). Undernutrition is still a problem.

2) Cereals and millets formed the bulk of the diets in all the States. The intake of protective / income-elastic foods such
as green leafy vegetables, milk and milk products, fats and oils were well below the recommended levels. The
inadequacy was greater among younger age groups.

3) The extent of dietary energy and proteins inadequacy was more pronounced, reiterating the fact that, it is essentially a
‘food gap’.

4) The intakes of various micronutrients, specifically that of iron, vitamin A, riboflavin and folic acid was found to be
grossly inadequate.

5) Tribal - Rural Divide: The proportion of tribal population of different age groups consuming less than 70 percent of
protein and energy was observed to be higher compared to their rural counterparts.

6) About 29-32 % of children of different age groups and 63-74 % among adult men and women were consuming diets
that were adequate in both protein and energy.

7) The prevalence of clinical forms of protein-energy malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, signs like Bitot spots and angular
stomatitis declined over the period 1998-99 to 2008-09.

8) The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting (WHO standards) among 1-5 year tribal children
Underweight  52%
Stunting  55%
Wasting 22%

9) Body Mass Index(BMI)  indicating chronic energy deficiency.

49 % of ST women had a body mass index less than 18.5
40.2% of ST men had a body mass index of less than 18.5.

10) Similarly the overall prevalence of severe underweight (weight for age <Median-3SD) also declined from 23 percent in
1998-99 to 20 percent in 2007-08, severe stunting decreased from 31 percent to 26 percent, while the prevalence of
severe wasting, has declined marginally from 7 percent to 6 percent (NNMB 1998-99).

11) The prevalence of chronic energy deficiency (BMI<18.5) had decreased by about nine percent in adult men and by
about six percent in adult women during 1998-99 to 2007-08, while the prevalence of overweight/obesity (BMI≥23)
had increased from 3.6 percent to 7 percent among men and 4 percent to 8 percent among women during the same
period. T

12) he marginal improvement in the nutritional status of the individuals, despite a decline in the food and nutrient intake,
could be attributed to non-nutritional factors, such as improvement in access to safe drinking water, better out-reach
of health care services and improvement in socio-economic conditions.
Recommendations

1. The first principle of any policy or program for tribal people is participation. Tribal people as a
population segment are not politically very vocal. However, they have different geographical, social, economic
and cultural environments, different kind of health cultures and health care needs. Hence their views and
priorities must get due place in any health care program, meant for them. We suggest making use of three types
of existing institutional mechanisms to improve the programs.
Tribal Health Assembly: From the Gram Sabhas at village level, upto the national level, Tribal Health
Assemblies should be annually organized in which the people (at the level of village) or their representatives (at
the higher levels) participate. For instance, such a „Tribal Health Assembly‟ is
annually organized for the past 15 years by an NGO, SEARCH, in Gadchiroli district (Maharashtra) for three
purposes, a) to listen to the health problems and priorities of the people, b) to get approval for the proposed
health solutions and activities, c) to get their feedback on ongoing activities. This can serve as a model at the
local level in other Scheduled Areas. At least one Gram Sabha meeting annually should be exclusively dedicated
to the purpose of health and related subjects.
Tribal Health Councils: These should be constituted by including elected representatives, NGOs, experts and
government officers for the purpose of planning and monitoring of programs. Such councils should be
constituted at the block or ITDP level, district, state and national level. These should be empowered to shape the
health plans and monitor implementation. These sub-committees of Panchayat level, district level and Zilla
Parishad could function as Tribal Health Councils.
Tribes Advisory Councils at the state level: These Councils should approve the health plans prepared by the
Tribal Health Councils, and to review the performance of implementation.

2. In view of the enormous diversity among nearly 700 tribes in India, the second principle to be followed is of
area specific and tribe-sensitive local planning. The PESA provides an institutional basis for this. The three
institutional mechanisms suggested above, when created and made operational at the block, district and state
level, will allow local planning.

3. Social determinants of health – literacy, income, water, sanitation, fuel, food security and dietary diversity,
gender sensitivity, transport and connectivity – play very important role in determining the health outcomes.
Hence, inter-sectoral coordination for improvement in other sectors is as important, if not more, as health care.
Some specific suggestions for improving health are:

measures to control mosquito-breeding can be included in the MGNREGA scheme and completed on priority
basis in Scheduled Areas.

cooker, water heaters and lights be promoted in Scheduled Areas. This will also help save trees.

Tribes population. The nutrition awareness and feeding programs in the Scheduled Areas can be better
implemented in collaboration with the National Rural Livelihood Mission and the women‟s saving groups in the
villages.

4. Empowerment of the Scheduled Tribe people is another cardinal principle. Building their capabilities to care
for their health is the long term solution far superior to a perpetual dependence. This however does not mean that
the government or the rest of the society can abdicate their responsibility towards tribal people. But this
responsibility can be better served in long run by building local capacity. In other words, instead of „giving‟
health care, the policy should be to build „capacity to care for health‟. This principle should guide in planning
health care – especially in the choice of who will provide health care, where, when and how.
5. To bridge the scientific knowledge gap of centuries, health care for Scheduled Areas should give paramount
importance to spreading „health literacy‟ by way of mass educational methods, folk media, modern media and
school curriculum. Enormous scope exists for communication in local dialects and for the use of technology.
6. A large number of Scheduled Tribe children and youth – more than one crore – are currently in schools. This
provides a great opportunity – both for improving their health and for imparting health related knowledge and
practices. Schools, including the primary schools, middle schools, high schools, ashram shalas and also the
Anganwadis should become the Primary Health Knowledge Centers.

7. Special attention should be given to women, children, old and disabled people in the Scheduled Tribe
population as these are the most vulnerable.

8. Traditional healers and Dais play an important role in the indigenous health care. Instead of alienating or
rejecting them, a sensitive way of including them or getting their cooperation in health care, must be explored.
Traditional herbal medicines should be protected through community ownership. The ownership and intellectual
property rights of tribal community over their own herbal medicines and practices should be ensured.

9. Apart from the physical distance, a huge cultural distance separates the tribal population from others. Health
care delivery to the Scheduled Tribe population should be culture-sensitive and in the local language in order to
overcome this distance.

10. Health care delivery system for Scheduled Areas must keep as its guiding principle the Chinese axiom –
How far can a mother walk on foot with a sick baby? Health care must be available within that distance. This, for
the tribal communities living in forests, means health care must be available in their village/hamlet. Sixty years of
failure should teach us that health care from outside is not a feasible solution. The design of health care in
Scheduled Areas should be such that major share of health promotion and prevention and a sizable

proportion of curative care is generated and provided within the village or hamlet.

11. In light of these principles and in view of the common disease pattern and needs listed earlier in the
conclusions section, we recommend that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should redesign the
primary and secondary health care services in Scheduled Areas. The new pattern should not be enforced as a
top-down, vertical, uniform national program, but should provide a framework for local planning with local
participation. Thus, the „Tribal Health Plan‟ will have three feature: one, a process framework about „how‟ to
prepare the local plan, which will be in the form of guidelines on mechanisms; second, a series of locally
developed need-based contents of the plan and third, a design or structure of the health care system to deliver
such services in all Scheduled Areas. This „Tribal Health Plan‟ should become an essential feature of the
National Health Mission and of the Tribal Sub Plan. The goals and monitoring indicators of this plan will be
different than the regular MIS of the NHM.

12. Human Resource for Health: The well-known difficulties in deploying doctors, nurses and other technical
personnel from outside into Scheduled Areas have made the problem of human resources the Achilles‟ heel of
health care in Scheduled Areas. We recommend that, instead of making futile efforts to import unwilling and
unstable personnel from outside, the most feasible and effective long term solution will be to select, train and
deploy local Scheduled Tribe candidates. This should be done at the following levels:
– from the same village or the
hamlet.
amedic workers – from the same block.
– to a large extent, from the same district.
The candidates must be local, belong to Scheduled Tribes, be fluent in local tribal dialects, be selected on merit
and should be committed to serve in the local Scheduled Area for at least ten years.
The ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and ANMs will continue to be the mainstay of health care in rural and
tribal areas. Due to the physical isolation of tribal communities, compounded by a lack of doctors, it will be
pragmatic to train, equip and empower the three „As‟ – ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and ANMs – in
tribal areas to a higher level.
Since the selection for medical education is through a statewide and all India competitive process, the local
Scheduled Tribe candidates may not get selected. Hence, we recommend that separate Medical Colleges for
Tribal Areas be opened in selected scheduled districts, one college per three million Scheduled Tribe population
in the state. All seats are to be reserved for such committed Scheduled Tribe candidates, to be selected from the
respective Scheduled Areas, depending on the population and need for doctors in each Scheduled Area. The aim
should be to provide, in ten years, the required number of appropriately trained doctors to serve in these areas.
The High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Universal Health Care, appointed by the Planning Commission, in its
report (2011), has recommended that the District Knowledge and Training Centers be developed and made into
medical colleges attached to district hospitals, and nearly 187 new medical colleges should be opened in the
country, especially in undeveloped regions. These recommendations can be used to open Medical Colleges for
Tribal Areas. Approximately 30 new medical colleges for tribal areas, each with 60 seats per year, will be able
to produce nationally about 1800 new doctors per year, selected from, trained and legally committed to work
in the Scheduled Area of their origin.
The Medical Education for Tribal Areas (META) should be, to some extent, different from the regular MBBS,
and hence, should not entirely follow the curriculum of the Medical Council of India. Besides the regular medical
curriculum, some modifications are necessary such as: i) knowledge of and sensitivity towards tribal culture and
language, ii) methods of communication iii) training and management of a health team, iv) competencies in
preventing and managing health problems common among the Scheduled Tribe population by way of clinical,
outreach and public health approaches, v) collaboration with other sectors of development affecting health, eg.
sanitation, nutrition, education, forestry. If necessary, the MCI recognition for this degree may not be sought, or a
new degree different than MBBS be created, with legal permission to function as a doctor in Scheduled Areas.
13. Addiction has serious effects on the socio-economic fabric of tribal society. It affects not only health but also
productivity, family economy, social harmony and ultimately, development. Hence, i) the Excise Policy for
Scheduled Areas, approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in 1976 and accepted by the
states, should be implemented effectively, ii) the availability and consumption of tobacco and drugs should be
severely controlled and iii) the availability and use of alcohol and tobacco products among the Scheduled Tribe
population, and the implementation of control policies by the states, should be monitored on selected indicators.
These efforts should become a critical part of the Tribal Sub-Plan.
14. The TSP budget, in proportion to the Scheduled Tribe population, should be an additional input and not a
substitute to the regular budget for routine activities of the Health Department in Scheduled Areas. At least ten
percent of the total TSP budget should be committed to the health sector, the Tribal Health Plan in the
Scheduled Areas, in addition to the regular health budget for these areas.
15. Data on the Scheduled Tribe population is a basic ingredient for planning, monitoring and evaluating
health programs in Scheduled Areas. All national data systems – the Census, SRS, NFHS, NSSO, and DLHS –
should be asked to plan for and generate Scheduled Tribe-specific estimates on health indicators at the district
level and above. One percent of the total budget for the Scheduled Tribe population (TSP) should be allocated to
the generation of reliable, timely, and relevant segregated data on Scheduled Tribes population, from the local to
national level. This will provide the crucial instrument – the facts – necessary to guide program managers, policy
makers and the Scheduled Tribe population itself.
Towards this, the specific measures recommended are –
Tribal Development Index (TDI)

and health care.

on these indices.

commissioning and collection of relevant data and monitoring of the indices and progress. This body should
complete the work through the various existing agencies/surveys such SRS, NSSO, NFHS, DLHS, AHS, NNMB,
the TRTIs in the states, the ICMR institutes network on tribal health, and finally, the health ministries in the
states. Necessary administrative and financial authority should be provided to this body. Broadly, one percent of
the total health budget for tribal areas (the regular health budget for Scheduled Areas, including the health
component in the TSP) should be devoted for this purpose.

16. Research: From the public health point of view, certain aspects of tribal health need research. These are:

The AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) department and the Indian Council of Medical
Research should incorporate these into their scope of working.
17. The Proposed Goals of the Tribal Health Plan should be:

population in India by the year 2020

 eduled Tribe population to the same level as that
of the non-Scheduled Tribe population in the respective states by the year 2025

by the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage (2011), by the year 2025

Councils) at all levels in the Scheduled Areas by the year 2016

ly generate Tribal Health Plans at all levels by the year 2017

Health Sector Plan and Non-plan budget, plus 10 percent of the TSP for the implementation of the Tribal Health
Plan.
Education
Q) Discuss the socio cultural, economic and psychological constraints responsible for low literacy in tribal areas.

Pre-Independence
 ‘filtration’ theory, education had to trickle down to the masses through the upper classes
 the literacy rate of the tribals was only 3.46 per cent in 1951.
 The tribal people were not used to any organized system of education and did not appreciate the value of
colonial Western education.
 Difficult terrain  school require extra investment; left traibals on their own.

Post Independence
 Unversal free compusalry Education : RTE,Act 2009
 Art 45 and 46
 Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which devised the National Education Policy
 The early years of independence were the age of a predominant nationalist view that the Indian tribes were
‘backward Hindus’, as propounded by sociologist, G.S. Ghurye.
Called ‘vanavasi’ or ‘adimjati’, the tribals were believed to be primitive savages, in dire need of ‘civilization’
by the agency of the advanced plainsmen.
 JL Nehru enunciated a set of tenets on the tribal question and development in a foreword to the second
edition of Verrier Elwin’s book, A Philosophy for NEFA, which reversed the established view.
- the development of the tribals should be ‘along the lines of their own genius’ and
- effort should be made not to impose anything on them from outside.
- encouragement to tribal traditional arts and culture.
- disapproved of the paternalism of outsiders
- train and build the tribals’ capacity to carry out the work of administration and development.

 Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission (1960-61), chaired by Shri. U.N. Dhebar,
 the Indian Education Commission (1964-66)

Dhebar Commission:
 recognized pedagogical ingredients in tribal culture and
 wanted to make use of tribal language and cultural resources, such as folklore, songs and history in teaching.
 such far-reaching intervention required re-orientation of teachers, revision of curriculum and development of
instructional materials.
 Crucial role of teachers  suggested their complete familiarity with tribal life, culture and language, and
appealed to the teachers to be the tribals’ friend, philosopher and guide.
 recommended appointment of teachers from the tribal community, opening teacher training centres in the
tribal heartlands and raising a separate cadre of teachers for a period of twenty years.
 Went on to establish the appropriateness of Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of ‘basic education’ to the tribal
societies. Gandhi’s concept centred on craft as the means of teaching and learning, and using the vernacular
language as the medium of instruction. Conceived to educate the rural population, the idea was an alternative
to formal, literary and colonial Western system of education.(not formulated)
 attended to other problems such as poverty-related issues and children engaged in household work. This
paved the way for the making of a broader policy of tribal education.
 The Commission, thus, stressed the need for mid-day meals, clothing, free books, reading and writing
materials to all tribal children in educationally backward areas.
 The Commission further considered the children’s difficulties on account of topographical factors and
recommended opening schools in a locality where there were at least 30 school-going children, though the
general norm should be a school within one mile.
 The Commission then suggested adjustment of timing, vacations and holidays of schools to suit the tribal
social and cultural life.
 It even proposed creation of an ambience of tribal culture in the schools.

The Indian Education Commission endorsed the suggestions and recommendations of the Dhebar
Commission, adding a note of urgency that ‘intensive efforts’ need to be made to provide five years of early
education to all tribal children by 1975-76. In order to achieve this, the Commission wanted the support of
simultaneous intensive parental education.
Issue :
 Sluggish trend of growth:

Reasons:
 High drop out rate
With 91.65 per cent of the tribal students dropping out by Class X (1981-82)
 Absence of schools
The Fourth All India Educational Survey, (1978) for instance, found that 83 per cent of the tribal people were
covered by a school within a radius of one kilometre. At the same time, more than 25,000 tribal habitats had
no school at all.
 First and Second Five Year Plan period, the government attended to ‘pre-matric’ and ‘post-matric’ educational
needs of the tribals. Some 4,000 schools were established in the tribal areas. This included 1,000 Ashrams and
Sevashram Schools and 650 Sanskar Kendras, Balwadis and Community Centres in the central tribal belt
between Odisha in the east and Rajasthan and Maharashtra in the west. Besides, assistance was given to tribal
students by way of scholarships, grants, hostel fees, etc
 But the guiding principle was that the tribal people were savage and wild, who needed to be civilized by the
means of education outside the tribal social and cultural life.
Eg: opening of the ‘Sanskar Kendras’ to re-orient children in upper-caste Hindu cultural norms. Such
importance assigned to residential school concept, led, later on, to the tendency of Ashramization of the
whole program of tribal education.
 The Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85) estimated that 56 per cent of the tribal children of the country (49 per cent
boys and 70 per cent girls) were yet to receive elementary education.
 National Policy on Education 1986 was framed.
 the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90) set out to give ‘overriding priority’ to universalization of elementary
education for the children of age-group 6-14 years by 1990.70

National Policy on Education, 1986

 To realize the universalization of elementary education, the National Policy, 1986
 to ensure that ‘up to a given level, all students, irrespective of caste, creed, location or sex, have access to
education of a comparable quality’
 clear about the problem of tribals at this stage – poor school facilities, unrelated curriculum, poor methods of
teaching and poverty
 the government prioritized construction of school buildings under schemes like the Jawahar Rojgar Yojna,
Tribal Welfare Schemes, etc.
 The development of curricula based on the socio-cultural milieu of tribals and of instructional materials in
tribal languages, with provision for switching over to regional languages, is another priority of the policy.
 suggests expansion of residential schools, including Ashram Schools, Anganwadis and Adult Education
Centres.
 For teaching jobs in tribal areas, it seeks to encourage and train tribal youth.
 To promote tribals in higher education, especially in technical, professional and para-professional courses,
the policy gives incentives by way of scholarships, special remedial courses and other programs to remove
psycho-social impediments.
 The government launched Operation Blackboard in 1987 and the National Literacy Mission in 1988
 a scheme of Restructuring and Reorganization of Teacher Education was taken up in 1987.

The government drew out a Program of Action (1992).

Towards promotion of girls’ education, in 1993-94, the scheme of ‘Educational Complex’ in 136 districts with low literacy
pockets was introduced. The complex was meant for 50 girls of the primary school stage with free food and lodging, uniform and
other facilities, with the additional provision of training in crafts and vocation.

District Primary Education Program (1994)

National Program of Nutritional Support, providing each primary school student with three kilograms of food grains per month,
was launched in 1995
At the secondary education level, the Government promoted the program of vocationalization .

Since the year 2000

3 missions, one each on elementary education, secondary education and higher education, called ‘
 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’,
 ‘Rashtriya Madhyamik Shikhsa Abhiyan’, and
 ‘Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan’

 86th Amendment Act, 2002, making free and compulsory education of the children of age-group, 6-14 years, a
FuRi
 Mid-Day meal scheme
 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya
 Samagra Siksha Abhiyan  Pre-school + SSA + Teachers Education
 Eklavya Schools
 Bankura Unnayan Abhiyan
 Filix School
 Indira Gandhi National Tribal University

Outcomes:
1) The number of schools and teachers has increased. (tribal regions also benefitted)
 Over 3 lakh new schools were opened and existing schools were equipped with basic facilities.
 The average student-classroom ratio came down from 39 in 2005-06 to 32 in 2009-10.

2) Between 1993-94 and 2007-08, the number of tribal households within 1 kilometer of the vicinity of primary school
rose from 77.12 per cent to 88.46 per cent.

3) The trend of enrolment of the tribals at different stages of education shows that there is a steady decadal rise
4) Gross Enrollment Ratio in primary education:
2011 ST: 137% (SC – 132% | All – 116%) – check

5)

Long way to go (Contemporary issues)

1_Declining learning level
1) Pratham ASER survey  education not qualitative
2) NCERT survey
3) 11th EFA (Education For All) Global Monitoring Report of UNESCO.

2_Education as a Site of Discrimination

Case Study: Human Rights Watch records that the Ghasiya tribal children of Sonbhadra District in Uttar Pradesh were made to
sit in a single grade irrespective of their ages, that also separately from the other students

Case Study: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta, ‘Injustice undone’,

The case of M.Phil admission at the premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University, was in the news recently. In the year 2011-
2012, several departments meticulously planned to grant very low marks in viva-voce to tribal students who were among the
best scorers in the confidentially corrected national level written tests. Once the tribal students manage to take admission, they
are humiliated in various ways so that they are demoralized.
3_Deficient free education
 they are inclined to pay for education outside the government system  High expenditure
 Calculations based on NSSO data clearly indicates that a large proportion of tribals opted for private education
between 2004-05 and 2007-08. The tribals’ opting for private education is not necessarily a push factor of the
rise of income. It reflects actually their aspiration for better life through the route of education
 large programmes like the Centre’s District Primary Education Programme and Rajasthan’s Lok Jumbish and
Madhya Pradesh’s Education Guarantee Scheme, run through non-governmental agencies, do not always
deliver quality education.

4) Security of girls Sexual exploitation of children

April 2019 –Chandrapur district Mah
- 7 minor girls confirmed to ve been sexually assaulted at a tribal hostel of Ashream residential school of Rajura
block

5) Ashramisation of tribals

6) ‘cultural discontinuity’ between school environment and social life of the children back home

7) Gap in literacy rate increased

During the period, 1961 to 2011, the gap in literacy rate between Scheduled Tribes and the whole population increased
from 19.8 percent in 1961 to 27.2 percent in 1981 and has declined to 14.6 percent in 2011

8) Still high drop out rates

9) No-detention policy (deleterious effect)
10) Shortage of quality teachers
11) Absenteeism of teachers in schools in remote areas has increased.
12) Left Wing Extremism and inter-ethnic violence has resulted in further absenteeism

13) The uptake of scholarships for higher education has been low due to weak education at primary and secondary levels
that create disadvantages for higher education.

14) Involvement of Panchayats and Community in Education(not done)

15) Education for Displaced and Dispersed Tribal

16) Education of Nomadic Tribes

 Nomadic tribes are constantly mobile depending on the climate, occupations and livelihood opportunities.
For instance, the Bakkarwals and Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir -TRANSHUMANCE Therefore, these children
miss out on primary level schooling. Hence, this issue must be addressed through a special mass contact
program for creating awareness about the need for schooling and long term benefits.
 The region also borders the Line of Control and hence they are exposed to violence.

17) Single Window Scholarship Portal (eg: )

18) Language Barriers for the tribal students:

an acknowledgement that Multi-Lingual Education (MLE) was necessary

The design of the Primer of Odisha has some aspects which should be noted for replication. One side of the text was in local
script but used tribal language. The other side of the script was in local language and script. The student learnt the script
because he/she understood the content. The teacher understood the tribal language because he/she could read in a known
script. The contents were about local trees and fruits, local folk tales and festivals. Some of the text was also about functional
literacy such as clean drinking water and common institutions. However, this initiative was not carried forward with change of
personnel at the helm of Education Departments. A desirable outcome of the Primer was that it transformed the tribal
languages into the written form, while preserving the words and syntax. .
Recommendations
There are multiple scholarship schemes of MoTA and MoHRD, including UGC which have a number of
beneficiaries. The immediate goal is to create a common interface for the tribal students to provide information
on different scholarship schemes, available to them. One of the critical elements for success of such a Single
Window Scholarship Portal is to provide information about different scholarship schemes in a simple and
relevant manner. The portal should enable students to request for scholarships directly.
1. The purpose of education anywhere, including in tribal areas, should be to provide chidren with an
understanding of the environment and society in which they live and to endow them with the capability to earn a
livelihood in the local society and, for those who have the desire and ability, in the national job market.

2. There is a marked gender gap with respect to education in tribal society. This is reflected in the disparity in
literacy levels, drop-out rates and enrolment in higher education. Hence, there is a need for greater gender focus
and social mobilization to encourage education of girls. The State must develop certain mechanisms to this
effect.

3. Since the educational scenario in tribal areas is marked by poor infrastructure, providing adequate
infrastructure, such as classrooms, teachers and teaching aids as well as basic facilities like electricity, water,
boundary walls and toilets is absolutely essential for the proper functioning of these schools and from the
perspective of security and safety of children.

4. In view of the deteriorating condition of elementary education in tribal areas, where Sarva Siksha Abhiyan has
hardly been of help, recourse should be taken to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,
2009 which provides for compulsory enrolment of all children between the age group 6 to 14, re-enrolment of
those who have dropped out with the facility of special coaching for admission in a class appropriate to his or her
age, and admission of a child in a neighbouring school of his or her choice. The Act should be stringently
implemented.

5. Keeping in view the difficulties of adjusting to a new cultural environment, teachers for schools in the tribal
regions should be recruited locally. Along with the teaching staff, the administrative staff dealing with tribal
education should have regular orientation courses to appreciate tribal culture and way of life. To facilitate such
training, the centers of training should be located in the tribal areas. There should be a separate cadre of teaching
and administrative staff, who will serve among the tribal schools over the long run.

6. New teacher training institutions should be opened in the TSP areas to meet the full requirement of qualified
and trained teachers. The curriculum for the training should be drawn up very carefully, taking into account the
socio-cultural milieu, tribal ethos, language etc.

7. The dearth of teachers fulfilling the eligibility criteria set out under the RTE Act is an impediment to achieving
the right to education in tribal areas. For addressing the current crisis of absence of teachers in tribal areas,
special efforts need to be made to produce more teachers who have qualified the Teachers Ability Test. This
must be done on an emergency basis. In the interregnum, teachers appointed in educational institutions must be
given a term within which they qualify the Teachers Eligibility Test, and facilities be provided to assist them in
taking this test, including training, courses and access to materials.

8. The State Governments should develop a policy for multilingual education, so that early learning is conducted
in the local language.

9. The experiment with the Model Primer developed in Odisha and other similar ventures may be worked upon in
TSP areas and in tribal languages in other states as well.

10. Inclusion of local culture, folklore and history in the curriculum can help in building confidence of tribal
children and enhance the relevance of education in their lives. Music and dance are a central part of tribal life.
Therefore, storytelling, theatre, painting, music and dance performances should be promoted. Similarly, sports
such as football, archery and other popular local sports are extremely beneficial and therapeutic for children, and
should be promoted.
11. Recognizing that the tribal people have certain cultural „genius‟, different aspects of „indigenous knowledge‟
should be documented, researched and promoted. For developing better understanding of the tribal cultures and
their promotion, there should be appropriate number of tribal cultural academies in regional centres. An
important step in this direction is teaching tribal history and culture in schools for both tribal and non-tribal
children.

12. To address the problem of low representation of the tribals in higher education, it is necessary to refurbish
primary and secondary school education through special coaching.

13. Institutions of ITDAs/ITDPs and micro-projects support to the tribal schools should be strengthened for
prevention of dropouts.

14. The policy of no-detention needs a review. When the student, teachers, or parents of the student request for
retention of a child to enable him/her to acquire skills to move to the next class, he/she should be retained.

15. In light of the harsh terrain of tribal inhabitations, norms concerning distance and Pupil-Teacher Ratio, at all
levels of school education, should be reviewed.

16. The policy of vocational education at the secondary and senior secondary level needs further integration and
strengthening.

17. There is a marked absence of quality secondary and higher secondary schools in tribal areas. The
Government needs to establish well-run residential schools such as Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas closer to the
habitations (within a radius of ten kilometres) up to Class XII. These schools must provide comprehensive
facilities for marginalized children including quality education, health care and academic support classes.

18. Residential schools should be set up specifically for Nomadic Tribes. The basic principles are: (a) The
residential schools should be in places where the weather is least harsh, (b) there should be special security for
the children, including girl children for whom there should be women wardens, (c) the parents of students should
be brought to these institutions so that they are informed about the education, and quality of life, of their children,
(d) there should be proactive efforts by Tribal Affairs officials of the State to approach every family to help them
make an informed choice to send their children to the schools, (e) the holidays for these schools should be fixed
in such a way that the children can meet their family, when the family returns to the place where they celebrate
festivals, weddings, etc.

19. In residential schools, which are often in the news for incidents of sexual abuse of students, strong
mechanisms should be put in place to protect the students from abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence.

20. There is a need to recognise the adverse impact of violence on children‟s education. No schools or areas in
the immediate vicinity of schools should be occupied by security forces or the police, as has been the case in
conflict zones in tribal areas. Demilitarisation of schools is vital in order to restore schools as a place of safety,
security and scholarship for students.

21. Involvement of community in educational interventions through the Panchayati Raj Institutions needs to be
institutionalized. Information on various schemes and benefits to beneficiaries should be provided to the Gram
Sabhas and Gram Panchayats, which would create transparency and increase awareness about their entitlements.

22. There is a need for regular social audits to monitor the functioning of schools. To this end, a monitoring
committee at the block level for primary and middle schools and district level for high and higher secondary
schools should be set up.

23. Most of the educational „missions‟ do not reach the tribal areas and where they do reach, they are too rare to
have any significant impact. The State educational machinery is largely responsible for this situation. There
should be proper accountability of the State educational administration to end the longstanding stagnation in
education in tribal areas.

24. The scope of education needs to be expanded for the purpose of scholarships and should include tribal
painting, art, craft, song, music and dance, etc. While the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is now supporting
scholarships for students belonging to Scheduled Tribes, the UGC and the MoTA should support scholarships for
tribal studies for non-tribal students also. A single window scholarship portal targeting the Scheduled Tribe
students should be established to provide information on different scholarship schemes.

25. Regional Resource Centres in States with significant tribal populations should be established to provide
training, academic and other technical support for development of pedagogic tools and education materials
catering to multilingual situation.

26. It is suggested that owing to poor condition of the State Tribal Research Institutes, there is the need to
improve the same in terms of infrastructure, quality of staff, research output and direction for policy. It is also
recommended that a Central Tribal Research Institute, as has been planned by the Central Government, be
launched.

27. It is recommended that a Tribal Chair be established by the UGC in Universities in every State comprising
Fifth Schedule Areas.