Integrating Tribals in the Mainstream Emerging Dissimilarities
in the Status of Tribal Women in Maharastra
Chhaya Datar
Rationale
The strategies within the government policies
towards tribals are centred around the assumption that it is the lack
of modern outlook among tribals, which creates barriers in the
development and eventual integration process of tribals in the
mainstream. The absence of modern outlook is blamed on their
geographical isolation, which is believed to have contributed to
perpetuation of their traditional cultural practices. Thus
development strategy envisaged so far is to provide opportunity for
education through Ashramshalas and to reserve seats in the government
jobs as well as electoral processes. This is a strategy to attract
tribals to make them enter the mainstream creating motivation for
others to usher in the modern era. The flip side of this strategy is
that it has no respect towards the traditional rights of tribals over
natural resources, which were preserved by them for centuries.
The tribals understood ecological cyclical system of regeneration since
their livelihood depended on that, and as a consequence, it also shaped
their belief system. The backwardness or an influence of
superstitions on tribal life in reality is due to the distortions
occurring in their cosmological understanding caused by half-hearted
penetration of the market institution which is pervading modern
life. It is not easy for them to take to modern values.
Although the concept of tribal self rule is accepted
by the state as a part of the special provision under the Panchayat
Law, where the rights of the tribals over natural resources in the
vicinity of their habitats is recognised, they are more often than not
violated than respected under the principle of 'eminent domain' or are
superceded under the principle of 'acquisition for the public purpose.'
Very recently World Human Development Report has emphasised that,
enjoyment of human rights have to be an integral part and necessary
condition for the human development, the approach still missing in the
policies towards tribals in India.
The experience of tribals with the development process is distinct from
that of the caste society. The dalits, landless and the marginal
farmers have been migrating to the cities and occupying the spaces in
the slums, creating a reserve army of labour for the capital to
exploit, under the dual system of formal vs informal sector. In case of
tribals in Maharashtra, migration has been limited to seasonal
migration, where they seem to be unwilling to leave their traditional
habitats and also access to land and forest for ever. This has
precisely created limitations to their integration in the mainstream.
But this also means that they have refused to be completely assimilated
into a system, which is hierarchical and where they would be integrated
at the lowest rung of the ladder.
The Dalit community has already seen immense
stratification due to the similar strategies adopted by the state. But
they had very little choice because of lack of traditional entitlement
to natural resources in the rural economy and society. In
contrast, the tribal communities in Maharashtra have yet to see
intra-tribe stratification taking place on a large scale, although
inter-tribe stratification has started emerging. One notices that this
is a consequence of the strategy of mainstreaming adopted by the
government for the last few years, the impact of which is compounded
because of the several other factors such as historical developments
and geographical locations. This stratification has also paved the way
for the process of 'Sanskritisation' often described in terms of
emulation of social and cultural practices of the higher castes by the
lower castes. Women's status undergoes major changes, propelled by
these processes of interaction with the outside world where the markets
predominate. It is interesting to study these changes in the status of
women which are correlated with the process of integration of
that specific tribe in the mainstream.
Undoubtedly, the situation of tribals needs change.
But it also needs to be recognised that the link between economic or
material prosperity and human development is neither automatic nor
obvious. Human development has more to do with the quality of life than
mere acquisition of material goods. What is this specific vision
of 'happy life' for tribal society is not worked out at this
juncture by the tribal leaders in Maharashtra. Also, the same
leaders or the persons who are working with tribals have not
crystalised what strategies exist to achieve these changes.
Some of the strategies used so far by the tribal
leaders in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are based on the politics of
identity and demand for independent statehood. Jharkhand and
Chhatisgarh emerged as a consequence of that politics. The
leadership in these newly formed states did not seem to have a vision
of an alternative paradigm for the development of tribals. They
were inspired by the aspiration of power within the present paradigm of
development. No studies exist about what happened to women in this
process. Whether they too got empowered through this politics is
not known.
In Maharashtra it is quite difficult to envisage
that a demand for separate statehood would be raised, although the
movement for 'adivasi identity' is gaining momentum. The gaining
barrier is that the tribals are scattered geographically and are
divided in 47 different groups, which relate to each other in a
hierarchical manner. This process of mobilisation needs to be studied
further, but again women appear to be missing in this mobilisation.
The aim of this paper is limited to study the status
of women among eight tribes in Maharashtra based on the data collected
by the Benchmark Survey of Tribal Research and Training Institute,
during 1996-97. It appears that there are significant
dissimilarities emerging among these women. Looking at these
dissimilarities would help us to identify areas for further studies
denoting the changes taking place in the women's status and correlating
them with the process of integration of the tribe into the mainstream,
to which they belong.
Introduction to the Tribal Communities
India has a tribal population of 6.78 crore as per
the 1991 census, which is 8% of the total population in India. The
Scheduled Tribe population in Maharashtra is 73.18 lakh, which again is
9% of the total population in the state. Maharashtra ranks fourth among
the states in India having large tribal populations. There are 47
tribes in Maharashtra spread over 47 tehsils of 14 districts.
Typically the tribals inhabit foothills and slopes
of the two major mountain ranges such as Sahyadri i.e. Western ghats
and Satpura in the North-West of Maharashtra and the traditional
natural habitation of the forest of Dandakaranya, that divides North
India with South Peninsula. They are a marginalised community,
physically and socio-economically. They also depend on forest resources
for their livelihood. They are mostly engaged in occupations like
settled cultivation, hunting, gathering, fishing, animal husbandry,
trapping of birds and animals. Some have taken up pastoralism, terrace
cultivation and horticulture, and some basket-weaving, mat-weaving and
toddy-tapping. They have neither been integrated in the mainstream
successfully, nor are they able to retain their autonomy and identity
despite various laws, proclaiming their special status under the
Constitution. About 92.6 % of the tribals live in rural areas. However,
urbanisation is taking place at a fast rate. In 1961 only 2.7 % of the
tribals were urban dwellers, by 1991 this increased to 7.4%.
Traditionally the moneylenders grabbed the tribal
land making them paupers despite the laws, which ban the sale and
purchase of the tribal land to non-tribals. During the last two
decades, they were threatened with displacement on a mass scale because
of the development projects such as dams and forest management
undertaken by the state, negating its own proclaimed objectives of
protection of traditional rights of these indigenous people. As per the
statistics compiled by Walter Fernandes about the displaced persons in
India between 1951-90, the tribals appear to represent almost 50
percent of the population. It is quite disproportionate to their number
in the total population, which is around 9 percent. They seem to be the
most vulnerable lot because of their geographical location and also
because of lack of voice. Among the rehabilitated persons too their
proportion is significantly less, i.e. only 24.97.E1 Today their
status could be described as ‘ecological refugees’, the term used by
Ramchandra Guha and Madhav Gadgil. [Guha and Gadgil, 1995.] They have
lost access to forest produce and at the same time have not been able
to increase the productivity of their lands through water and other
resources. In many cases their lands are not recorded in their names,
even though for generations they have been cultivating the same
plots. They have become easy prey of the forest officials, who
undertake campaigns to clear forest land for restoring forest
cover. Such campaigns are going on in Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra, under the pressure from politicians who are seeking the
funds from the bilateral agencies and the World Bank, apparently for
Joint Forest Management, but basically to convert forest into
commercial activity.E2 Many tribals have to work as seasonal migrant
labour, destroying their chances as settled communities which pursue
natural evolution.
There are 47 official tribes in Maharashtra, which
are again divided into sub-tribes denoting basically the endogamous
boundaries for the purpose of conjugal relationships between men and
women. It appears that the rules for this purpose are observed
carefully and stringently as in the caste system. There is hierarchy
among the tribes, which is observed steadfastly within Ashramshalas and
the conflicts arising out of this are known headaches. It is also
noticed that the tribals are not homogenous communities in many
respects and hence the benefits of the government schemes too have been
appropriated in different proportions as per the geo-socio and
political status of those tribes. The concept of creamy layer could not
yet be applied to them, because the layer may not be significant
enough, but still care needs to be taken to see to it that the benefits
are distributed in a more egalitarian manner. The political
representation for scheduled tribes is obviously likely to go to the
tribes with larger populations in that particular pocket. But it is the
duty of the state to see that those who are deprived are brought into
the safety net with focused attention.
Gender is another concern, which needs focused
attention especially in the light of the fact that sex ratio in the
tribal population too is growing negative. Tribals are known for their
relatively egalitarian traditions and the girl child is not despised as
she is in the caste societies. As is now sufficiently pointed
out, dowry practice is the main culprit. However, once the tribals
start integrating into the main society they would be deprived of their
traditional means of livelihoods. In that case, it is expected
that they would follow the same suit as the caste society.
Tribal Sub-Plan
As per the Constitution of India, certain areas,
which have a dense tribal population, are under the Tribal Sub Plan.
This is spread over the 11 districts of Thane, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon,
Ahmednagar, Pune, Nanded, Amravati, Yavatamal, Gadchiroli, and
Chandrapur. The idea behind the Tribal Plan is the implementation
of various schemes formulated for the welfare of the tribals.
Subsequently, certain areas with a tribal population were selected from
10 districts and declared under the Additional Tribal Sub Plan area.
Further to this, tribal population was found in a
scattered manner in certain areas and these were declared as Modified
Area Development Approach (MADA) and mini MADA pockets. The criterion
for MADA pocket is a minimum total of 10,000 population with not less
than 50% ST population. And in the Mini MADA pocket there should be a
total of 5000 population with not less than 50% ST population. There
are 43 MADA and 24 Mini MADA pockets in the state.
About 16.5% of the geographical area of Maharashtra
is under the Tribal Sub Plan. During the years 1971 to 1981, the tribal
population increased from 7.6% to 9.1 % of the total population, the
main tribes being Bhils, Gonds, Mahadeo Kolis, Pawras, Thakurs and
Varlis. The tribes are mainly concentrated in the hilly districts
of Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Nashik and Thane (Sahyadri region)
and the eastern forest districts of Chandrapur, Gadchir-oli, Bhandara,
Gondia, Nagpur, and Yavatamal (Gondwan region).
The Focus of the Study
The study focuses in analysing the concern for the
status of women, within the larger context of the status of tribals in
Maharashtra. Another sub-focus is to find out the dissimilarities among
the 47 tribes and try to raise the relevant questions for further
studies. In the larger study we are pursuing the comparison between all
the tribal groups in the context of their locations, and the district
administration. In this paper we have chosen six dominant tribes and
two primitive tribes for comparison. They are Bhils, Gonds, Kokna,
Mahadeo-Kolis, Thakur/ Thakar, Warlis, Katkaris, and Kolam. A short
profile on them is given below in the context of comparison later.
Also the data we are using is the benchmark survey
carried out by the Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune in
1996-97. The analysis is based on mostly the secondary data,
supported by some personal observations during our own data collection
process. Our own data is yet not electronically processed, but appears
to coincide with the statistics presented here.
Short Profile of Selected Tribes
Bhil
According to Gare, Bhils are the most prominent tribes in India both in
number and historical importance. Bhils are found in
Dhule/Nandurbar, Nasik, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad. They are an
ancient tribe classified as belonging to Pulinda or Nishada races. They
believe in totemism and have their own language known as Bhil or
Bhilori. The Bhils are economically a group of settled agriculturists,
socially a patrilineal tribe and traditionally a community of good
archers.
Gond
Gonds occupy mostly Dandakaranya forest areas bordering Madhya Pradesh
and Andhra. They rank third in population among the STs of Maharashtra
as per the 1971 census. They are mainly concentrated in Chandrapur,
Yavatamal and Nanded districts. They are divided into 50 sub
groups and into 4 sagas or phratries. Each saga is an exogamous section
of the tribe. The Gonds as far as possible work for themselves.
They do their own blacksmith and carpentry work. The internal social
structure of the Gonds is such that it has its own professional and
service groups from amongst the tribe and most of these groups are
regarded as sub groups of the Gond tribe.
Gonds are regarded as the principal tribe of the
Dravidian family and speak a Dravidian language. Therefore, they
might have come from the south into the Central Provinces.
Historically they are very significant and there are even tombs of Gond
kings. They had to surrender to Maratha armies, and later settled down
after the British came. They have retained their distinctive dress
habit and customs and the aboriginal tongue called ‘Gondi.’ They
are mainly engaged in agriculture and most of them are labourers. They
also do wood cutting, bamboo felling and collect minor forest
produce. They grow rice, millets and pulses and their economy is
not sound. They have no restrictions on diet and eat all kinds of
flesh like beef, pork snakes, lizards, etc.
Kokna
Kokna is one of the principal tribes in Maharashtra state and is spread
over districts of Thane, Nasik and Dhule. Although they had their
own dialects in the past, at present most of them speak Marathi among
themselves or with outsiders. They were driven away from Konkan
towards North during the 1396 -–1408 Famine. Koknas are
considered of higher status by the Thakar, Warli, Mahadeo Koli and
Katkari. However, they do not claim the status of a Kunbi which
is included in the ‘backward caste’ status in Maharashtra. Among
the Marathas Kunbi lies lowest in the sub-hierarchy. Koknas are
known as good agriculturists. They are better educated.
Mahadeo Koli
Mahadeo Koli tribe ranked second as per the Census figures of 1971, in
Maharashtra. The tribe is predominantly found in the districts of
Nasik, Ahmednagar, Pune and Thane. They reside in the hilly
region and western belts of Pune, Ahmednagar and Nasik. They are
patrilocal and polygamy is a common practice. They have exogamous units
of families, comprising of 12 family lineage denoted by surnames after
totemistic objects. One of them Popera Mahadeo Koli was made
chief of Jawahar in the North Konkan by Bahmani king in 1346 AD. They
are agriculturists and agricultural labourers. They are noted for
their militant spirit. They joined the freedom movement during the
nationalist struggle in 1940s. Their agricultural activity is
organised in the institution of ‘Padkai’ a seasonal cooperative working
group. They have known the value of education.
Thakur/Thakar
They are concentrated in the districts of Thane, Raigad, Pune, Nasik
and Ahmednagar. They have a number of exogamous divisions called Kuls.
The main occupation of the Thakars is agriculture but their economy is
not sound because of the hilly region. They keep animals for
breeding and love them. The Thakurs live aloof in separate
hamlets situated near agricultural fields. Married Thakar women can own
an individual property within a joint family. This property
called Avanji is controlled completely by her.
Warlis
Warlis rank fourth among the scheduled tribes in Maharashtra by
their population as per the 1971 Census. They are spread over districts
of Thane, Nasik and Greater Bombay. Warlis originally lived in
northern part of Konkan and were called ‘Varalat’ ie upperlanders. This
varalat consists of hilly tracts of Thane and Nasik. They have
agriculture and forest labour as their occupation. They now hold
inferior lands in the interior, whereas other lands are passed on to
money lenders and zamindars, who are non-tribals. There is a
Gujarati influence on their language, since the area is near Surat and
also many Parsis are located in that tract of Thane. They regard
themselves socially superior to Bhils, Thakurs and Katkaris.
There are different stories about their origin, one of them being that
they are descendents of Rajput settlers and hence we find that many
keep Rajput names. Besides this there are 200 clans or exogamous
groups amongst the Warlis. Warlis do not follow orthodox Hinduism
but generally believe in Hindu God and deities. They are
particularly familiar with Ram. They practice cremation unlike other
tribes. Warli women have a secondary role in the community. They do not
share ancestral property, neither are they part of the community
panchayat.
Katkari
Katkari means the tribe, which makes Kat, i.e. catechu, the thickened
juice of the Khaire (catechu). Katkaris have a nomadic tendency
due to poor economic conditions and the nature of their
occupation. They believe that they are descendents of monkeys,
which Lord Rama took with him in his expedition against the king Ravan
in Lanka. They appear to be an aboriginal tribe much influenced
by Hinduism. Yet, the chief object of their worship is the Tiger
God.
Katkaris do not have much land and work under forest
contractors. They are the poorest among all the tribes.
They sell firewood and wild honey. They were also known as
ex-criminal tribe. They are considered lowest among all the
tribes in the region and no food is accepted from them.
Kolam
Their population is quite small and is spread over the districts of
Nanded, Chadrapur and Yavatmal, which are bordering Andhra. There is a
lot of Dravidian influence on them, including their language. They have
names identical with Gond clans. Their exogamous divisions have
been divided into four pharatries. They are Four Deves, i.e.
worship four Gods, Five Deves, Six Deves and Seven Deves. They possess
habits of the most primitive character. They do not eat beef but eat
pigs, hare, ghorpads, deer, rola etc.
The principle occupation of Kolam is
cultivation. Traditionally they manufacture baskets and mats from
bamboo strips. The percentage of agricultural labourers is found to be
very high among them. They are very poor and have a poor literacy
rate.
Livelihood
According to some anthropologists, women contribute
to the working force in a more substantial way in the tribal world.
While the ratio between male and female workers in the general
population of the country is 5: 1, it is 3: 1 in the tribal population.
Among the non-tribal women 11.9 are workers while tribal women have
20.75 as workers. (Sachidananda, 1992)
The tribal economy is largely confined to the
primary sector. About 90% of the women are engaged in agriculture and
cultivation labourers. The economic roles of men and women are
sharply divided. In the rural area, hunting is the job of men while
collecting fruits is that of women. The women additionally cook
meals, look after children and manage the household. Exclusively,
women do transplanting and harvesting. They also fetch water and
wood for fuel.
A comparative analysis of the census data shows some
important trends. In 1971 women constituted 36% of the main tribal
working population in rural areas. In 1991, this rose to 44%. In urban
Maharashtra women were 28%, which fell to 24% in 1991. In 1991, 44% of
the tribal rural women worked while only 17% worked in urban areas.
These figures prove that previously tribal women were part of the
subsistence activities and hence they were not enumerated. Now because
of pauperisation their proportion among the main tribal workforce is
rising, either as agricultural labourers or construction workers,
working on Employment Guarantee Works, other construction works or are
engaged in other than household industries as is shown in the following
table.
Table No.1
Percentage of main tribal women workers out of total main tribal
workers Maharashtra
Source: Census of India, 1991
Table no. 2 explains how more number of women among the tribal women
population in Maharashtra as a whole are getting enrolled as
agricultural labourers and also cultivators. It is a well known fact
that as the male migration takes place the women get recorded as
cultivators of the deserted lands, i.e. poor quality of land with poor
equipment and no irrigation. Thus rising number of women in the
capacity of cultivators is a symptom of pauperisation.
Table no.2
Percentage of women out of total tribal women
Source: Census of India, 1991
Against this background we would like to analyse the situation of the
eight tribes we have selected for our study. Table no.3 clearly brings
out that all the eight tribal communities are mostly occupying
agriculture and agriculture labour categories of work. Kokna,
Koli Mahadeo and Thakur communities occupied in service category
represent only 5.8, 7.14 and 5.3 percent respectively and others are
far behind such as Katkaris and Kolams which are primitive tribes,
among whom only 84 and 1.67 percent occupy the service category. It
shows that their integration in the mainstream is way behind. It also
means that unless their main occupations such as agriculture/farming
and agriculture labour are given boost they would not be able to
elevate themselves to a dignified level of livelihood. It is
interesting to note that there is also correlation between the
agriculture and service categories. Thus these three communities such
as Kokna, Koli Mahadeo, and Thakur who have some representation in
service category are also engaged in farming in a marginally larger
proportion than the other five communities, such as 72.47, 59.7 and
43.5 respectively. Whereas Katkaris have very small percentage in
farming followed by Kolam, such as 11.94 and 34.2. It could be
concluded that those who have some settled base as farming are doing a
little better than others.
Table no. 3
Percentage of households classified by main occupation.
Source: Benchmark Survey, TRTI, 1996-97
Table no. 4 explains the respective landholding and irrigation status
of these eight communities. Except Kokna, Koli Mahadeo and Thakur all
other tribes record on average 40-50 percent landlessness. Among
those who have land, the land holding size is very small and among the
landholding families majority falls under the first category of upto 3
hectares. We have chosen three sizes, upto 3 hectares, 3-5 hectares,
and 5-10 hectares and found out that again Kokna, Mahadeo Koli and
Thakur have proportionately more percentage representation in later two
categories, such as 13, 12.4 and 7.6 in the first and 5, 5.5 and 3.5 in
the second. Bhils, Gond and Kolams are comparable with these
three in the second category, i.e. 3-5 hectares. They represent 8.8,
11.4 and 17.9 respectively. But they have less representation in the
second category of 5-10 hectares. It is surprising that
proportionately more Kolam have landholdings in the category of 3-5
hectares i.e. 17% than any other tribe and still they have remained
primitive. Katkaris is another primitive community. The proportion of
families holding land among Katkaris is 4.9 in the category of 3-5
hectares and 1.07 in the category of 5-10 hectares. We would be able to
see the impact of this lack of holdings on their migration pattern.
They are known for working as distressed labourers for wood-coal kilns
set up seasonally on the outskirts of Mumbai.
In Thane and Raigad districts the Katkaris are fighting for their
traditional leasing rights for Dalhi land plots in the forest area for
over 50 years since independence, and the forest department is coming
in their way, denying them their food security. (Bokil, 2000,
p.2843-2850) In our discussions one could see the resentment
against the three dominant tribes i.e. Kokna, Mahadeo Koli and Thakur,
among Katkaris and Warlis on the ground that all the service jobs
reserved for STs are appropriated by them, since they started their
education drive in an earlier generation. The irrigated landholdings
appear to be a rare category among all the tribes, but again in Kokna
the proportion is the highest, i.e. 22.7 percent. Next come Bhils’ and
Gonds’ landholdings, where 10.9 and 11.9 percent of land is irrigated.
Table no. 4
No of landless & landholder tribal households according to size of
land possessed
Source: Benchmark survey of TRTI, Pune, 1996
Table no. 5 presents the women’s proportion in each category of
occupation tribewise. Here it is noticed that there are negligible
women among each tribe who are part of the service occupation. Only
Kokna women represent a little more than one percent of working women
who are in service. In farming their number is maximum, i.e. 54.4
percent compared to Katkaris who represent only 7.35 percent. Koli
Mahadeo and Thakur women too are concentrated proportionately more in
agriculture. It is surprising that more Kolam families have recorded
landholdings (approx. 27 percent in categories 3-5 and 5-10 hectares)
but compared to that less number only 20 percent women have been
engaged in farming and more are engaged in agricultural labour (77.33).
Agricultural labour is always considered as residual labour, since it
is not by choice but by circumstances of not being able to avail any
other job, the women flock to this occupation. That is one of the
reasons cited for their low wage rate in this occupation. The wage
differential between men’s wages and women’s wages in agriculture is
caused mainly because men have other options and mobility.
Table no. 5
Occupation of tribal women tribe-wise in percentage
Source: Benchmark survey of TRTI, Pune 1997
It is reported that more than 90 percent of the tribals fall under the
BPL. Dr. Jain and Dr. Tribhuvan report (1996, p.33) that as per the
benchmark survey carried out in the year 1980-81, 45 % of the general
population in the rural areas were living below the poverty line in
Maharashtra whereas in the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) area the percentage of
the population under BPL is on an average 90.89 percent. The same
authors mention that in 1992 the TRTI carried out a sample Bench Mark
Survey and one of the findings is that the economic situation of the
tribals has not undergone a major change from what it was in the year
1980-81, although some qualitative improvement in respect of certain
communities is found.
Table no.6
Annual income per household from different sources in percentage
Sources of Income in Rupees
Source: Benchmark survey of TRTI, Pune, 1997
Among those, who have improved their status, Mahadeo Kolis and Koknas
are notable. Some other communities like Gond and primitive
communities such as Madias have still remained at the same status.
Table no.7 describes the seasonal migration tribewise and also gives us
an idea how many persons from each family travel every time. It
appears that seasonal migration in search of agriculture labour or
construction work is quite rampant among all the tribes. Also, more
than one family member migrates every time, meaning women too are
migrant workers and are vulnerable for insecurity of the migrant life.
It also appears that more workers migrate for a longer period.
Bhils migrate, mostly to Gujarat for sugarcane cutting. Kokna and
Mahadeo Kolis too migrate as agriculture labour in Nasik district where
grape orchids and vegetable cultivation provides good
opportunities. This migration might have provided these
communities access to cash and have brought some prosperity. For
Katkaris it must be sheer survival need. The government has
refused dalhi lands rights to them and thus they are on the look out
for work permanent work. They also remain as bonded labour with
forest contractors. In fact, migrant labourers usually work as
bonded labourers, because the employer or his mukadam/supervisor always
gives them cash advance to lure them into jobs and this advance is
never cancelled out.
Table no. 7
Number of Persons Migrating Seasonally per Family
Table no. 8 explains the nature of women’s work compared to men in the
families. Large number of women come under the category called ‘other
work’. The benchmark survey does not analyse what this category means.
May be it is a collection of forest produce and raring of goats,
poultry etc. This work must be contributing to the family
livelihoods but may not be earning substantial, tangible incomes.
Thus women’s work is very much a part of tribal economy but may not
provide them status within the tribal community or in the society at
large. In the service category there are very few women as we
noticed earlier but compared to the men in that community, are not
faring well. Bhil, Gond and Kokna women represent 20.3, 15.4 and
15.9 respectively out of total persons occupying the service
category. Among the Kolam as a primitive tribe women represent
14.6 percent of total persons in service, which is encouraging. But
others are way behind. The women take a long time to catch up
with men once the forces of modernization start blowing through the
community. Unless some special measures are adopted and opportunities
are created for them to exercise pull effect, the process of
integration would be very slow.
Table no. 8
Male-female percentage of tribal workforce: occupation-wise, tribe-wise
Source:Benchmark survey of TRTI, Pune, 1996
Deforestation and tribal women
According to Geeta Menon, official policies in India
reflect concerns for the needs of the industry rather than the people.
Development projects and industrial needs thus result in deforestation.
This deforestation has caused an acute shortage of resources for basic
needs of the people like firewood, fodder, etc. This bias of the state
in favour of the industry results in the deprival of traditional rights
of people and threatens their very survival.
An important feature of forest dwellers is their
complete identification with the forest and the total dependence
on it for survival needs like food, fuel, fodder, medicines, housing
material, and also social and psychological needs like entertainment
and religion.
Forest-based tribal economy is woman-centred. Women
make provision for basic necessities like food, fuel, water. With
deforestation, the close bond between the women and the forest is
destabilised and is manifested in aspects such as additional workload,
reduced food supply, deterioration of health condition and introduction
of external values that result in their lower status. Tribals
traditionally keep a balance between human and ecological needs and
this clearfelling affects all of them, and women more so.
Even today, the tribals are dependent on the forest,
but the forest is dependent on the Forest Department. This dichotomy is
the genesis between the interests of tribals and the management of the
forests. Careful inspection of the forest land owned by the Forest
Department indicates that more than 50 percent of the forest land has
very little tree cover. Only 9 to 10 percent of the geographical area
in Maharasshtra has some semblance of forest which by interantional
standards is very poor and could create many ecological problems in
future. Depletion of forest to such an extent has caused serious
repercussions on the life style of the tribals forest areas.
The above information is borne by the fact that in
Table no. 6 (Income) very little employment is recorded as a part of
forest labour (Department). The benchmark survey did not even
feel it is important to collect information about the income from the
forest produce.
Literacy Level Among Tribal Women
The above mentioned data on women’s participation in
service category has direct and one to one correlation with their
literary status. As per table no 9.1, in 1971, 86 % of the tribal women
were illiterate in urban Maharashtra. Only 6.2 were literate, 7.2 were
primary level passed, 0.3 SSC level, and 0.4 above SSC. In rural
Maharashtra the percentage of tribal women was as follows; illiterates
was 96% with only 2.6 being literates, 1.1 primary level passed, 0.01
SSC level and 0.09 % graduates.
The 1991 census shows some improvement in the
literacy level. The percentage of rural illiterates fell to 83%. The
number of literates rose to 7%, primary level 4%, up to SSC level 3%,
above SSC 0.15 and graduates 0.04. In urban Maharashtra too, the
illiterates went down to 56%, and the literates rose to 10%, primary
12%, upto SSC 16%, above SSC 1.8 and graduates 0.9%.
The National Family Household Survey (NFHS)
Maharashtra, 1998-99 also corroborates this by saying that illiteracy
is highest among ST women – about 70 % while it is 39 to 48 % among
other castes. Among other backward classes it is 38% and among
Scheduled Castes 48%. The NFHS data further says that a very high
proportion of tribal women in Maharashtra (54%) isn’t regularly exposed
to any media, as compared to 26% for SC women. Also, about 6.5 %
of the ST women in the state are not involved in any decision making as
compared to 5.4 % for SC. While 87% decided what to cook, only 46%
decided on health care. Only 46% went to the market without permission
as compared to 36% for other backward classes. Only 53% of the
women had access to money, while 68% of the SC women do. Son preference
was also strong among ST women especially those working on family farms
or in family business.
Table No. 9.1
Literacy rate of ST population in Maharashtra
All areas
Source: Census of India, 1991
The data in the table no.9.1 shows that the overall literacy rate among
tribals rose four times during the period from 1961 to 1991, while
among men it increased three times and among women it increased 10
times over. Because of very low base in the beginning the initial rate
always sounds very encouraging. However, compared to rural areas the
female literacy rate in the urban areas shows a big jump during the
same period, i.e. from .5 to 43.2, which indicates that urban life has
some impetuses for women to acquire modern indicators.
Table no. 9.2
Table No. 9.3
Rural Areas: Literacy Rate
Urban areas: Literacy Rate
Source: Census of India, 1991
Source: Census of India, 1991
Since 1975 the government has introduced Ashram schools for tribal
children in Maharashtra. A report on the study conducted in 16
Ashram schools in Amravati, Dhule, Gadchiroli and Thane appeared in the
Tribal Research Bulletin. It says that in Maharashtra there are 721
Ashram schools for tribals out of which 409 are run by the Government
and 312 by NGOs. Enrolment of students was 2.48 lakh students (1.29
lakh boys and 0.65 lakh girls). Data relating to enrolment shows 1868
boys and 681 girls i.e. 3: 1 ratio in NGO schools and 2:1 ratio in
Government schools. Decrease in enrolment of girls is attributed to
poor accommodation and infrastructural facilities in NGO schools.
(Tribal Research Bulletin, 1999)
The table no. 10 shows that Gond, Kokna, Koli
Mahadeo have male literacy beyond 50% and women literacy above
30%. Kolam women too have a reasonably good rate compared to
Katakaris who fall in the same category of primitive tribe
(27.8:10.79). It is also, disturbing because the Katkaris are living
very close to Mumbai. Women in other tribes are not so fortunate and
have literacy rate below 20%. However, the strong positive correlation
is noticed between male and female literacy.
Having degree in Arts and Science or in engineering
is a rare phenomenon among all the tribes and not much comparison could
be made except to take note that Kokna tribe has a little better
presence in the field of engineering and medicine. Upto 7th and 10th
standard Gond, Kokna, and Koli Mahadeo women are doing better compared
to other tribes as well as compared to their own men. It can be said
that the third generation women after independence are doing better,
which seems to be a common phenomenon among all the tribals. The
setting up of the Tribal Sub Plan and ITDP since the Vth plan (1975-79)
and increasing the budget for the tribals seem to have definite impact
on the rate of development among tribals although it cannot be said to
be very satisfactory.
Table no. 11 also proves the point that the current
generation of female children appears to be lucky since in first two
age groups , i.e. 3-6 and 7-11 it is noticed that the girls are almost
50% of the total school going population, among all the tribes. Katkari
girls are less in proportion such as 41.7% in the age group of
7-11. However, in the age group of 12-16 the percentage of female
children suddenly drops, and it settles down to an average 35%. Katkari
girls fall behind other tribes in this category also. They fare
only 28.2%. Gond, Kokna and Kolam are doing better in this
category. Mahadeo Koli’s initial momentum is not sustained and
may be they are following a typical course in the status of women that
once upward mobility is achieved for the community, the women are
relegated behind the four walls to express that the family does not
have to send their women out to work anymore.
Table no. 10
Tribe-wise educational level (in percentage)
M= Men & F= Female
Source: Benchmark survey of TRTI, Pune, 1997
Table no. 11
Classification of school-going children between 3 to 16 years
Source:Benchmark survey of TRTI,Pune, 1997
Health
One of the important indicators for the status of
women in any community is the sex ratio. At the deeper level, in fact
the ratio has to be scrutinized in various age groups, taking into
account the life cycle experiences of women. Here in table no 12 it is
found sufficient to look at these two sex ratios; one for the age group
of children 0-6 and general sex ratio considering the total population.
Tale no. 12
Sex Ratio of tribal women
Source: Benchmark survey of TRTI, Pune, 1996
One of the reasons for more scrutiny of the sex ratio in the age group
0-6 is that the recent study by Arun Bhatia and Roin Tribhuvan(2002,
p:8) of the malnutrition related deaths of the tribal children in
Nandurbar district, reports that there is a gender difference observed
in the level of malnourishment of siblings of the dead children. Out of
136 children (siblings of the dead) they investigated, 64 were
male and 72 were female. In the grades I &II level of malnutrition,
male were 28 and the female were 34, while in the grades III & IV
number of male was 20 and the female was 22. Thus the discrimination
against the female children is penetrating among the tribals too.
It was the Bhil community under investigation in which the number of
normal children was the same for both male and female.
Morbidity
Health and nutritional problems among tribals,
especially women, are more because they live in isolation and in remote
areas and also in a poverty situation. It has been identified by many
that several factors are responsible for the high morbidity among
tribal women. The marriage at early age and the pregnancies
thereafter bearing on an average 6 children out of which 3.5 is the
rate of survival. Because of the early pregnancies low weight babies
are very common. According to SL Kate (Kate, 2000), because of
inadequate health infrastructure there is conspicuous lack of maternal
and child health services. The fertility rate is high as also the
infant and maternal mortality rate.
Table no 13
Health Status of Tribal Population in Maharashtra
Source: SL Kate, Immunohaematology Bulletin, Oct, 2000
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data further says that
ST women in Maharashtra have a relatively poor diet that is deficient
in milk or curds, fruits, eggs, chicken, meat or fish. SC women are
more likely to have the above diet at least once a week. About 64.2 %
tribal women have anaemia as compared to 48% for SC and other classes,
43% ST women have mild anaemia as compared to 31% for SC and other
backward classes, 16 % have moderate anaemia as compared to 14% for
other classes and 3.9 have severe anaemia as compared to 2% for other
backward classes. The BMI or body mass index (weight in kg divided by
height in metres squared) is also much lower among ST women in
Maharashtra – about 18.9 while that of other women is 20. Dr Vidyut
Joshi has written about the health and nutritional hazards among
tribals in Dhule and Amravati. They are
- Malnutrition among women and children
- Lack of adopting scientific methods of contraception and spacing
- Poor dietary intake
- Ignorance about sanitation and hygiene
- Lack of pure drinking water
- Illiteracy
Meeta and Rajivlochan in an article in EPW (Economic and Political
Weekly) in 1997 have written about heavy child mortality in the hilly,
tribal areas of Vidarbha. During the rains, entire villages were cut
off. Absence of health facilities, heavy rain, dwindling food stocks,
lack of safe drinking water led to a dangerous situation. And the first
to succumb were children usually below 6 years and in the grade 4
category of malnutrition. Apparently this was happening since 1989, but
this was widely reported in 1993 and it was discovered that the
Government had done nothing about it. Local newspapers reported about
the death of tribal children in the Vidarbha region due to malnutrition
and consequent illness. About 160 deaths were reported in the Amravati
region.
Dr. Robin Tribhuwan has also written about the
child deaths in Melghat, Amravati district in Tribal Research Bulletin.
He has referred to problems of infant mortality and malnutrition in
Dharni and Chikaldhara tehsils. Low levels of literacy among
women and early age at marriage leading to early pregnancies and large
family size resulted in poor nutritional status of women giving rise to
still births, premature births and low birth weight babies and anaemic
children.
In an another landmark report, a recent study
mentioned above tried to find out the real reasons behind the deaths of
children in the age group of 0-6, in Nandurbar district, among
the Bhils and Powras Arun Bhatia and Robin Tribhuvan using a very
interesting methodology. (Bhatia and Tribhuvan, 2002) They
investigated the possiblity of malnutrition among the children of the
same family, i.e. the siblings, by weighing and using the body mass
index and other criteria to evaluate the status of nutrition of these
surviving children. This way they could go beyond the symptoms reported
by the medical personnel as the causes of deaths.
They also found out whether the government had not
done enough to provide the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) for these
families in the near by area, so that their livelihood is assured. The
provision of ration shop nearby and guaranteed supply of foodgrains all
the year round were some other factors influencing the malnutrition.
The lack of availability of PHC (Primary Health Centre) or sub-centre
to treat the child at a reasonable distance is an important factor, as
noted by many others.
Another shocking study reinforcing the neglect of tribal poverty and
its impact on women and children was published very recently by Dr.
Abhay Bang. Through his primary data collection process he came
to the conclusion that the government medical machinery has failed to
collect real statistics about the death rates among still born, new
born, infant and children in the age group of 0-5. He calls them ‘fall
of tender leaves.’ He has compared the death rates of these four
categories of children among tribals, rural areas and slums in urban
areas in Maharashtra. Surprisingly, the death rate of stillborn
children among the tribals is low compared to other two areas, rural
and city slums such as 27.1, 34.6 and 37.9 respectively. But later
among infants (0-1) and Children (0-5), the death rates for the same
categories acquire inverse proportion, i.e. 72.7 for tribals, 66.0 for
rural, and 68.2 for city slums. The figures for later (0-5) are 92.2
for tribals, 76 for rural and 86.6 for the city slums. This statistics
proves the fact that the tribal children become vulnerable to
under-nutrition and malnutrition, because of poverty after the age of
one year, i.e. weaning period. This data questions the often
cited cause for infant and child mortality, such as early marriage and
early child-birth being primary responsible factor.
The NFHS report also mentions prevalence of
reproductive health problems among 44% ST women as compared to 38%
among women not belonging to SC/ST. The average age at birth was also
lower among ST women. About 18 while it was 19 for other backward
classes. And the birth interval is 2.4 years for these women. ST women
were also less likely to have seen or heard a family planning message
through the media (39%) than other women (62 to 66%) and also unlikely
to have discussed family planning (17%) than other women (20 to 23%).
Violence against women
Witch-hunting is seen to occur typically among
tribal women. There are references of witch-hunting against many
adivasi women in Thane district every year. This is called the bhutali
phenomenon and is not very prevalent in other districts of
Maharashtra. A woman suspected of being a witch is made to stand
on trial. And when found guilty by the community, she is stoned to
death.
Our own observation is that the Bhutali incident
continues abated despite the propaganda waged against it. There
is a need to collect systematic information on this phenomenon.
We checked at the PHC at Molgi, in Akkalkuwa taluka and the doctor
admitted that the cases of severe beating come to them at least four
five times a year. These are not usual cases of domestic violence but
must be cases of witchhunts. The families do not admit to it,
however, in Molgi, another case of an older woman being cast as a
Bhutali was going on and the woman had gone to the court. We
could not meet her. She was a sister of the member of a Panchayat
Samiti and hence had courage to fight it out.
Although these incidents occur throughout the year,
they increase during the monsoon. Usually witch-hunting follows a
negative event; a prolonged illness, an inexplicable death, an
epidemic, or a crop failure. Witch hunting is seen as a response to
conditions of starvation, malnutrition, inaccessible health care,
increased infection and growing deforestation. The villagers find
a scapegoat in the form of a witch. This is seen as a manifestation of
male dominance against women. (Lingam, 1998, Status of Women in
Maharashtra)
The NFHS data also says that 20% of the ST women
have been beaten up since the age of 18, the figure being 18% for the
general population. Not bearing children, especially sons, were
important reasons for violence against women. While 10% of the women
had been beaten many times, 14.5 % had been beaten a few times and
19.2% only once. 56.4% had never been beaten.
Tentative Observations and Recommendations
Livelihood opportunities
It appears that there are dissimilarities between different groups and
they do get expressed through the status of women. Of course the
differences are not so significant that the principle of creamy layer
should be applied here. However, we noticed during our data collection
that Mahadeo Koli and Kokna women dominate in the area of ANM and
aganwadi teachers. In Gond area, SC women were found as aganwadi
workers at many places. When a post needs to be filled, not many
tribal women from that locality would have been eligible at that point
of time. Koli Mahadeo and Kokna women are willing to migrate and
thus get these jobs. Jain and Tribhuvan warns about the
phenomenon of pseudo-tribalisation and the benefits such as reserve
post allotted to the tribals being cornered by non-tribals by
purchasing the false certificate of being tribals. In one of the public
sector company out of 1000 reserved seats more than 300 were occupied
by non-tribals, based on these false certificates.
We tried to trace the causes of these differences
among the eight tribal communities by looking at their occupations,
landholding pattern, the migration pattern and the status of gender.
The correlation is not found very positive, between the landholding
sizes and the status of women in terms of literacy, particularly in the
Kolam community. They are known as a primitive community having low
development indicators, but the landholding wise they are much better
off. Mahadeo Koli and Kokna have emerged as the most developed tribes,
who have reasonable land. The status of women in those communities
appears to be a little bit better, in terms of literacy. Settled
agriculture and increased productivity would be the most desirable
development strategy for them.
Seasonal migration is another indicator, which needs
to be studied further. Whether the migration offers substantial income
to the family, or is it the distressed activity is the important
question. Seasonal migration is known to encourage bondedness, since an
advance is paid in a form of a loan and is returned with a heavy
interest rate. This is very common for sugarcane cutters.
But without the advance, labourers go to work in grape or vegetable
farms in the Nashik district, to earn some cash income. This
detracts them from nurturing their own land and demanding the land
development programmes.
Taking in to account the emerging dissimilarities,
it would be desirable that the government should design a more specific
tribe-focused approach. Especially in the case of Katkaris, it
was noticed during our data collection, that in a village panchayat out
of Thakur, Warlis and Katkari padas the benefits of housing schemes
were accrued to Thakurs and to some extent to Warlis, but Katkaries
have remained untouched by the scheme. The tribes with smaller
population are not likely to get political representation and hence
they would remain deprived for a long period to come unless effective
intervention is achieved. Further study is needed to prove this
hypothesis. In a caste riddled society as India, the tribes are
structured in a hierarchical manner, which we noticed also in the
Ashramshalas. Katkari women drink liquor and women of Koli
Mahadeo and Kokna do not. These habits may also have an impact on
the status of women, which could be compared in different communities.
The major recommendation could be to make the
tribals to avail irrigation facilities, through either construction of
wells or construction of small tanks and bandharas. Tribals practice
mostly traditional agriculture, but they do not have many cattle. Thus
organic manure is not available to them. The training in organic
agriculture would help them in the long run. Along with it they
should also plant herbal trees and fruit trees by offering buy-back
facilities. Forest department could use the humanpower resource of
tribals and undertake construction of trenches cum bandharas, leveling
of land, afforestation etc., in the catchment area. Anand Kapoor proved
the point to the EGS officers in the Bhima Shankar area where Dimbhe
dam is located, that if the earth treatment work is done in the upper
ridge area of the catchment, the siltation rate of the dam is reduced
and the volume of oimpounded water increases. Since the area is rocky
with hard strata, the cost of the earth treatment is more than in the
command area. But it provides two benefits; the recovery of land
to the tribals and more water to the farmers in command area.
The collection of forest produce is also an important activity, which
is encouraged by the government by setting up Forest Development
Corporation. However our observation in Gadchiroli was that the
government rates were much lower for tendu patta collection (required
for bidis) than those offered by the traders. It was also noticed that
the government in the forest area has planned no tendu plantation on a
large scale and hence that resource was becoming scarce in the long
run. The complaint by officials was that the tribals did not allow the
plants to grow and start plucking leaves when they were young. Or put
them on fire to get new young leaves, required for bidi patta and thus
the plantation gets stunted. But it was noticed that many women were
involved in collection and were able to get money in their hands. They
could be persuaded to undertake these plantations for long-term
sustained interest.
In case of Katkaris, the Bokil’s recommendations are
strongly appreciated and we would like to reinforce them. In his
article in EPW, Bokil has described the history of dalhi cultivation in
Raigad district mainly observed by Katkaris and sometimes also
Warlis.E3 Dalhi refers to the mode of preparing the ‘warkas’ land (land
not suitable for sedentary cultivation), which is mostly slash and burn
cultivation, not of very big trees but shrubs and small growth.
Under this cultivation mostly millet is grown and the land is treated
as communal land. Bokil also cites the gazetteer saying that the Dalhi
assignments were granted for weaning these tribals away from their
nomadic lifestyle and settleing them to a permanent mode of life, by
providing them with a suitable means of livelihood in the form of lands
for cultivation. These lands have come under dispute between the
tribals, mostly Katkaris and the Forest Department in recent years and
a strong movement has emerged. One of the important reasons is that due
to the government encouragement for tourism and entertainment industry
in this area, which is close to Mumbai, the spectacular land market has
emerged in this region with the connivance of the government officials
and the politicians. The government has passed a special resolution for
allowing the projects initiated by the non-tribals to purchase tribal
lands, provided the project takes responsibility to rehabilitate the
affected tribals by way of providing employment in the project of
allotment of shops.
Bokil feels that bestowal of land rights is the only
strategy to prevent the physical and cultural extinction of the tribal
communities in the face of modernisation and evil designs of the
vested interests. Bokil feels that in the new paradigm, where Mumbai
Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has charted out
their development plan with a top to bottom approach, tribal lands have
lost their identity, not to mention sanctity. It has also
superceded all the local self-government institutions in the area.
Bokil feels also that dalhi lands have a strong common property
resource aspect, which is ecologically sound. Dalhi lands present
an ideal option for conservation and augmentation of natural resources,
through watershed development and other activities. Bokil strogly
argues that instead of wasting precious resources on non-viable,
peripheral and irrelevant schems ITDP might as well develop the dalhi
lands which would contribute to the core production process. We would
like to add that this process would also help tribal women, if special
pattas are allotted to them. Prayas Resource and Livelihood groups from
Pune has planned to educate tribal women in intensive cultivation of
small plots surrounding their huts and vastees with some novel methods
of organic agriculture.
Health Status
Health status of tribal women and children especially, is seen as the
most critical indicator and needs very focused attention to transform
the statistics of this indicator. Among many other factors we feel that
early marriage and early pregnancies could be tackled on a war
footing. It needs to be explored whether earning a bride price
could be a motive for the parents to marry the daughter early.
Among non-tribals, under the fear of dowry the poor parents offer their
daughters in early marriage. If she is well educated, only
educated boys are willing to marry her but with a lure of a big
dowry. So far bride price was considered as an indicator of value
attributed to women’s work. But if the bride price is earned by
the parents/father, then his ownership right over the daughter
nullifies her status as an independent woman. Through another
study made by us during 2002, we realised that the bride price was
increasing in the tribal community, and even among the urban tribal
inhabitants, the dowry practice had penetrated. Dowry was
reported by 23 percent households, among whom Kolam women were
prominent. In other communities the bride price was getting
commercialised. More focused research is needed urgently on this aspect
so that educational campaigns could be organised focusing on these
messages.
Malnutrition has very close links to poverty.
The elimination of poverty has to be the most important agenda not only
by providing opportunities to earn money, but also by making their
subsistence agriculture more productive. Along with these very basic
measures, availability of ration shops, grain banks would ensure food
security to women and children. Malnutrition incidents have
occurred among Korkus in Amaravati district, among Bhils and Powras in
Nadurbar and Warlis and Katkaris in Thane. Thus it is possible to focus
attention on these areas.
The benchmark survey did not provide health data
tribe-wise and hence it was not possible to compare the health status
of women and girl children among different tribes. We found out only
one recent study in Nandurbar district regarding the nutritional status
of girl and boys, siblings of the dead children between 0-6 age group
in one pocket. The study proves that despite the record of many other
apparent reasons created by the health department personnel, those
reasons could be symptoms caused by the basic fact of malnutrition. The
study also mentions that the number of girls in the category of
malnutrition was a little higher. Nandurbar is the habitat of
Bhil communitiy. In future, more attention should be provided to this
gender aspect of malnutrition. As the tribals are coming under the
purview of modernisation, the transition from traditional practices to
mainstream practices are expected, such as from bride price to dowry
and it may have consequences in terms of sacrifice of female children
in the context of male preference.
Regarding the health care facility, which is the
most vital resource, Jain and Tribhuvan have given many concrete
suggestions, which we would like to reiterate.E4 One of the
important observations made by many is that there is insufficient
number of health care personnel available to tribals for either
education or providing health care services. They pointed out in
their case study of Molgi and Kathi Primary Health Centres, that out of
total posts only 70 percent posts were filled. However, most of them
live at the Tahsil palces, which are about 20-25 k.m.away. Most
of the staff frequently visit their native places and remain absent.
Their main suggestion is that some very good incentive scheme needs to
be prepared so that they carry out their work diligently. It has
to be appreciated that the density of the tribal population is very low
and the area is inaccessible. Thus distance criteria needs to be
applied while taking the decision about establishing the PHCs.
More vehicles and mobile clinics are some of the facilities which could
be thought of. In order to encourage the medical staff, monetary
incentive such as additional emoluments, which is equivalent to the
person’s basic salary or seniority such as two years of service in the
tribal areas should be equated with four years of service in other
areas. It needs to be also seen that the period of posting should
not be more than three years, because living in these areas is like cut
off from the rest of the world. We would also like to suggest that the
government should also consider giving special allowance for keeping
the children in hostels in some urban area for their education. In
Africa they have done it for those who work in Safari areas.
Education Status
Ashramshalas may be expanded in numbers and in quality. The teachers
not coming to teach in the Zilha Parishad schools because of the
distance is a common complaint. The Vastee School concept, where the
12th standard educated boy or girl from the same village/locality is
identified and appointed as a teacher seems to be working very well in
the past few years. These persons are accountable to the gram
panchayat, and the continuity of their job depends upon their approval.
This is likely to contribute to the education of tribal children and
the girls especially in the long term.
Cultural Practices
We could not obtain data on the different rate of transformation of
cultural practices among these tribal communities, through this
benchmark survey. Three practices need to be checked in the long term:
increase in bride price, liquor consumption and the protest against it,
and the Bhutali (witchhunt) phenomenon. Our observations are that
the bride price rates are increasing very fast, representing the
penetration of commercial influences. The range is very wide from
Rs. 50 among Katkaris to Rs. 2000 in Thakurs and Mahadeo Kolis.
Also, the gifts which were in kind earlier such as paddy and liquor are
being slowly translated into cash. In the case of liquor, it used
to be the local manufacturing of Mahua liquor, which has given way to
the outside manufactured liquor sold in the nearby bazar centre.
Women drink mainly on festival occasions, but men have started drinking
recklessly. Bhutali phenomenon is talked abstractly, but nobody
vouches for any specific instance known to that person. As
mentioned earlier, it has to be a special study carried out at all the
PHCs, where battered women are likely to go for treatment.
Participation of women in Panchayat Raj institutions
is another indicator, which could not be studied in the absence of data
related to different tribes. It is a vital indicator to determine
the status of women among different tribes, and for comparison.
On the whole, the recommendation could be that we
need to have a more tribe-focused approach in the development, which is
sustainable. Instead of planning for the development, which is
urbanised and envisaging that the tribals could be integrated in the
new development projects of urban areas, we need to adopt a perspective
which is more realistic and feasible. Allowing the tribals to settle
down in their own surroundings with better agricultural practices and
endowing them with powers for self-rule over their natural resources
sounds the most humanitarian concept. However, it needs to be
seen that self-rule is informed by gender concerns, which may lose its
edge as identity politics starts gaining ground.