Indian Social and Political

Environment

MBA Term 3
2019-20

Dr Saurabh Gupta
Dr Ajit Kanitkar
Dr Sanjiv Phansalkar
Dr Sanjay Kumar
Dr Nirmalya Choudhury
Quiz

• Who is Birsa Munda? What is his contribution to Indian society and polity?

• What do you know about the Mangadh Massacre (The Bhil Revolt of 1913)?

• Where are the following dialects mostly spoken?

 Vagdi
 Ho
 Gondi

• Who are Limbaram and Dilip Tirkey?

• What is the Niyamgiri conflict about?

Geographical Spread
Tribes or Adivasis: Historical context

• Adivasi is the collective term for the indigenous peoples of mainland South Asia

• Modern Sanskrit word, coined in the1930s, from ādi 'beginning, origin' and vāsin 'dweller'
(itself from vas 'to dwell'), thus literally meaning ‘original inhabitant’
• Unlike the subjugation of the Dalits, the adivasis often enjoyed autonomy and, depending
on region, evolved mixed hunter-gatherer and farming economies
• In some areas, securing adivasi approval and support was considered crucial by local
rulers
• Larger adivasi groups were able to sustain their own kingdoms in central India. The
Meenas and Gond Rajas of Garha-Mandla are examples of an adivasi aristocracy 
• From the very early days of British rule, the tribesmen resented the British encroachments
upon their tribal system
• Land and forest areas belonging to adivasis was rapidly made the legal property of British-
designated zamindars (landlords)
• Land dispossession and subjugation by British and zamindar interests resulted in a number
of adivasi revolts in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
‘Isolation’ in the past

• Adivasis generally live in remote forest areas, surviving mainly on the forest
ecosystem
• Often speak their own tribal languages, which makes communication with
others difficult
• In many cases they entered caste systems at the lowest rung of the ladder
• There are some exceptions, such as the Meitheis of Assam who achieved a
position comparable to that of Kshatriyas
• By and large tribal groups were not treated as ‘untouchables’
• Traders and money-lenders under the protection of the British administration
succeeded in acquiring large stretches of tribes' land
• The process of tribal marginalization began under the colonial rule
Scheduled Tribes

• Term coined by British administrators

• STs make up 8.6% of India’s population (Census, 2011)
• Negative stereotyping of adivasi groups as primitive, uncivilised and
unskilled
• This negative stereotyping is used to justify their exclusion from certain
services and economic opportunities
• Gap in literacy between STs and the rest of the population – only 59% of those
belonging to STs over the age of 7 can read and write compared with the
national average of 73%
Assimilation since Independence

• Assimilation likely to occur inevitably where small tribal groups are enclosed
within numerically stronger Hindu populations
• Christian missionaries/Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad
• Government of India adopted a policy of integration of tribals with the
mainstream
• The Constitution has committed the nation to two courses of action in respect
of scheduled tribes:
 Giving protection to their distinctive way of life
 Protecting them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation and
discrimination and bringing them at par with the rest of the nation so that
they may be integrated with the national life
• Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP): except in NE
Adivasis and Indian Democracy

• Much of the poverty and degradation they saw, said the committee, was
the fault of us, the “civilised” people. We have driven [the tribals] into the hills
because we wanted their land and now we blame them for cultivating it in the
only way we left to them. We have robbed them of their arts by sending them the
cheap and tawdry products of a commercial economy. We have even taken away
their food by stopping their hunting or by introducing new taboos which deprive
them of the valuable protein elements in meat and fish. We sell them spirits
which are far more injurious than the home-made beers and wines which are
nourishing and familiar to them, and use the proceeds to uplift them with ideals.
We look down on them and rob them of their self-confidence, and take away
their freedom by laws which they do not understand
-(GoI 1960:20, Report of the Committee on Special Multipurpose Tribal
Blocks)
Adivasis and Tribes of NE

• The tribals of peninsular India are the unacknowledged victims of six decades
of democratic development- continued to be exploited and dispossessed by the
wider economy and polity (Guha, 2007)
• Out of 85 million Indians who are officially classified as ‘Scheduled Tribes’,
about 16 million live in the states of NE
• Tribes of NE differ from their counterparts in other parts of India in several
ways:
• Until recent past, more or less untouched by Hindu influence
• Exposed substantially to modern English education- high literacy rates
• Largely exempt from the trauma caused by dispossession through dams
and mining
• ‘Adivasi’ is not a word that is generally used to describe a Naga or a Mizo but
to a Gond, or a Bhil or an Oraon
Adivasis, Development and Dispossession

• Internal differences among Adivasis but some commonalities:

• Generally inhabit upland or forest areas
• Generally treat their women better than caste Hindus
• Rich traditions of music, and dance
• Rituals and traditions centre around local deities and spirits
• From the perspective of Indian democracy what unites the Adivasis is not their
cultural or ecological distinctiveness but their social and economic
disadvantage
• Policies of government have more actively dispossessed very many adivasis of
their land and resources- in the name of development (dams, mines, forestry)
• Estimate ranges from a few million to as many as 20 million who have lost their
homes and livelihoods (Guha, 2007)
Underrepresentation in government jobs
Why have some tribes done better than others?
(Xaxa, 2001)

• Among tribes, there are some that have done better in comparison to other tribal groups
• Interesting to explore as to what accounts for such differences in case of groups so
found
• Tribal communities that have done relatively better than the others are the Meenas of
Rajasthan and Oraons of erstwhile Bihar and Madhya Pradesh
• The Meenas and the Oraons with a population ranging between two and three million
each are smaller than the groups as the Gonds, Bhils and Santhals
• What seem to account for better representation of the Meenas in the government
services is that the Meenas was a fairly differentiated community
• As lords/ zamindars, many lived off land as extractors of rent. Also, as lords, they were
in more regular interaction with state authorities
• Provision of reservation gave an added advantage to the members of the Meena
community
• Once such processes were set in motion within the community, the not so privileged too
began to take the path set by the more privileged from within the community
How can ‘beautiful’ be ‘backward’? (Maharatna, 2011)

• The notion/identity of “tribes” is particularly complex in the Indian subcontinent,

where indigenous/primitive inhabitants were neither eliminated, nor quite
absorbed, by the rising civilisation
• Despite substantial accumulation of literature (official and non-official alike) on
the (relative) vulnerability of tribes, despite “countless” laws enacted for
protecting their rights, and despite about half the country’s mineral and forest
resources belonging to “tribal areas”, they remain the “most underdeveloped
community” (Jones 1978: 41)
• High levels of female autonomy and gender equity: Better sex-ratio, low infant
mortality, no dowry and no child marriage
• Thus ironical to brand tribes as ‘backward’ or not being ‘civilised’
Why are forest rights an issue for tribal
communities?

• Adivasis rely on forests for their livelihoods. They hunt, fish and collect
forest produce like wood, fruit and nuts to sell or use themselves
• Back in 1920 the Indian Forest Act was passed, making all forest land
government-owned. This meant that adivasis became “forest offenders”
and had to apply for permission to use the forest
• In 2006, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act was passed (otherwise known as 
the Forest Rights Act or FRA), overriding the Indian Forest Act
• However, illiteracy is high within tribal communities, so without help, it is
impossible for them to fill out the necessary paperwork to claim their
rights
• Even for those communities and individuals who have applied for their forest
rights, decisions can take a long time
Tribal Communities and Forest Rights

• The FRA Allows those who live in forested areas, and who earn their livelihood
from forested areas, to claim the legal rights to the forested land that they use

• FRA gives three key rights to members of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and others
who traditionally live in and off forests:

• Rights to the forest land that they live on and cultivate, as long as they
have been doing so since before 13 December 2005
• Rights to own, access and use grazing grounds, water bodies and
minor forest produce in forest areas
• Rights to protect, regenerate and conserve community forest
resources including wildlife and biodiversity
Role of PACS

• Without forest rights, adivasis do not legally own their lands and are
therefore under the constant threat of eviction
• Indeed, the forest inhabited by tribal people tends to be rich in natural and
mineral resources.
• This habitat is very attractive to outsiders like mining companies. In many
cases, this has led to the displacement of adivasi communities.
• PACS has been working on the theme of forest rights with 51 Civil Society
Organisation (CSO) partners in five states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh and Odisha) covering 41 districts
• PACS has been supporting communities to claim their forest rights and
entitlements under the FRA 
Maoist rebellion in Indian heartland

• Feudal system and landlordism has led to extreme poverty for the landless,
marginal farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural workers (mainly dalits and
adivasis)
• Green revolution led to further exploitation of the poor agricultural workers by
rich landlords in eastern India
• Backlash by dalits and adivasi agricultural workers since the late1960s;
movement led by ultra left communist groups (e.g. MCC, PWG, CPI (Maoist))
• Maoist movement now spread in almost one-third part of Indian countryside
Maoist rebellion in India

• Unlike the New Farmers’ Movement led by rich-middle peasantry, Maoists

rebels claim to represent the interests of poor adivasis / landless agricultural
workers
• Leadership from lower middle classes (youth radicalised in colleges). Cadre
from the communities of poor peasants, landless and adivasis
• Aim is to dismantle the Indian state and create a more ‘progressive’ dictatorship
of the oppressed communities
• Militant and violent in nature - main targets of the rebels are police and
paramilitary forces, and local politicians
• Thousands of killings of rebels, civilians and paramilitary/police since 1980s
• Adivasis in Chattisgarh and Jharkhand caught in the violence of Maoist rebels
and counter violence of the state
Double tragedy in tribal India

• First tragedy is that the state has treated its Adivasi citizens with contempt and
arrogance

• Second tragedy is that their presumed protectors, the Naxalites offer no long-
term solution

• Vast majority of tribals caught in the crossfire: ‘Pressed and Pierced from both
sides, here we are, squeezed in the middle’ (cited in Guha, 2007)